什么是“社会时差”?它会让你生病吗?

什么是“社会时差”?它会让你生病吗?

In a perfect world, I would go to sleep at night when tired and wake up after about eight hours of refreshing sleep at a time dictated by my internal body clock. But this rarely happens. Between my older daughter's swim team practices that begin before dawn and my younger daughter's gymnastics practices that run well past my ideal bedtime, I am often torn (like many parents) between late nights and early mornings.

在一个完美的世界里，当我晚上累了的时候，我就会去睡觉，然后在8个小时的清醒睡眠后醒来，这个时间是由我体内的生物钟决定的。但这种情况很少发生。我大女儿的游泳队训练在黎明前开始，小女儿的体操训练远远超过了我理想的就寝时间。我经常(像许多父母一样)在深夜和清晨之间左右为难。

Social jet lag makes you more than just tired. It can make you more susceptible to obesity, Alzheimer's disease and even cancer. (Photo: Akos Nagy/Shutterstock)

If we happen to get one day on the weekend that neither of them has practice or a meet, our alarm clocks are turned off and we all blissfully sleep in as long as we want. But research shows that by catching up on sleep on the weekends, I may actually be inducing a form of "social jet lag" that leaves me susceptible to a slew of chronic illnesses.

如果我们碰巧在周末有一天，他们俩都没有练习，也没有见面，我们的闹钟就会被关掉，我们高兴地睡多久就睡多久。但研究表明，周末补觉实际上可能会引发一种“社交时差”，让我容易患上一系列慢性疾病。

Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist at the Institute of Medical Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, coined the term social jet lag in 2006 to describe the effect that drastic changes in sleep patterns can have on the body. Roenneberg noticed many adults tend to sleep in on weekends to compensate for poor sleep during the week or to accommodate late nights of socializing over the weekend.

德国慕尼黑路德维希-马克西米利安大学(ludwigi - maximilian University)医学心理学研究所(Institute of Medical Psychology)的时间生物学家蒂尔·伦内伯格(Till Roenneberg)在2006年创造了“社会时差”(social jet lag)一词，用来描述睡眠模式的剧烈变化对身体的影响。伦内伯格注意到，许多成年人往往会在周末睡懒觉，以弥补工作日的睡眠不足，或适应周末晚些时候的社交活动。

These adults think they're being healthy by catching up on sleep when they can, but Roenneberg found that changes in sleep patterns actually disturb body systems that rely on a circadian rhythm, such as temperature regulation, cell repair and digestion.

这些成年人认为只要有时间补觉就很健康，但伦内伯格发现，睡眠模式的改变实际上会扰乱依赖昼夜节律的身体系统，比如温度调节、细胞修复和消化。

The science to back it up

科学证明了这一点

Teen girls are particularly susceptible to weight issues because of irregular sleep schedules on weekends versus weekdays. (Photo: PAKULA PIOTR/Shutterstock)

A study conducted by Duke University Medical Center analyzed the sleep patterns of almost 2,000 participants between the ages of 54 and 93 to determine if social jet lag would affect their health. Researchers found that those who slept irregular hours on the weekends were more likely to suffer from higher blood sugar levels, body mass index, blood pressure and more likely to suffer a stroke or heart attack.

杜克大学医学中心(Duke University Medical Center)进行的一项研究分析了近2000名年龄在54岁至93岁之间的参与者的睡眠模式，以确定社会时差是否会影响他们的健康。研究人员发现，周末睡眠不规律的人更容易患高血糖、体重指数、血压升高，更容易中风或心脏病发作。

However, the study's authors note that their findings don't show causality. "We can't conclude that sleep irregularity results in health risks, or whether health conditions affect sleep. Perhaps all of these things are impacting each other," said Dr. Jessica Lunsford-Avery, assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences from the Duke University Medical Center, in the study.

然而，该研究的作者指出，他们的发现并没有显示出因果关系。“我们不能得出睡眠不规律会导致健康风险的结论，也不能得出健康状况是否会影响睡眠的结论。”或许所有这些因素都在相互影响，”杜克大学医学中心(Duke University Medical Center)精神病学和行为科学助理教授杰西卡·伦斯福德-埃弗里(Jessica Lunsford-Avery)博士在研究中说。

These findings further expound on previous studies that irregular sleep patterns could be linked to obesity and other health issues.

这些发现进一步阐明了之前的研究，即不规则的睡眠模式可能与肥胖和其他健康问题有关。

In an earlier study published in Current Biology, researchers found that social jet lag was directly associated with increased body mass index, a key marker in diagnosing obesity. Additional studies have found similar links between changes in sleep patterns and chronic health conditions. A study published in JAMA Neurology found that older adults who reported changes in sleep patterns also had increased accumulation of the beta-amyloid proteins which are known precursors of Alzheimer’s disease. Another study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that for every hour of social jet lag a person experiences, the likelihood of developing heart disease increases by 11%.

在《当代生物学》(Current Biology)上发表的一项较早的研究中，研究人员发现，社交时差与体重指数(bmi)的增加直接相关，而体重指数是诊断肥胖的一个关键指标。其他研究也发现，睡眠模式的改变与慢性健康状况之间存在类似的联系。发表在《美国医学会神经病学》(JAMA Neurology)上的一项研究发现，报告睡眠模式发生变化的老年人体内β-淀粉样蛋白的积累也有所增加。美国睡眠医学会(American Academy of Sleep Medicine)的另一项研究发现，一个人每经历一个小时的社交时差，患心脏病的可能性就会增加11%。

So what can you do to reduce your health risks? In a perfect world, sleep would get more respect. School administrators, employers and we as individuals would align activities around sleep patterns rather than trying to squeeze sleep into the cracks of our lives.

那么你能做些什么来降低你的健康风险呢?在一个完美的世界里，睡眠会得到更多的尊重。学校管理者、雇主和我们个人会根据睡眠模式来安排活动，而不是试图把睡眠挤进生活的缝隙。