研究發現早起的人不容易抑鬱大綱

Morning people have few problems springing out of bed bright and early to face the day.

對於愛早起的人來說，一大早從牀上爬起來迎接新的一天根本不是什麼難事兒。

Now it has emerged they are less likely to suffer from depression and are generally happier too.

如今科學家發現，愛早起的人不容易得抑鬱症，總體來說也更快樂。

A study has found morning ‘larks’ are up to 35 percent less likely to suffer from depressive symptoms, based on their genes.

一項研究指出，早起的人患抑鬱症的可能性要低35%，這是由他們的基因決定的。

These people, who are more likely to be older and female, also have better wellbeing.

早起的人多爲老年人和女性，這些人的幸福感也更強。

The silver lining for night owls is their ‘late riser’ genes may also make them more intelligent, perhaps because they spend more time reading when they are up late.

不幸中的萬幸是，夜貓子的晚睡基因令他們更聰明，可能是因爲他們在熬夜時花更多時間閱讀。

Scientists have discovered 327 new genetic regions which determine whether people are ‘larks’ who get up early in the morning or ‘owls’ with later bedtimes who naturally lie in for longer.

科學家發現了327個新基因區域，這些基因區域決定了人們是“早起的鳥兒”還是“夜貓子”。

They have found for the first time that larks and owls may process caffeine differently, so that a morning cup of coffee may stay in a night owl’s system for longer and keep them up at night.

科學家首次發現，早起的人和夜貓子攝入咖啡因後身體的處理機制不同，早上喝的咖啡可能在夜貓子體內停留時間更久，讓他們在深夜保持清醒。

While shift workers who work at night were already known to be more prone to depression, this is the largest genetic study to find those with night owl genes are more at risk.

我們已經知道，上夜班的工人更容易得抑鬱症，而這項大型基因研究發現攜帶夜貓子基因的人患抑鬱症的風險更高。

Professor Mike Weedon, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said: ‘The large number of people in our study means we have provided the strongest evidence to date that “night owls” are at higher risk of mental health problems, such as schizophrenia and lower mental wellbeing, although further studies are needed to fully understand this link.’

埃克塞特大學醫學院的麥克·威登教授說：“我們的研究涵蓋了許多人，這意味着我們有強有力的證據表明夜貓子患上精神疾病的風險更高，比如精神分裂症和較低的幸福感，不過我們還需要進一步研究才能理解這兩者之間的關聯。”

Dr Sam Jones, of the University of Exeter, said: ‘The link with depression could be explained by the fact that night owls are forced by their jobs and everyday life to get up early.

埃克塞特大學的山姆·瓊斯博士說：“晚起和抑鬱之間的關聯可以用一個事實來解釋：夜貓子受工作和日常生活所迫不得不早起。”

'Constantly having to fight against your natural body clock could have negative effects on your mental health.’

“總是要和體內的生物鐘作鬥爭對心理健康會產生負面影響。”

Experts believe around 15 percent of people are night owls, another 15 percent are larks and the rest of us are morning or evening types to a lesser degree.

專家認爲，約15%的人是夜貓子，還有15%的人是早起者，其他人則沒有那麼明顯。

The largest genetic study of people’s body clocks took in almost 450,000 British people from the UK Biobank genetic database and close to 250,000 people from the US who had used genetic testing service 23andMe.

這項對人體生物鐘的基因研究是有史以來規模最大的，從英國生物銀行基因數據庫調取了近45萬英國人的基因資料，並從基因測試服務機構23andMe獲取了近25萬美國人的數據。

Scientists found 351 genetic locations thought to make people early or late risers, of which 327 were previously unknown.

科學家發現有351個基因區域決定人們是早起還是晚起的類型，其中327個基因區域是此前所不知道的。

People with ‘lark’ genes appeared up to 11 percent less likely to be schizophrenic and had up to a third lower risk of depression.

研究顯示，有早起基因的人患上精神分裂症的可能性要低11%，患上抑鬱症的可能性要低三分之一。

The larks’ genetic profiles were compared to those of people in a previous study on wellbeing and happiness.

這些早起者的基因資料被拿來和先前一項幸福感研究中的研究對象相比較。

This showed larks were significantly more likely than night owls to be content with their lives.

結果顯示，相比夜貓子，早起的人對自己的生活滿意度要高得多。

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, show for the first time that night owls have differences in their genes which are also linked to intelligence.

發表在《自然通訊》期刊的這一研究結果首次表明，夜貓子的基因和常人有差異，而這一差異與智力有關。

Some night owl genes are active in the retina and the part of the brain which detects light.

一些夜貓子的視網膜以及察覺光線的大腦部位很活躍。

Researchers now suspect night owls may be kept awake more by the artificial light in our homes, which may affect their eyes differently and disrupt signals to the brain telling them it is night-time.

研究人員現在懷疑夜貓子可能是因爲家裏的人工光線才保持清醒，這些人工光線會對夜貓子的眼睛產生特殊影響，擾亂大腦收到的信號，讓大腦誤以爲夜晚還沒到。

The experts do not yet know how genes for light recognition and caffeine metabolism differ in larks and owls.

專家還不知道早起者和夜貓子在光線識別和咖啡因代謝有關的基因方面存在怎樣的差異。

But the differences they have found suggest night owls could be more strongly affected by caffeine, so it wakes them up more or lasts longer in their system, making them sleepy later on.

但是科學家發現的差異表明，夜貓子受咖啡因的影響更強烈，因此咖啡因能讓他們清醒時間更長，在體內留存時間也更久，從而導致他們晚睡。

The findings show at least 13 percent of whether someone is a night owl or morning lark is inherited from their parents.

研究結果顯示，一個人是夜貓子還是早起者，至少有13%是遺傳自父母。

However the study found no link between night owl genes and obesity and type 2 diabetes, despite previous evidence.

然而，該研究沒有發現夜貓子基因和肥胖以及2型糖尿病之間的關聯，這與先前的證據不相符。

The findings could lead to drugs to help people avoid depression, and sleep earlier, by blocking troublesome genes.

該研究可能會促進藥物的研發，通過阻斷問題基因來幫助人們預防抑鬱症並早睡。