Contrary to popular belief,

    people who sleep six to seven hours anight live longer, and those who sleep eight hours or more dieyounger, according to the latest study everconducted on the subject. The study, which tracked the sleepinghabits of 1.1 million Americans for six years, undermines theadvice of many sleep doctors who have long recommended that peopleget eight or nine hours of sleep every night.

    與人們的普遍觀念恰恰相反，就睡眠所做的最新研究發現每晚睡6-7個小時的人要比睡8個小時或更長時間的人壽命長。這項對110萬美國人的睡眠習慣進行為期6年跟蹤調查的研究削弱了很多睡眠醫生長期以來建議人們每晚要睡8-9個小時的說法。

    "There's an old idea that people should sleep eight hours a night,which has no more scientific basis than the gold at the end of therainbow," said Daniel Kripke, a professor of psychiatry at theUniversity of California at San Diego who led the study, publishedin a recent issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. "That's anold wives' tale."

    "舊的觀念認為人們每晚應睡足8小時，但其實這個觀點就如同彩虹末端的金色一樣毫無科學依據，"圣狄哥加州大學的精神病學教授DanielKripke說道，他領導進行的這項研究的結果發表在最近一期的《大眾精神病學檔案》上。"這一觀點不過是老婦人的老生常談而已。"

    The study wasnot designed to answer why sleeping longer may be deleterious orwhether people could extend their life span by sleeping less.

    這項研究目的不是試圖解釋為何睡得多可能是有害的，也不是解釋人們能否通過減少睡眠來延長壽命。

    But Kripkesaid it was possible that people who slept longer tended to sufferfrom sleep apnea, a condition where impaired breathing puts stresson the heart and brain. He also speculated that the need for sleepwas akin to food, where getting less than people want may be betterfor them.

    但Kripke說這有可能是由于睡得多的人就容易遭受睡眠中的呼吸暫停，這是一種減弱呼吸給心臟和大腦帶來壓力的狀況。他還認為人們對睡眠的需求就如同對食物需求一樣，實際攝入量比需求量少一點可能對健康有益。

    The study quickly provoked cautions and criticism, with some sleepexperts saying that the main problem in America's sleep habits wasdeprivation, not sleeping too much.

    這項研究立刻引發了很多告誡和批評，一些睡眠專家說美國人睡眠習慣存在的主要問題是人們缺少睡眠，而不是已經睡得太多。

    "None of thissays sleep kills people," said Daniel Buysse, a University ofPittsburgh psychiatrist and the immediate past president of theAmerican Academy of Sleep Medicine. 匹茲堡大學精神病學家，即美國睡眠醫學會剛剛離任的前任會長Daniel Buysse說："這決不是說睡眠導致死亡。"

    "You should sleep as much as you need to feel awake, alert andattentive the next day," Buysse added. "I'm much more concernedabout people short-changing themselves on sleep than peoplesleeping too long."

    "你的睡眠要足夠使你第二天保持清醒、警覺和專注，"Buysse補充道。"我對人們減少自己睡眠時間的擔心要遠遠超過對他們睡得太多的擔心。"

    Sleeplessnessproduces a variety of health consequences that were not measured inthe study, critics said.

    批評者們說這項研究未能考慮失眠對人們健康所造成的種種后果。

    "The amount ofsleep you get impacts how alert you are, your risk for accidents,how you perform at work and school," said James Walsh, president ofthe National Sleep Foundation, a non-profit that advocates forbetter sleep habits. "There's much more to life than how long youlive."

    "睡眠時間的長短會影響你的警覺程度、出事故的可能性和你工作表現以及學習成績，"JamesWalsh說，他是國家睡眠基金會主席，該基金會是一家致力于提倡改善睡眠習慣的非贏利性機構。"生命的意義遠不只是在于它的長短。"

    The study used data from an extensive survey conducted by theAmerican Cancer Society from 1992 to 1998. Women sleeping 8, 9 and 10 hours a night had 13 percent,23 percent and 41 percent higher risk of dying, respectively, thanthose who slept 7 hours, the study found.

    Men sleeping 8, 9 and 10 hours anight had 12 percent, 17 percent and 34 percent greater risk ofdying within the study period.

    這項研究利用了美國癌癥學會在1992-1998年期間開展的一次廣泛調查所獲得的數據，它發現每晚睡8、9和10個小時的女性與睡7小時的女性相比，死亡率分別上升了13%、23%和41%.在此研究期間，每晚睡8、9和10個小時的男性與睡7小時男性相比，死亡率則上升了12%、17%和34%.

