The closer he gets, the more nervous he becomes, the budding zit on his nose growing bigger and bigger until it practically eclipses his face.

他越靠近就越緊張，鼻頭上才剛長出來的青春痘慢慢變大，大到幾乎遮住整張臉。

She looks at him hovering nearby, sees the massive zit, and giggles.

女孩看著徘徊的男孩，然後看到他臉上的大痘痘，笑了出來。

He slumps away, feeling sick.

男孩垂頭喪氣地離開。

Stress can sure make a mess, and it happens to both teens and adults.

壓力讓青少年及成人都變得一團糟。

But how does it happen?

但到底是為什麼呢？

Let's rewind to before the zit, to before Justin even sees his crush.

我們倒帶一下，回到賈斯汀長痘痘跟遇到夢中情人前。

Already late for school, Justin got to class just in time to hear the teacher say "pop quiz."

上學已經遲到了，賈斯汀一進教室就聽到老師說要突襲小考。

He hadn't done his homework the night before, and felt more unprepared than the ambushed World War II soldiers he was supposed to write about.

昨天沒做作業，賈斯汀比他那未完成作業中的二戰突擊兵還緊張。

A sudden rush of panic swept over his body, leaving him with sweaty palms, a foggy mind, and a racing heart.

一股惶恐襲來，他手心冒汗、腦袋混沌，還心跳加速。

He stumbled out of class in a daze, and ran straight into his all-time crush, spiking up his stress.

他倉皇離開教室，撞上了夢中情人，壓力值瞬間爆表。

Stress is a general biological response to a potential danger.

壓力是面對潛在危險產生的生物反應。

In primitive caveman terms, stress can make you fight for your life, or run for your life, if, for example, you're confronted by a hungry saber-tooth tiger.

以原始人為例，壓力可讓你殺出生路或逃命 —— 像是遇到飢餓的劍齒虎時。

Special chemicals called stress hormones run through your body, giving you more oxygen and power to run away from danger or to face it and fight for your life,

被稱作壓力賀爾蒙的特殊化學物質流竄全身，提供你更多氧氣和力量逃離危險或為生存而戰。

hence the term "fight or flight."

所以這被稱作「戰鬥或逃跑反應」

But when you don't fight, or take flight, you face the plight.

如果你不逃也不戰，就會大難臨頭。

When we're taking final exams, sitting in traffic or pondering pollution, we internalize stress.

考期末考、卡在車陣中或思考環境污染時，我們將壓力內化。

It all begins in the brain.

一切都從大腦開始。

The hypothalamus, the master controller of your hormones, releases something called corticotropin-releasing hormone.

下視丘主宰賀爾蒙，釋放一種叫「促腎上腺皮質釋放素」的物質。

This triggers the pituitary gland, a pea-sized gland found at the base of the brain, to release adrenocorticotropic hormone

這會促進腦下垂體，一個豌豆般大、位於腦部深處的腺體釋放促腎上腺皮質素。

which then stimulates the adrenal gland sitting on top of the kidneys to release cortisol, the major stress hormone.

而這激素會刺激腎臟上方的腎上腺，釋放主要壓力賀爾蒙：腎上腺皮質醇。

These natural chemicals are a great help when you need to run away quickly, or do superhuman feats of courage,

這種天然化合物可以幫助你跑得更快，或激發出超人般的勇氣。

but when you're simply sitting, these stress hormones collect in the body and affect your overall health.

但當你什麼事都沒做，賀爾蒙累積就會影響整體健康。

Stress hormones increase inflammation in the body, suppress the immune system,

壓力賀爾蒙促進發炎反應、壓抑免疫系統。

which makes you more susceptible to infection by acne-causing bacteria, and can even increase oil production in the skin.

這讓你更容易感染造成粉刺的細菌，還會增加皮膚油脂分泌。

And this is the perfect storm for forming a pimple.

加起來就是產生青春痘的完美組合。

Cortisol is a major stress hormone involved in making skin cells churn out oily lipids from special glands called sebaceous glands.

腎上腺皮質醇會使皮膚細胞從皮脂腺分泌油脂。

But when there's too much of these oily lipids, called sebum, they can plug up the swollen, inflamed pores and trap the pesky, acne-causing bacteria inside,

但是若這些皮脂累積太多，就會堵在分泌口造成腫脹發炎，並將惹人厭、造成粉刺的細菌包在裡面。

where they set up house and thrive.

細菌便在此繁衍增生。

Add a dash of inflammatory neuropeptides released by the nervous system when you're -- well, nervous -- and angry zits follow.

再加上你緊張時，神經系統釋放的發炎相關神經胜肽，青春痘就生成了。

To make matters worse, Justin is a boy, meaning he's got more testosterone than girls.

雪上加霜的是身為男性，賈斯丁的睪固酮比女生多。

Testosterone is another hormone that increases oil production in the skin.

睪固酮是另一種促進皮膚油脂分泌的賀爾蒙。

So, his already oily skin, together with a boost in oil and inflammation from stress, is the perfect environment for bacteria to swell, swell, swell up into a major zit.

他的皮膚本來就很油，加上壓力又促進發炎反應和出油，皮膚就成了細菌溫床，促使細菌腫脹成超大痘痘。

So what could've Justin done to avoid the big pimple?

賈斯丁該如何避免長青春痘呢？

Stressful situations are unavoidable.

壓力環境無可避免。

But we can try to change our responses so that we're not so stressed in the end.

但我們可以試著改變心境，減緩自己壓力的感受。

And had he been confident in approaching her, she might not have noticed the pimple, or he might not have had one.

若賈斯丁自信地走向她，她可能就不會注意到他臉上的痘痘，又或者賈斯丁臉上根本就不會有長痘痘。