你是夜猫子还是早起的鸟？在中国传统文化里，早起是勤奋的代名词，而夜猫子的生活方式往往被认为是对身体不健康的。如今，科学研究可以为夜猫子正名了。研究表明，晚睡的人更有创造力，智商也更高！单纯的晚睡晚起并不会对健康带来负面影响，夜猫子健康问题背后的真正罪魁祸首是社会作息制度对他们的不友好。
No, Night Owls Aren’t Doomed to Die Early
Bryan Clark| The New York Times
Despite alarmist headlines and a study that suggested morning people live longer, the truth is more complicated.
Last spring, a study set the internet ablaze with sensational headlines promising an early death for those with nontraditional sleep schedules. It wasn’t the conclusion of the study, or its researchers. But in the bombastic world of science reporting, it didn’t really matter.
去年春天，有个研究凭借耸人听闻的标题引爆全网：“非传统睡眠作息将导致早死”。其实，这既不是研究本身的结论，也不是研究人员的结论。但在夸张的科学报道中，谁管它是不是真的呢。
Originally published in the journal Chronobiology International, the study looked at the chronotypes — a means of classifying one’s predisposition for sleeping at certain hours — of more than 430,000 people over a six-and-a-half-year period. Scouring data from the National Health Service in England and the NHS Central Register in Scotland, researchers sought to find out what, if any, negative health impacts awaited those with a night-owl schedule.
这个研究最初发表于《国际时间生物学期刊》，研究人员在六年半的时间里研究了超过43万人的睡眠类型，也就是在一天中的什么时间睡眠的倾向。研究数据来源于英格兰国家卫生服务中心和苏格兰国民健康服务中心登记处。研究人员想知道，夜猫子般的作息是否会对健康产生负面影响。
注释：
Chronobiology：生物钟学；时间生物学;
After sorting nearly half a million people into four groups — definite larks (larks are early birds, those most likely to rise with the sun), definite owls (those more likely to retire to bed with the sun than to wake with it), moderate larks and moderate owls — researchers reported some troubling findings.
将近50万人被分成了四类：真•云雀型（所谓的早鸟族，最有可能随着日出而醒）、真•猫头鹰型（最有可能随着日出而眠）、半云雀型和半猫头鹰型。随后，研究人员报告了一些令人不安的发现。
More than 10,000 participants died during the study period. Of those deaths, the bulk seemed to be the result of natural causes. The study didn’t necessarily seek to link death with sleep deprivation, but rather to “comorbidity” — the occurrence in one person of two or more conditions, such as psychological or neurological disorders, diabetes and the like. With each incremental shift toward a night-owl schedule, comorbidities became more common, increasing the risk of an early death.
超过1万名参与者在研究期间死亡。其中，大部分死亡似乎出于自然原因。研究并非试图将死亡与睡眠剥夺联系在一起，而是将其与“共病”联系起来——也就是说，在一个人身上同时存在两种或多种疾病，比如心理或神经疾病，糖尿病等。随着夜猫子的程度逐渐增加，共病变得越来越普遍，这就增加了早死的风险。
注释：
Comorbidity：共病; 共病症；并存疾病;
But while saying that night owls are going to die early makes for an eye-catching headline, the real story isn’t quite that simple.
然而，虽说“夜猫子会早死”这个标题非常吸睛，但真正的故事并没有那么简单。
The story behind the study
研究背后的故事
It’s evident that owls’ nontraditional schedules put them at risk of significant health problems. Nearly every study on this chronotype has returned troubling findings.
夜猫子般的非传统作息会使人面临重大的健康问题风险，这是有证据的，几乎所有关于这种作息规律的研究结果都令人感到不安。
But Kristen Knutson, the lead author of the Chronobiology International study, warned against drawing conclusions based on simple correlation. Dr. Knutson, an associate professor at Northwestern University who studies neurology and sleep medicine, told The Los Angeles Times that issues arise for night owls who try to live in a morning lark world, staying up late while adding to their sleep debt each morning.