    By contrast,sleeping five hours a night increased the risk for women by only 5percent, and for men, by 11 percent. Among people who slept justthree hours a night, women had a 33 percent increase in death, andmen had a 19 percent increase, compared with those who slept sevenhours.

    與此相比，每晚睡5個小時的女性的死亡率僅上升了5%,男性上升了11%.在每晚僅睡3個小時的人群中，與睡7個小時的人相比，女性死亡率上升33%,男性上升19%.

    Kripke, the new study's leader, pointed out that relatively fewpeople slept so little--1 in 1,000--where as almost half of allpeople slept eight hours or more.

    領導此項研究的Kripke指出：相對而言，睡這么少的人比較少--千分之一而已，而近乎有一半的人要睡8個小時甚至更多。

    The study also found that taking a sleeping pill every dayincreased the risk of death by 25 percent.

    研究還發現每天服一粒安眠藥會導致死亡率上升25%.

    He recommendedthat people should not routinely take pills to get eight hours ofsleep. While acknowledging that the sleeping pills used from 1992to 1998 were not the same pills being used today, Kripke said,"without data showing that contemporary pills are safe, these dataprovide the best information about whether sleeping pills are safefor long-term use."

    他建議人們不要為了達到8小時的睡眠就經常服用安眠藥。雖然Kripke承認1992-1998年期間所使用的安眠藥和今天的安眠藥不一樣了，但是他說，"只要還沒有數據表明當今的安眠藥是安全的，這些數據在說明安眠藥長期服用是否安全方面就仍有說服力。"

    Kripke, whose study was funded by federal tax dollars, saiddoctors' recommendations that everyone get eight hours of sleep anight may have been partly influenced by the drug companies thatmake sleeping pills. He cited a report from a public relations firmrepresenting the medicine Ambien, which gave money to the NationalSleep Foundation to alert people about an insomnia "public healthcrisis" as part of a marketing campaign.

    Kripke的研究是由聯邦政府資助的，他說醫生們之所以建議每人每晚睡8小時，這在一定程度上可能是受到了安眠藥生產公司的影響。他引用了一家公共關系公司撰寫的關于Ambien藥廠的報告作為例子。該報告指出Ambien藥廠資助了國家睡眠基金會來警告人們失眠問題已造成一場"公共健康危機",而這其實是Ambien藥廠營銷活動的一部分。

    Both Buysseand Walsh have served as paid consultants to makers of sleepingpills, but both denied being influenced by that role. Walsh saidmost researchers in the field had accepted consulting fees from thecompanies, because "99 percent of the funding to support this typeof research is from pharmaceutical companies."

    Buysse和Walsh都在擔任安眠藥生產廠家的顧問，而且拿薪水，但是他們兩人都否認受到了這一職位的影響。Walsh說這個領域的大多數研究者都接受藥廠支付的咨詢費，因為"這類研究經費有99%是醫藥公司資助的。"

    Buysse, who wrote an editorial accompanying Kripke's article, saidmore research was needed to pin down exactly what the connectionwas between sleep and the risk of death. The study relied onpeople's own reports of their sleeping habits, which can be faulty.When people are asked how long they sleep, they usually report howlong they spend in bed, Buysse said.  Buysse為Kripke的文章配發了一篇社論，他說有必要做進一步的研究以確定睡眠和死亡率之間究竟是什么聯系。他說這一研究靠的是人們對自己睡眠習慣的匯報，而這有可能會出錯。當問人們睡多長時間時，他們通常匯報的是他們在床上呆的時間。

    That couldmean that people who reported sleeping eight hours were reallysleeping around seven and a half hours, which would bring them intothe study's lower risk category. Buysse also disagreed that sleepwas like food, arguing that while people can restrict sleep, theycannot "choose" to sleep longer.

    這就意味著那些匯報8小時睡眠者實際睡了7.5個小時左右，而這就會把他們列入該項研究的低危險率一類。Buysse也不同意睡眠如飲食的觀點，他反駁說雖然人們可以限制自己的睡眠，他們卻無法"選擇"睡得更久些。

    DonaldBliwise, a psychologist at Emory University, in Atlanta, saidstudies had shown that when people were allowed to sleep howeverlong they wanted, without cues from alarm clocks and watches, theyoften slept 14 to 15 hours a day for the first few days.

    位于亞特蘭大的Emory大學的心理學家DonaldBliwise說已有研究表明，當讓人們隨心所欲，不受鬧鐘和手表提示地去睡時，他們經常在最初幾天中每天會睡14-15個小時。

    "Everyone,"Bliwise said, "walks around somewhat sleep deprived."

    Bliwise說："每個人在一定程度上都沒有睡夠。"