专家解读：早睡早起真的有益健康吗？

“社交时差”

It’s a scenario familiar to many workers during the week.

对很多工作者来说，下面是熟悉的场景。

After struggling to fall asleep, you’re abruptly dragged out of your precious slumber by the jarring siren of the alarm clock.

在挣扎中睡去后，你忽然间被闹钟刺耳的铃声从珍贵的睡眠中惊醒。

By the weekend you’re exhausted and sleep way past your Monday-Friday waking time to catch up on some precious sleep.

周末时，你精疲力尽，倒头大睡，弥补周一到周五清醒着的宝贵睡眠时间。

This may sound perfectly normal but it’s a sign not only that you’re not getting enough sleep but also that you have "social jet lag".

这听起来很正常，但这标志着你睡眠不足，并且有“社交时差”。

This is the term for the difference between when we sleep during the week compared with the weekend.

这一术语是指你周中和周末睡眠时间的不同。

The bigger the social jet lag, the greater the health issues, such as increased risk of heart disease and other metabolic problems.

社交时差越大，健康问题越多，比如心脏病和其它代谢问题风险增加。

This is what is driving those studies that find night owls - particularly very late risers - are at increased risk of ill health compared with their morning-loving counterparts.

这促使研究发现，夜猫子——尤其那些晚起者——比早起者健康风险要大。

So how should night owls cope?

那么夜猫子怎么应对呢?

Should they sacrifice their lie-in on the weekend and set the alarm early to get back into sync with the time they have to operate in during the working week?

他们应该牺牲周末睡眠的时间，设定闹钟以保持周中睡眠时间同步吗?

"It is the worst thing you can do," says Prof Roenneberg, who believes there is nothing inherently unhealthy about being a night owl.

贝格教授说：“这是你能做的最糟糕的事情。”他相信当夜猫子从本质上来说没什么不健康。

"If you haven’t slept enough for five days you’d better catch up on your sleep and you better try to catch up at your individual best time to do that."

“如果你周中五天没睡够，你最好弥补自己的睡眠。你最好尝试在自己的最佳时间来弥补睡眠。”

This is because when we want to sleep and wake is not just a habit, nor is it a sign of discipline.

这是因为我们想睡想起时并不只是个习惯，也不是自制力的标志。

Instead, it is influenced by our body clocks, about 50% of which is determined by our genes.

反而，这是受生物钟影响的，50%是基因决定的。

The rest is shaped by our environment and age, with 20 being around the peak age of lateness and our body clock getting progressively earlier as we get older.

休息受到环境和年龄的影响，20岁是最懒的年纪，随着我们成长，我们的生物钟逐步提前。

"We have these ingrained attitudes that people who stay up late must be up to no good and people who sleep in late must be lazy, but really it is human biology," says Malcolm von Schantz, professor of chronobiology at the University of Surrey.

萨里大学时间生物学教授冯尚茨说：“我们有一些根深蒂固的态度，认为熬夜的人不好，晚起的人懒惰，但是这真的只是人类生理。”

Simply getting up earlier is unlikely to override your genetic tendencies and instead will further deprive you of the sleep you’re already not getting enough of in the week, experts say.

专家说，仅仅早起不可能战胜你的基因趋势，反而会进一步剥夺你周中本就不足的睡眠。

Instead, it is workplaces, schools and society more generally that need to do more to accommodate night owls, sleep experts say.

相反，专家称，工作场所、学校和社会总体需要做出更多，来适应夜猫子。