多睡覺:增加睡眠有助于預(yù)防感冒

多睡覺:增加睡眠有助于預(yù)防感冒

The viruses that cause the common cold are always lurking. But consider this: Even if we touch a doorknob or keyboard that's covered in cold germs from an infected person, we don't always catch the cold.

引起普通感冒的病毒總是潛伏著。但考慮一下這個：即使我們觸摸一個門把手或鍵盤，上面覆蓋著感染者身上的感冒病菌，我們也不會總是感冒。

"Sometimes when we're exposed to viruses, we end up not getting sick," says Aric Prather, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies how our behaviors can influence our health.

“有時當我們接觸到病毒時，我們最后不會生病，”美國加州大學(xué)舊金山分校的心理學(xué)家阿里克·普拉瑟說，他研究我們的行為如何影響我們的健康。

Our immune systems often fend off the viruses that cause colds. But, how well our bodies mount this defense can vary.

我們的免疫系統(tǒng)常常能抵御引起感冒的病毒。但是，我們身體的防御能力是不同的。

Prather wanted to document the extent to which a good night's sleep is protective. So, he and a group of colleagues recruited 164 healthy men and women — their average age was 30 years old — to take part in a study. Using sleep diaries and a device similar to a Fitbit, the researchers assessed each participant's sleep for a week.

普拉瑟想要證明一夜好眠能在多大程度上起到保護作用。因此，他和一組同事招募了164名平均年齡為30歲的健康男性和女性來參加一項研究。研究人員使用睡眠日記和類似于Fitbit的設(shè)備，對每個參與者進行了為期一周的睡眠評估。

Then the scientists sprayed a live common cold virus into each person's nose.

然后科學(xué)家們把一種活的普通感冒病毒噴到每個人的鼻子里。

"We infected them with the cold virus," Prather says, then quarantined everybody and watched to see who got sick. The study's results appear this week in the journal Sleep.

“我們用感冒病毒感染了他們，” 普拉瑟說，然后隔離了每個人，觀察誰生病了。研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在本周的《睡眠》雜志上。

"What we found was that individuals who were sleeping the least were substantially more likely to develop a cold," Prather says.

“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)睡眠時間最少的人患感冒的可能性更大，” 普拉瑟說。

In fact, the adults who averaged five or six hours nightly during the study were four times more likely to catch the cold than people who slept at least seven hours per night.

事實上，在研究中每晚平均睡5到6個小時的成年人患感冒的幾率是每晚至少睡7個小時的人的4倍。

Analyzed another way: About 39 percent of those who slept six hours or less got sick. Of those who slept more than six hours, "only 18 percent got colds," Prather says. "It's striking."

以另一種方式分析:大約39%的睡眠不足6小時的人會生病。在那些睡眠時間超過6小時的人中，“只有18%的人感冒，” 普拉瑟說。“這是驚人的。”

Why a good night's sleep is protective isn't yet clear, but the scientists have a hunch.

為什么晚上睡個好覺能起到保護作用還不清楚，但科學(xué)家們有一種直覺。

"There's evidence that people who don't get enough sleep show higher levels of inflammation," says Sheldon Cohen, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University who's been studying the common cold for decades and co-authored the study.

卡內(nèi)基梅隆大學(xué)心理學(xué)家謝爾登•科恩表示:“有證據(jù)表明，睡眠不足的人更容易患炎癥。”科恩數(shù)十年來一直在研究普通感冒，并參與撰寫了這項研究報告。

Other factors and behaviors may increase susceptibility too, research suggests. For instance, age may play a role, and smoking, chronic stress and a lack of exercise can all make us more susceptible.

研究表明，其他因素和行為也可能增加易感性。例如，年齡可能是一個因素，吸煙、長期壓力和缺乏鍛煉都可能使我們更容易受到影響。

As for sleep's value, Prather's study is one more bit of evidence that many of us aren't getting enough. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get at least seven hours per night. And children and teens need even more.

至于睡眠的價值，普拉瑟的研究是我們許多人睡眠不足的又一個證據(jù)。美國國家睡眠基金會建議成年人每晚至少睡7個小時。兒童和青少年需要更多。