时差N小时 值夜班的危害

It's time to go again to the A Moment of Science mailbag. Alistener writes:

又到了我们查看《科学一刻》栏目读者来信的时候了，一位听众这样写道：

Dear A Moment of Science,

亲爱的《科学一刻》栏目，

My husband works a night shift, and I'm worried that it might be affecting his health.

现在我丈夫在值夜班，我很担心这样会影响他的健康。

He sleepsduring the day, but somehow that doesn't seem the same as getting a good night's rest.

他现在都是白天睡觉，但不知怎么回事，这样休息的效果看似不如晚上休息那么好。

Am I worrying unnecessarily, or not?

我的担心是否有必要呢？

Actually, burning the midnight oil, as it were, may raise the risk for depression and some learningdeficits.

实际上，熬夜会增加人们罹患抑郁的风险，并且会导致学习能力不足。

But not only because people who work at night don't get enough sleep.

但是，这并不完全是因为在晚间工作的人们没得到足够的休息。

According to onestudy, scientists think it's also because of too much exposure to light.

根据一项研究，科学家们认为过多地暴露在光线下也是原因之一。

Because it raises the levels of stress hormones¹ in the body, hormones that have been linked todepression and to slower cognition.

因为光线会使得人体内应激激素水平增加，这种激素是与抑郁情绪和缓慢的认知有联系的。

Now, it's worth noting that the study was done on mice.

现在，值得注意的是，这项试验是在小白鼠身上进行的。

And although mice are sensitive to overexposure to light in ways similar to people, how humans reactto light is not identical to mice.

尽管小白鼠对于过度暴露在光线下的敏感反应与人类相似，但人类对光线的反应与小白鼠还是不尽相同的。

Still, though, it's also worth considering that humans evolved over millions of years rising with thesun and going to sleep when it got dark.

同时，人类在几百年来的进化过程中形成的日出而作日落而息的生活习惯也是值得考虑的一个因素。

It's only relatively² recently, with the advent³ of artificiallight, that we began being exposed to light at all hours of the day and night.

但是，由于近代人造光的发明，人类开始日日夜夜暴露在光线下。

So it's not such a radical⁴ notion that being up at night in the light when the body is built to beasleep in the dark could have some detrimental⁵ effects.

因此，人们在本该休息的夜间暴露在光下工作会产生一定的不利影响，这并不是一种激进的思维方式。

The science on the question is still evolving, but the bottom line is that there's some reason to bewary of being too much in the light.

在这个问题上，科学知识仍在继续发展和壮大，但是过多地暴露在光线下这个问题还是需要人们警觉的。

1 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

4 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

5 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。