早睡早起可能是種病？叫ASP
What's your usual sleeping pattern? If you're happily tucked up in bed by 8 pm or even earlier, then you might have what's known as advanced sleep phase (ASP).
你習慣什麼睡眠模式？如果你晚上8點或者更早就開開心心地上牀睡覺了，那你可能患上了睡眠狀態提前綜合徵。
It's a sleep pattern that's traditionally been considered incredibly rare – after all, these so-called 'advanced sleepers' are naturally waking up at around 4 or 5 am, totally rested.
這是一種睡眠模式，歷來被認爲非常罕見，畢竟這種所謂“提前入睡者”在早上四五點左右會自然醒來，完全清醒了。
But a new study of 2,422 people attending sleep clinics in the US has hypothesised that number might be much higher.
但對進入美國睡眠診所的2,422人進行的一項新研究猜測患者人數可能更多。
ASP leads to a shift in the body's circadian rhythm, which means the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin is produced by the brain much earlier in the evening than for other people. That's matched with a drop in body temperature.
睡眠狀態提前綜合徵會導致身體晝夜節律發生變化，也就是說患者在夜間大腦促進睡眠的褪黑激素的分泌要比其他人早得多，同時伴隨體溫降低。
The sleep study found that eight of the 2,422 participants they observed over nine years displayed ASP – that's around 0.33 percent, and far more than experts expected.
睡眠研究發現他們在九年裏觀察的2,422人中有八人患有睡眠狀態提前綜合徵，比例約爲0.33%，比專家預測得多得多。
Of the eight patients that the researchers identified as having ASP, five had close family members with the same sleeping pattern, suggesting that this is something that runs in the family – and may have a genetic basis.
研究人員確認患有睡眠狀態提前綜合徵的八名患者中，有五人的家人有相同的睡眠模式，表明這是家族遺傳的，而且可能是基因決定的。
Further genetic testing found two of the relatives had genetic mutations linked to familial advanced sleep phase (FASP).
進一步的基因測試發現兩個親戚有與睡眠狀態提前綜合徵有關的基因突變。
These advanced sleepers are more easily able to get up in the morning, and average a measly 5-10 minutes extra lie-in on non-work days, as opposed to the 30-38 minutes the rest of us average when we don't have to get up to start a shift.
這些提前睡覺的人早上起牀更容易，非工作日平均只多休息5-10分鐘，而不是像我們其他人一樣不需要早起上班時會平均多休息30-38分鐘。
One reason that ASP and FASP numbers might have been underestimated, the researchers suggest, is that people don't bother to report it or get treatment for it – they just live their lives waking up early and going to bed early.
研究人員表示，睡眠狀態提前綜合徵患者人數沒有得到足夠重視的一個原因就是人們不必報告或進行治療，他們只是過着早起早睡的生活。