但是，前文提到那篇论文的第一作者克里斯汀•克努森（Kristen Knutson）就曾警告，不应仅靠简单的关联性就妄下结论。克努森博士是西北大学研究神经病学和睡眠医学的副教授，他在接受《洛杉矶时报》采访时表示，真正的问题在于，对于那些生活在早起世界的夜猫子来说，他们睡得太晚，但又不得不起得很早。
Dr. Knutson’s study noted a number of other behaviors that could contribute to increased health risks, mostly relating to diet and exercise. While 24-hour gyms exist, opportunities to take part in classes or athletics are practically unheard-of late at night and overnight. Food options for those who eat while others are typically sleeping are often limited to fast food and greasy-spoon fare.
他的研究还指出了一些其他可能增加健康风险的行为，主要与饮食和运动有关。比如24小时健身房的存在，让人们能在深夜甚至整夜参加课程或锻炼，这在从前是闻所未闻的。此外，对于那些需要在深夜吃饭的人来说，只有快餐和油腻的食物可供他们选择。
These factors suggest there is more to consider than just sleep.
这些因素都说明，需要考虑的可不仅仅是睡觉本身这件事儿。
None of the experts we spoke with suggested that people with owl schedules who get restful sleep each night, eat a healthy diet, exercise, form meaningful social connections and get some sunlight each day were at significant risk of an overall decline in their general health, or an early death, based solely on their sleep schedule.
我们采访过的每位专家都表示，如果每晚休息充足，饮食健康，积极锻炼，参与有意义的社交活动，每天再晒晒太阳，即使是夜猫子，也并不会仅因为睡得晚就面临健康水平整体下降的风险，也不会因此而死得更早。
Dr. Knutson acknowledged as much in the study’s conclusion.
克努森博士在其研究结论中也表明，情况确实如此。
Sleep habits are changing with time and technology
睡眠习惯随着时间和科技而变化
In the 1735 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanac, Benjamin Franklin wrote: “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” People at the time agreed, if mostly out of necessity. Electricity was more than a century away and the jobs of the era were primarily in farming, ranching and manufacturing — all of which typically took place outdoors.
本杰明•富兰克林在1735年版的《穷理查年鉴》中写道：“早睡早起让人健康、富裕、聪明。”当时人们赞同这一观点，多半是客观条件使然。那时候离电力普及还有一个多世纪，人们的工作，仍然主要集中在农牧业和制造业这些典型的户外劳动中。
Owls of the period were seen as lazy and unmotivated, the types who frequented bars, brothels and jail cells, often sleeping late into the day. At the time, societal views of owls revolved mostly around the notion that they were to be avoided at all costs, Stephen Innes wrote in his book “Creating the Commonwealth: The Economic Culture of Puritan New England.”
那时的夜猫子常被认为懒散又无所事事，只有经常光顾酒吧、妓院，以及被关在监狱牢房的人才会睡到太阳晒屁股。斯蒂芬•英尼斯（Stephen Innes）在他的著作《创造英联邦：新英格兰清教徒的经济文化》中写道，在当时，主流社会的观念，是不惜一切代价避免成为夜猫子。
Two centuries passed and not much changed. A 1942 Gallup poll reported that only 3 percent of Americans slept fewer than five hours a night, with most households averaging 7.9 hours.
就这样过去了两个世纪，情况基本没什么变化。1942年的盖洛普民意调查显示，只有3％的美国人每晚睡眠时间不足5小时，大多数家庭平均每天睡眠时间是7.9小时。
Owls represented a statistical anomaly; they were outliers who weren’t, and perhaps still aren’t, well understood. Franklin’s adage had become so ingrained that even the advent of electricity couldn’t keep Americans’ heads off their pillows each night. But that was about to change.
夜猫子代表了统计学中的异常现象，是从前不曾、现在或许仍然不被理解的异类。即便电力开始出现，富兰克林那句名言可谓根深蒂固，让美国人迫不及待地在夜幕降临之后躺平。但情况开始变了。
By 1954, more than half of American households owned at least one television set. By the early ’90s, we’d reached the same milestone for the personal computer. And just a few years later, more than half the country was connected to the internet.
