夏令時有害健康

Daylight saving time is bad for your health

夏令時有害健康

Why do we have daylight saving time (DST), when it seems like it is constantly the butt of jokes? Why do we even have it if it appears to be bad for our health?

夏令時的存在似乎是個笑話，但爲什麼會存在夏令時呢？如果夏令時有害健康，我們又爲何要實行呢？

It's an old joke. One idea for DST was presented in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin in a satirical essay in the Journal de Paris as a way to save on candle wax. It was first implemented in Europe and the US during World War I. The implementation of DST has, across the last hundred years, been supported by purported reductions in energy usage and increases in daily productivity. While in the US it has taken a few different forms, in 1966 the Uniform Time Act cemented the current schedule of six months of standard time and six months of DST.

這是個經典笑話。本傑明·富蘭克林（Benjamin Franklin）於1784年在《巴黎日報》（Journal de Paris）上寫了一篇諷刺文章，他表示實行夏令時制是爲了節省蠟燭。在第一次世界大戰期間，夏令時制首次在歐洲和美國實行。在過去的一百年裏，夏令時制因能減少能源使用和提高日生產率而得到了大家的支持。在美國，夏令時制有幾種不同的形式，但在1966年，《統一時間法案》確立了美國本土使用六個月的標準時間和六個月的夏令時時間。

Other arguments in favor of DST are that it allows people more time to enjoy leisure activities during the summer months and that it leads to an increase in physical activity — but all of these remain controversial. A 2014 study did not find any difference in activity patterns between people living in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico and residents of Arizona, a state which does not observe DST. Studies on energy usage have also had mixed results: one showed moderate savings in energy spending in Norway and Sweden, while another showed an increasing energy spending in Indiana.

支持夏令時的其他論點包括，實行夏令時制可以使人們在夏季時分有更多的時間享受休閒活動，從而增加了身體活動——但事實與否仍存在爭議。2014年的一項研究發現：科羅拉多州，猶他州和新墨西哥州的居民與未實行夏令時制的亞利桑那州居民之間並不存在活動方式上的差異。關於能源使用的研究也得出了不同的結果：一項研究表明挪威和瑞典的能源支出有所降低，而另一項研究表明印第安納州的能源支出有所增加。

Work and play are one thing, but it also matters that our bodies naturally run on approximately 24-hour cycles. Just like we have time zones so that we can keep timing consistent across the world, we also each have a system in our body that helps keep our physiological timing in check. This "master" clock is in the brain's hypothalamus and is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). It can sync time throughout the body through hormonal and chemical signals.

工作和休閒是一個因素，但同樣重要的是，我們的身體會以24小時爲週期運作。正如爲了克服時間上的混亂，國際上統一實行了分區計時法一樣，我們每個人的體內都有一個系統，可以幫助我們控制生理時間。這個“主”鍾位於大腦的下丘腦，被稱爲視交叉上核（SCN）。它可以通過荷爾蒙和化學信號同步整個身體的時間。

These clocks are disrupted in many of the most devastating human diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders (i.e. Alzheimer’s disease), psychiatric disorders, and heart disease.

這些時鐘在許多致命性人類疾病（例如癌症、糖尿病、神經退行性疾病（即阿爾茨海默症）、精神病和心臟病）中都受到干擾。