常年喝咖啡，老了睡不着

For many of us, a cup of strong coffee is just the thing to jolt us into action in the morning.

对于许多人来说，早上喝一杯浓咖啡会令人提神醒脑。

And with Britons drinking 95million cups a day, it has never been more popular.

现如今，英国人每天要喝9500万杯咖啡，以前从未如此流行。

But now scientists have discovered that a lifetime of daily coffees may shrink a part of the brain that controls sleep patterns.

科学家们最近发现，每天喝上一杯咖啡，可能会造成控制睡眠模式的大脑区域萎缩。

They think the findings may partly explain why some older people struggle to drop off.

他们认为这一发现或许可以解释一些老年人为什么睡不着觉。

Brain scans carried out by researchers at Seoul University in South Korea found moderate to heavy consumers – those drinking two cups a day for 30 years or more – had smaller pineal glands than those who rarely drank coffee.

韩国首尔大学的研究人员对一些老年人进行脑部扫描后发现，中度至重度消费者(每天饮用两杯，连喝30年过更久)的松果体，比那些很少喝咖啡的人更小。

The pineal gland is a pea-sized organ in the middle of the brain that releases a hormone called melatonin when it is time for the body to rest and sleep.

松果体是大脑中部一个如豌豆大小的器官，会在身体休息与睡眠时释放出一种叫做褪黑素的激素。

The smaller the gland is, the less melatonin it produces.

松果体越小，所分泌的褪黑素也就越少。

Although caffeine is well known as a short-term stimulant, this is thought to be one of the first studies to suggest it could have long-term effects on the brain.

虽然咖啡是一种众所周知的短期兴奋剂，但一项最新研究却提出它可能对大脑产生长期影响。

Researchers tracked 162 elderly healthy men and women and quizzed them on how much coffee they drank and how long they slept.

研究人员们追踪了162名健康老年男性与女性，并询问他们喝了多少咖啡以及睡了多长时间。

They then performed MRI brain scans to measure the volume of the pineal gland.

随后，研究人员对他们进行了颅脑MRI扫描，以测量其松果体的体积。

They found that coffee-lovers had pineal glands 20 per cent smaller than non-drinkers and experienced more problems sleeping.

他们发现，咖啡爱好者的松果体比不喝咖啡者要小20%，并且会遭遇更多睡眠问题。

In their report, published in the journal Sleep, the scientists warned: ‘Given the large amount of coffee consumption across the world and the rapid increase in the use of caffeine in children and adolescents over the past 30 years, we should be concerned with the potential adverse effects of lifetime coffee consumption.’

在发表于《Sleep》杂志上的报告中，科学家们警告称：「鉴于过去30年全世界咖啡量的巨大消耗，以及儿童与青少年咖啡因使用量的急剧增加，我们应该开始关注终生消耗咖啡所带来的潜在不利影响。」

However, Dr Neil Stanley, an independent sleep expert, said the research did not prove caffeine in coffee was harming sleep quality among the elderly.

然而，独立睡眠专家Neil Stanley博士却表示，该研究并未证明咖啡中的咖啡因会损害老年人的睡眠质量。

He added: ‘Different cups of coffee can have different levels of caffeine in them. But the study did not take this into account, nor any other sources of caffeine that they may have consumed over the years.’

他还补充道： 「不同的咖啡可能含有不同浓度的咖啡因。但该研究并没有考虑到这一点，也没有考虑到他们多年来可能消耗咖啡因的任何其他来源。」