英语晨读：睡眠与肥胖

 　　Sleep and Obesity¹

　　A study published Monday found that people who sleep less tend to be fat.

　　Monday's study covered 1,000 people and found that total sleep time decreased as body mass index -- a measure of weight based on height -- increased.

　　Men slept an average of 27 minutes less than women and overweight and obese² patients slept less than patients with normal weights, it said. In general the fatter subjects slept about 1.8 hours a week less than those with normal weights.

　　"Americans experience insufficient³ sleep and corpulent bodies. Clinicians are aware of the burden of obesity on patients," the study said.

　　"Our findings suggest that major extensions of sleep time may not be necessary, as an extra 20 minutes of sleep per night seems to be associated with a lower body mass index," it added.

　　"We caution that this study does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between restricted sleep and obesity (but) investigations⁴ demonstrating success in weight loss via extensions of sleep would help greatly to establish such a relationship."

　　Obesity has been rising dramatically in developed countries and reached epidemic⁵ levels in the United States, it added, leading to a variety of health problems.

1 obesity   

n.肥胖，肥大

参考例句：

• One effect of overeating may be obesity.吃得过多能导致肥胖。
• Sugar and fat can more easily lead to obesity than some other foods.糖和脂肪比其他食物更容易导致肥胖。

2 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

3 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

4 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

5 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。