到1954年，已经有超过一半的美国家庭拥有至少一台电视。到90年代初，电脑也达成了同样的里程碑式的成就。仅仅几年之后，超过半数的美国人接入了互联网。
In 2013, Gallup revisited the poll. This time, those sleeping fewer than five hours a night had ballooned to 14 percent. On average, Americans were sleeping less than ever, just 6.8 hours a night.
2013年，再次进行的盖洛普民意调查显示，每晚睡眠时间不足5小时的人数激增至了14％。 美国人的睡眠时间比以往任何时期都要少，平均只有6.8小时。
Being a night owl isn’t all bad
做个夜猫子并不全是坏处
Today, larks have a distinct advantage because they run on society’s schedule. Owls, by contrast, abide only the laws of their own bodies. Still, owls do have a few advantages. Studies have found them to be smarter, more creative and more consistent in their work than larks.
现在，早鸟族的一大明显优势是他们是按照社会的作息表来运转的。而与之相反，夜猫子们则完全遵循自己身体的规律生活。但其实夜猫子也有他们的优势。研究发现，夜猫子比早鸟族更聪明，更富有创意，工作状态更稳定。
One such study, in 2009, monitored larks and owls over two nights in a sleep lab. Researchers at the University of Liège in Belgium let the participants choose their own sleep and wake times, and required them to take a test when they first woke up, and a second one 10 hours later. On the first test, both groups performed roughly the same. But on the second, owls significantly outperformed larks, suggesting they were better equipped to maintain a baseline level of mental performance throughout the day.
2009年比利时列日大学的一项研究，在睡眠实验室中监测了早鸟族和夜猫子两个晚上。研究人员让参与者自主选择睡觉和起床时间，并要求他们在第一次醒来时做个测试，在10小时后进行第二次测试。在第一个测试中，两组参与者的表现基本相同。但在第二次测试中，夜猫子明显比早鸟族表现更好，这说明他们更善于把思维表现保持在基线水平。
Another study of more than 20,000 adolescents and teenagers found that those who reported a later sleep schedule were more intelligent and creative, on average, than those who went to bed early. The findings applied across a variety of demographic variables, including ethnicity, education and religion. However, while the study was broad, it relied on self-reporting as opposed to objective observation.
对2万多名青少年进行的另一项研究发现，平均而言，那些声称喜欢晚睡的人比早睡的人更聪明且更有创造力。这一调查结果适用于各种人口统计变量，包括种族、教育和宗教。不过，虽然研究范围很广，但它依赖的是自我报告而不是客观观察。
It’s not you, it’s society
不怪你，怪社会
Katherine Sharkey, an associate professor of medicine at Brown University, believes that going against the body’s natural tendencies may be the real culprit behind the health issues some owls experience.
布朗大学医学副教授凯瑟琳•夏基（Katherine Sharkey）认为，违背身体自然生理偏好，可能是夜猫子健康问题背后的真正罪魁祸首。
“An owl’s internal body clock prevents him or her from falling asleep early enough to get enough sleep before they must wake to meet their obligations,” she said in an email. “I would speculate that if night owls were allowed to follow their preferred schedules, there would be fewer risks associated with being an owl.”
“夜猫子体内的时钟阻止他们早睡，但他们又不得不早起工作，所以总是得不到足够的睡眠，”她在邮件中说道，“我推测，如果夜猫子能按照自己喜欢的作息来生活，晚睡的风险将会小很多。”
Daniel Gartenberg, a sleep coach who once gave a TED Talk on the benefits of deep sleep, agreed. “In my opinion, the problem isn’t when you sleep, but the natural misalignment in the sleep schedule of those who work a 9-to-5 job,” he said.
