新奇事件簿 研究显示夜班损害健康（在线收听）

A new study suggests working shifts at night can be damaging to one's health. In particular, it increases the risk of several cancers, diabetes, mental illnesses, and various heart diseases. Researchers from the Sleep Research Centre at the U.K.'s University of Surrey discovered that many genes in the body needed to follow a regular 24-hour cycle, during which the body sleeps at night. If this cycle is broken up, up to 1,500 genes could get damaged, eventually resulting in potentially life-threatening diseases. Professor Derk-Jan Dijk said: "The study has important implications because we now need to discover why these rhythms exist and think about the consequences of that."

一项新的研究称，轮夜班会损害健康。尤其是会增加几种癌症，糖尿病，精神疾病和各种心脏病的风险。来自英国萨里大学睡眠研究中心的研究人员发现人体许多基因需要遵循常规的24小时生物钟，也就是身体在夜间睡觉。如果这种生物钟被打破，多达1500种基因会被损坏，最终导致潜在的威胁生命的疾病。Derk-Jan Dijk教授表示：“这项研究给了我们非常重要的启示，我们需要查明为何这些规律存在，并思考一下因此造成的后果。”

The human body has around 24,000 genes. Many of these switch off if the body does not follow a regular sleeping pattern. This can cause parts of the immune system to become less efficient, making us more susceptible to illnesses. Study co-author Dr Simon Archer said: "Over 97 per cent of rhythmic genes become out-of-sync with mistimed sleep, which really explains why we feel so bad during jet lag or if we have to work irregular shifts." Dr Dijk said that despite the results of the research, it would be difficult for people to change their lifestyles. He explained it was difficult for society to function without people working night shifts, but said people needed to understand the dangers and "mitigate the impact".

人体大约有2.4万个基因。如果人体没有遵循正常的睡眠模式，许多基因会停止活动。这会导致部分免疫系统效率降低，让我们更容易生病。研究联席作者Simon Archer博士表示：“超过97%的节律基因会和不合时宜的睡眠失去同步，这解释了为何我们在飞行时差或轮班时会感觉这么差。”Dijk博士表示，尽管我们了解到这样的研究结果，然而让人们改变生活方式是非常困难的。他解释说，如果没有人上夜班，社会很难运转，但是他说，人们需要了解夜班带来的危险，尽量减轻其带来的影响。