忽视睡眠是犯傻

信马由缰L

题记：这是一篇译文，是四年前我在欧洲出差期间翻译的（附原文）。文中有翻译不妥的地方，还请读者和专业人士指教。

正文（英译汉）：来自牛津，剑桥，哈佛，曼彻斯特和萨里大学的科学家们警告说，不重视睡眠将势必引发“严重的健康问题” ，无论是个人还是政府对此都不可掉以轻心。

实际上，癌症，心脏病， 2型糖尿病，感染及肥胖等都被认为是与睡眠不足有关的。

生物钟对人体的影响非常大，在一天之中，直接影响着人的兴奋点，情绪，体力，甚至关乎着心脏病的发作与否。其节律源自人类的进化过程，在这个过程中，人们通常都是白天活动，晚上休息。

然而，科学家们警告说，现代生活和几乎是全天候的社会活动，意味着当下有很多人与生物钟渐行渐远，这对其健康是十分有害的。牛津大学的罗素福斯特教授说，与六十年前的情况相比，现代人每晚至少少睡了一到两个小时。

他说： “人是极其超然自负的物种，对迄今有着四十亿年之久的进化定律，甚至于都觉得可背离，然而，一个无法回避的事实是，这么一来，人将渐渐的进入到一个自以为是的周期。"

“作为一个物种，或许是无可匹配的人种，我们真的是已背离生物钟，然而，长期作用下的后果，导致严重的健康问题。 这个问题不仅影响着上班族，更是全社会都需要面对的。" 这位教授如是说。

福斯特教授表示，其实这个问题对青少年尤为严重，他说他就曾遇见过有的孩子在晚间会时不时的将其父母的安眠药拿来服用，然后在上午的时候要喝掉三罐红牛。（注：红牛指的是一种能量饮料）

蓝光

新出现的证据表明现代技术让我们总是在熬夜，睡得实在是太少了。

“光是你的内部生物钟最强大的同步器， ” 来自哈佛大学的查尔斯·切斯勒教授跟“BBC每天的身体时钟栏目”如是说。

他说，节能灯泡，以及智能手机，平板电脑和计算机在其光谱的蓝端有很强的光，而这恰恰是这个“能使人兴奋起来的地方”在扰乱人体生物钟。

“耀眼的强光，特别是在晚上短距离放射出来的蓝色光，会把我们的节律打乱并往后推延，以至使得困倦受到压抑，晨起变得更难。”

“这是一个非常严重的问题：我们太多时间置身于光亮之中，而睡眠不足，这样，会使得我们极有可能患上多种慢性疾病的。”

呼唤行动

来自剑桥大学的艾克嗨士.雷迪博士说，人体生物钟会影响人体中的每一个生物过程，而在生命过程中违反生物钟规律所影响健康的后果是“非常明显的” ，尤其是会导致乳腺癌。

他说： “生活应尽量有所节律，与环境相和谐，就寝前不应该有太多耀眼的光亮，因为它会影响生物钟和睡眠。 ”

来自曼彻斯特大学的安德鲁·劳登教授，说： “违背生物钟生活所造成问题较之于这样或那样的导致癌症的故事可能会被人忽视，然而对整个社会而言，这却是一个非常重大的问题。"

“违反生理节奏所带来的健康问题，在短期内或许不会引起你的注意，但经过相当长的一段时间后，其后果是相当严重的。"

“各国政府对这个问题必须引以重视，或可从重新评估轮班工作对健康的影响开始；全社会和立法者都应将这个问题提升到议事日程上来。 ”

原文 “Arrogance"of ignoring need for sleep /BBC April 4 2014 :

Society has become "supremely arrogant" in ignoring the importance of sleep, leading researchers have told the BBC''s Day of the Body Clock.

Scientists from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Manchester and Surrey universities warn cutting sleep is leading to "serious health problems".

They say people and governments need to take the problem seriously.

Cancer, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, infections and obesity have all been linked to reduced sleep.

The body clock drives huge changes in the human body.

It alters ness, mood, physical strength and even the risk of a heart attack in a daily It stems from our evolutionary past when we were active in the day and resting at night.

But scientists have warned that modern life and 24-hour society mean many people are now "living against" their body clocks with damaging consequences for health and wellbeing.

Prof Russell Foster, at the University of Oxford, said people were getting between one and two hours less sleep a night than 60 years ago.

He said: "We are the supremely arrogant species; we feel we can abandon four billion years of evolution and ignore the fact that we have evolved under a light-dark cycle.

"What we do as a species, perhaps uniquely, is override the clock. And long-term acting against the clock can lead to serious health problems."

He says this is an issue affecting the whole of society, not just shift workers.

Prof Foster said that this was an acute problem in teenagers and he had met children who sleep by popping their parent’’s sleeping tablets in the evening and then downing three Red Bulls in the morning.

Blue light

Emerging evidence suggests modern technology is now keeping us up later into the night and cutting sleep.

"Light is the most powerful synchroniser of your internal biological clock," Prof Charles Czeisler, from Harvard University, told the BBC Day of the Body Clock.

He said energy efficient light bulbs as well as smartphones, tablets and computers had high levels of light in the blue end of the spectrum which is "right in the sweet spot" for disrupting the body clock.

"Light exposure, especially short wavelength blue-ish light in the evening, will reset our circadian rhythms to a later hour, postponing the release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin and making it more difficult for us to get up in the morning.

"It’’s a big concern that we’’re being exposed to much more light, sleeping less and, as a consequence, may suffer from many chronic diseases."

Call to action

Dr Akhilesh Reddy, from the University of Cambridge, said the body clock influences every biological process in the human body and the health consequences of living against the clock were "pretty clear cut", particularly in breast cancer.

He said: "Try to live more rhythmically, in tune with the environment and not have too much bright light before bedtime because it will affect the clock and sleep."

Prof Andrew Loudon, from the University of Manchester, said: "The problems caused by living against the body clock may be less sexy than the countless ’’this or that causes cancer stories’’ it is none-the-less a major problem for society."

"You might not notice any short-term changes in your health following circadian disruption, but over a long period of time, the consequences could be quite severe.

"Governments need to take this seriously, starting perhaps with reviewing the health consequences of shift work, and society and legislators needs to take this on board."