睡眠科学家丹尼尔•加滕伯格（Daniel Gartenberg）也表示赞同，他曾在TED演讲中谈到深度睡眠的好处。“在我看来，问题不在于什么时候睡，而在于那些人的自然作息和朝九晚五的工作之间产生了错位，”他说。
For owls, this is a bit of a problem. While their bodies might not be ready for sleep until the wee hours, society remains steadfast in its belief that earlier is better. “It’s these societal pressures that contribute to a growing number of sleep-deprived individuals,” Dr. Gartenberg said.
对于夜猫子来说，这的确是个问题。他们的身体要在凌晨时分才会调整到睡觉状态，但社会却坚信早睡才是更佳选择。“是社会压力导致越来越多的人睡眠不足，”加滕伯格博士说。
In Seattle, one school district started class an hour later each day for a test group of students at two high schools to see if a later start time would be a solution for sleep deprivation among children. Those who benefited from the extra hour slept an additional 34 minutes, on average. And while an extra half-hour may seem inconsequential, the additional rest led to a 4.5 percent increase in their median final classroom grades. This, in most classrooms, constitutes half a letter grade: the difference between an A and a B or a passing grade and a failing one, in some cases.
为了验证推迟上课时间能否解决孩子们的睡眠不足问题，西雅图一个学区的两所高中把一个班每天的上课时间推迟一小时，结果发现，这些学生平均多睡了34分钟。多睡的这半个小时虽然看起来无关紧要，但实际上它让班级期末成绩中位数提升了4.5%。对于大多数课程来说，这意味着半个分数等级：得优还是得良，能过还是要挂科。
The results were mirrored in a 2017 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It stated that only a quarter of high school-age children were sleeping the recommended eight hours each night, and that students could benefit from a few additional hours of shut-eye each night.
这一结果在美国疾病控制和预防中心2017年的一项调查中得到了映证。调查指出，只有1/4的高中生能睡满推荐的8小时睡眠，而每天晚上多睡几个小时，的确能够给他们带来好处。
It’s not just students. A 2013 survey of more than 2,000 working adults suggested that the autonomy to pick their own schedule increased employee output. The survey, conducted by the research division of Gensler, an architecture and design firm, noted increased job satisfaction, higher productivity and a more favorable view of employers among workers who were allowed to pick when and where they worked each day.
不仅是学生，2013年针对超过2000名在职成年人进行的一项调查表明，自主选择工作时间提高了员工的产出。该调查由建筑和设计公司甘斯勒（Gensler）的研究部门完成，他们发现，自主选择工作时间和地点可以提升员工的工作满意度、生产力和对雇主的积极态度。
Is it worth trying to force a night owl to be a morning lark?
强迫夜猫子变成早鸟族，值得一试吗？
If you’re a night owl, Dr. Sharkey believes you should try to shift to an earlier schedule only if it helps you get more sleep.
如果你是个夜猫子，如果早睡能让你睡得更多，那就值得一试，夏基博士是这么认为的。
For some people, she notes, this adaptation is unreasonable “because they struggle to adapt to societal demands and experience negative consequences and feel unwell.”
不过她也提醒到，对于某些人来说这种改变是不合理的，因为“他们拼命适应社会需求，但自己却受到了负面影响，感到很难受”。
While there are dozens of tricks to make a night owl more of a lark — avoiding screens at night, limiting caffeine intake, sleeping in a cooler space or cutting calories after a certain hour — few are likely to make much of a difference over the long term. In a biological sense, you’re just fighting against yourself. The ideal solution, according to our experts, is to find ways to embrace your natural rhythm, even if it means finding a more flexible job or taking night courses instead of morning ones.
晚上少看手机，减少咖啡因摄入，在凉爽的温度下睡觉或者睡前不吃东西，虽然这些办法有可能让夜猫子睡得稍微早一点，但从长远来看，并不会带来大的改观。从生物学意义上讲，这只是让你跟自己较劲罢了。用专家的话说，理想的解决方案是敞开怀抱，拥抱你自己的自然规律，即便这意味着你得当个自由工作者，或者去上夜间课程而不是白天上课。
