第 1536期:Social jet lag

From Monday to Friday, many of us have an early start and a long day. By the time we've gone to bed and managed to fall asleep, we've been woken up by the alarm to do it all again. Come the weekend, and we're totally exhausted. We sleep in way past our usual wake-up time just to stay in sync enough to start again on Monday.

从周一到周五，我们中的许多人都早早开始了漫长的一天。当我们上床睡觉并设法入睡时，我们已经被闹钟吵醒了，要重新做一遍。周末来了，我们已经筋疲力尽了。我们的睡眠时间超过了通常的起床时间，只是为了保持足够的同步，以便在星期一重新开始。

Welcome to social jet lag. That's the term for the disparity between our working-week sleeping pattern, when our sleep times relate to our responsibilities, and the weekend, when we can wake when we choose. And depending on what type of person you are, the difference can be significant.

欢迎来到社交时差。这是我们工作周睡眠模式（我们的睡眠时间与我们的责任相关）与周末（我们可以选择何时醒来）之间差异的术语。取决于你是什么类型的人，差异可能很大。

For night owls - those whose natural rhythm is to wake and go to bed later - there can be significant health-related issues, according to a recent study published by Taylor and Francis Group online. The study concludes the further the divergence between working-week and weekend sleep times, the greater the health issues – including a higher risk of heart disease and other metabolic problems. And because so many jobs and tasks start early, night owls are effectively forced into harmonising with the early birds.

根据泰勒和弗朗西斯集团最近在线发表的一项研究，对于夜猫子——那些自然节奏是晚起晚睡的人——可能存在重大的健康相关问题。该研究得出结论，工作周和周末睡眠时间之间的差异越大，健康问题就越大——包括患心脏病和其他代谢问题的风险更高。而且由于许多工作和任务开始得早，夜猫子实际上被迫与早起的鸟儿和谐相处。

So what can night owls do: force themselves to integrate by sacrificing their lie in? 'It's the worst thing you can do' says Professor Till Roenneberg, professor of chronobiology at the Institute of Medical Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. This is because people's sleep pattern is half determined by genetics. The other half correlates with their age and environment. Getting less sleep is unlikely to realign your genetic tendencies.

那么夜猫子能做什么：通过牺牲自己的谎言来强迫自己融入？慕尼黑路德维希-马克西米利安大学医学心理学研究所的时间生物学教授 Till Roenneberg 教授说：“这是你能做的最糟糕的事情。”这是因为人们的睡眠模式有一半是由基因决定的。另一半与他们的年龄和环境有关。睡眠不足不太可能重新调整您的遗传倾向。

Our bodies evolved to coordinate with the rise and fall of the Sun. We should feel sleepy as the light dissipates. But modern life, with its artificial light and modern devices, such as computers and smartphones, means we have deviated. Now we are exposed to more light for longer periods of time, keeping our bodies awake longer. For night owls, who already tend to sleep later, this delays things even further.

v我们的身体进化以配合太阳的升起和落下。当光线消散时，我们应该感到困倦。但是现代生活，拥有人造光和现代设备，如电脑和智能手机，意味着我们已经偏离了方向。现在我们暴露在更多光线下的时间更长，让我们的身体保持更长时间的清醒。对于已经倾向于晚睡的夜猫子来说，这会进一步拖延时间。

One solution, beyond changing society's early-start tendencies, is to reorient our body clock by manipulating our exposure to light By taking more sunlight in the morning and minimising the amount of artificial light we are exposed to in the evening – particularly on electronic devices - we can rebalance our bodies to feel sleepy earlier. It's far from easy, but better that than losing your whole weekend to sleep. 

除了改变社会的早起倾向之外，一种解决方案是通过操纵我们对光线的照射来重新调整我们的生物钟。早上吸收更多的阳光，并尽量减少我们在晚上暴露在人造光下的量——尤其是在电子设备上——我们可以重新平衡我们的身体，让我们更早地感到困倦。这远非易事，但总比整个周末都无法入睡要好。

词汇表

in sync 同步的
disparity 差异
pattern 模式，习惯
relate 联系，与…一致
rhythm 规律
divergence 差异
harmonise 和…保持一致
integrate 融入（某群体）
correlate 与…相关，相互关联
realign 重新排列，改组
coordinate 配合
deviate 违背规则，偏离
reorient 重新适应，再调整
rebalance 再平衡