Cheating Ourselves of Sleep
缺觉?后果可能很严重
Think you do just fine on five or six hours of shut-eye? Chances are, you are among the many millions who unwittingly shortchange themselves on sleep.
你是否以为自己每天只睡五六小时也没什么大碍?要知道，有数百万人都在不知不觉中克扣了自己的睡眠，很可能你也是其中之一。
Research shows that most people require seven or eight hours of sleep to function optimally. Failing to get enough sleep night after night can compromise your health and may even shorten your life. From infancy to old age, the effects of inadequate sleep can profoundly affect memory, learning, creativity, productivity and emotional stability, as well as your physical health.
研究表明，大多数人都需要七八个小时的睡眠才能让身体机能保持最佳状态。夜复一夜睡眠不足可能损害你的健康，甚至缩短你的寿命。从呱呱坠地直至垂垂老矣，睡眠不足均可对你的记忆力、学习能力、创造力、生产力、情绪稳定性以及身体健康造成深远影响。
According to sleep specialists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, among others, a number of bodily systems are negatively affected by inadequate sleep: the heart, lungs and kidneys; appetite, metabolism and weight control; immune function and disease resistance; sensitivity to pain; reaction time; mood; and brain function.
据美国匹兹堡大学医学院(University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine)和西方精神医学研究所与诊所(Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic)的睡眠专家们称，睡眠不足会对某些身体系统造成负面影响，尤其是：心脏、肺和肾脏;食欲、新陈代谢和体重控制;免疫功能和疾病抵抗力;疼痛敏感性;反应时间;情绪;以及脑功能。
The body’s ability to process glucose is also adversely affected, which may ultimately result in Type 2 diabetes. In one study, healthy young men prevented from sleeping more than four hours a night for six nights in a row ended up with insulin and blood sugar levels like those of people deemed prediabetic. The risks of cardiovascular diseases and stroke are higher in people who sleep less than six hours a night. Even a single night of inadequate sleep can cause daylong elevations in blood pressure in people with hypertension. Inadequate sleep is also associated with calcification of coronary arteries and raised levels of inflammatory factors linked to heart disease. (In terms of cardiovascular disease, sleeping too much may also be risky. Higher rates of heart disease have been found among women who sleep more than nine hours nightly.)
人体处理葡萄糖的能力也会受到不利影响，这最终可能导致II型糖尿病的发生。在一项研究中，健康的年轻男性连续六夜每夜睡眠都不超过四个小时，其后他们的胰岛素和血糖浓度均达到与糖尿病前期患者相近的水平。在每夜睡眠时间少于六小时的人群中，心血管疾病和中风风险均较高。对于高血压患者，即使仅有一夜睡眠不足也可导致其在随后的一整天里血压居高不下。睡眠不足还与冠状动脉钙化以及心脏疾病相关炎症因子水平升高有关。(就心血管疾病而言，睡眠过多也可能存在风险。现已发现，每晚睡眠超过九小时的女性患心脏病的几率相对较高。)
With insufficient sleep, thinking slows, it is harder to focus and pay attention, and people are more likely to make poor decisions and take undue risks. As you might guess, these effects can be disastrous when operating a motor vehicle or dangerous machine.
睡眠不足时思维缓慢，人们难以集中注意力，就更容易做出错误的决定，承担不必要的风险。可以想见，在开车或操作危险的机器时，这些影响可能带来灾难性的后果。
In driving tests, sleep-deprived people perform as if drunk, and no amount of caffeine or cold air can negate the ill effects.
在驾驶执照考试中，缺乏睡眠者的表现就如同醉酒一样，再多的咖啡因和冷空气都无法消除这种不良影响。
At your next health checkup, tell your doctor how long and how well you sleep. Be honest: Sleep duration and quality can be as important to your health as your blood pressure and cholesterol level.
在你下一次体检时，请告诉医生你的睡眠时间和质量。说句老实话：对于健康来说，睡眠时间和质量与血压和胆固醇水平同样重要。
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