英语故事:研究称每天睡眠不足6小时易早逝

不久前，科研人员研究发现一些睡眠时间不足与早逝之间存在联系的确切证据。研究人员表示，每天睡眠时间不足6小时将增加早逝风险。 People who sleep fewer than six hours a night are more likely to die early, researchers have found in a study they claim provides 'unequivocal evidence' of a link between sleep deprivation and premature death.

研究发现，与夜晚睡眠6至8小时的人相比，夜晚睡眠不足6小时的人在65岁之前早逝的可能性较前者高出12%。 They discovered that people who slept for less than six hours each night were 12 per cent more likely to die prematurely - before the age of 65 - than those who slept the recommended six to eight hours a night.

由英国华威大学和意大利那不勒斯市的费德里克二世大学联合组成的研究团队在分析了16个研究项目之后得出了以上结论。项目共涉及130万人。 The team from the University of Warwick and Federico II University Medical School in Naples analysed 16 studies involving a total of 1.3 million people before reaching their conclusions.

研究人员指出，此前的研究显示，睡眠不足与心脏病、高血压、肥胖、Ⅱ型糖尿病和高胆固醇有关联。 They pointed out that previous studies had shown that sleep deprivation was associated with heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol.

但除此之外，研究人员还发现睡眠与早逝之间也存在莫大关系。 However, the researchers also found that sleeping too much was linked to an early death.

那些夜晚睡眠时间超过9小时的人早逝的可能性增加30%。研究刊登在《睡眠》周刊上。 Those who slept for more than nine hours a night were 30 per cent more likely to die early, the research published in the journal Sleep found.

然而，上周《睡眠》周刊上一篇研究报告的结论则与之背道而驰，该报告则称，夜晚睡眠10小时甚至更长的人更有可能活到100岁。 That directly contradicts research published in the same journal last week which suggested that people who slept for ten hours or longer a night were more likely to live to 100.

这种结论的根据在于，长寿者身体健康，睡得更香。 This was thought to be because people who lived into extreme old age were healthier and therefore slept better.

然而，参与最新研究的专家并不认同这种观点。他们认为，睡眠过长是潜在疾病的征兆，比如抑郁或体力下降，一些癌症也与睡眠过长有关。 However, the authors of the latest research contradicted this and suggested that long sleep was a sign of underlying illnesses such as depression and low levels of physical activity. Some cancer is also associated with sleeping for longer.

华威大学睡眠、健康和社会项目负责人佛朗西斯科·卡帕斯奥教授说：“睡眠过短可能是疾病产生的原因，但睡眠过长却更有可能是存在疾病的指示器。” Professor Francesco Cappuccio, leader of the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the University of Warwick and Consultant Physician at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said: "Whilst short sleep may represent a cause of ill-health, long sleep is believed to represent more an indicator of ill-health.

“在现代社会，人们的平均睡眠时间逐渐缩短，这种情况在全职工作人员身上更常见，这可能归因于长时间工作和轮班所形成的社会压力。另一方面，我们的健康状况恶化常常伴随着睡眠时间的延长。” "Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take, and this pattern is more common among full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work. On the other hand, the deterioration of our health status is often accompanied by an extension of our sleeping time.

“长期坚持每晚睡眠6至8小时可能最有益于健康。持续睡眠时间的长短应被视为另外一种行为风险因素，或者风险标志。它受环境影响，可能通过教育、辅导以及改善工作环境等提高公众健康水平的途径而被改变。” "Consistently sleeping six to eight hours per night may be optimal for health. The duration of sleep should be regarded as an additional behavioural risk factor, or risk marker, influenced by the environment and possibly amenable to change through both education and counselling as well as through measures of public health aimed at favourable modifications of the physical and working environments."