我們真的需要八小時睡眠嗎？| BBC Learning English

Do we really need 8 hours’ sleep？

我們真的需要八小時睡眠嗎？

你每天平均睡多長時間？八小時通常被認為是 “黃金” 睡眠時間，但這是否因人而異？哪些因素決定一個人究竟該睡多久才好？本期 “隨身英語” 圍繞這個話題展開討論。

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Charles Darwin once said “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life”。 If you live one hundred years， that only equates to twelve-hundred months – and when you break it down even further into days， hours and minutes， it gets more frightening。

查爾斯-達爾文曾經說過 “一個敢於浪費一小時時間的人還沒有發現生命的價值”。如果你活了一百年，這隻相當於一千二百個月，當你把它進一步細分為天、小時和分鐘時，會變得更加可怕

Why is this relevant？ Well， quite simply put： life is short。 Spending eight hours every day in a slumber means you’re losing a third of your life to bed。 So， the question is： is eight hours the exact amount we need， or is it just a myth？

為什麼這個會跟睡八個小時息息相關？簡單地來說：生命是短暫的。每天花八個小時睡眠意味著你的生命有三分之一的時間是在床上浪費的。因此，問題是：八小時是我們需要的確切睡眠小時數，還是隻是一個荒誕的說法？

While most scientists agree that between seven and nine hours a night is the optimal amount， this is just a rough estimate。 In truth， it’s a little more complicated than that。 It seems that the amount of sleep you need depends upon your age – with infants needing much more than adults。

雖然大多數科學家同意每晚睡眠時間在7至9小時是最佳的，但這只是一個粗略估計。事實上，情況要比這更復雜一些。似乎你需要的睡眠量取決於你的年齡——嬰兒需要的睡眠量比成人多得多。

What does seem apparent is that around seven and a half hours’ sleep is a good amount。 In a study conducted at the University of Surrey Sleep Research Centre， the effects of sleep were monitored。

似乎很明顯的是，大約七個半小時的睡眠是一個好的量。在薩里大學睡眠研究中心進行的一項研究中，對睡眠的影響進行了監測。

One group slept for six and a half and the other for seven and a half hours per night。 While some findings were predictable – irritation and lower concentration in the group who slept less， there were some more surprising findings。 The genes of people who had less sleep were affected。 Genes associated with inflammation， the immune system and stress response became more active。 The team also observed increases in the activity of genes related to diabetes and risk of cancer。

在上述的實驗中，一組人每晚睡六個半小時，另一組人睡七個半小時。雖然有些發現是可以預見的：睡得少的那組人更加煩躁且注意力較低，但也有一些更令人驚訝的發現。睡眠少的人的基因受到了影響。與炎症、免疫系統和壓力反應有關的基因變得更加活躍。研究小組還觀察到與糖尿病和癌症風險有關的基因的活性增加。

One of the biggest issues is that myths regarding sleep are constantly perpetuated。 For example， have you ever heard that you can train yourself to need less or no sleep？ It’s simply not true。 We will always need a certain amount of sleep – eight hours might not be the exact sweet spot， and there are factors like age to take into consideration， but one thing is true – there is a certain amount we do actually need。

最大的問題之一是，關於睡眠的荒誕的說法不斷被延續。例如，你有沒有聽說過，你可以透過訓練讓自己習慣少睡或不睡？這根本不是真的。我們總是需要一定量的睡眠：8小時可能不是確切的最需要的睡眠時間的點，而且還有年齡等因素需要考慮，但有一件事是真的：我們確實需要一定的量的睡眠。

詞彙表

equate to

相當於

break something down

將…細分為若干部分

relevant

相關的

slumber

睡眠，睡夢

myth

沒有根據的說法，虛傳

optimal

最佳的

estimate

估計

apparent

明顯的

monitor

監測

finding

研究結果

irritation

煩躁，惱火

concentration

注意力，專注

immune system

免疫系統

response

反應

perpetuate

使…持續下去

sweet spot 最佳狀態（此處指最佳睡眠時長）

take into consideration

考慮到

例句

1。 We don’t have the exact figures， so we need to estimate it。

2。 The results were surprising – some very interesting findings。

3。 He promised to take my request into consideration。

4。 That’s a perfect situation – an optimal environment for learning。

5。 When you break it down into its smaller parts， it becomes clearer。