睡覺時給手機充電小心變胖

Having a glowing smartphone in your bedroom at night could do more than interrupt your beauty sleep – it could also make you fat, researchers have warned.
新的研究表明，晚上睡覺時在臥室裏給手機充電不只會干擾美容覺，還有可能會使人變胖。

They say that our bodies need pitch-black dark to produce the right levels of a hormone involved in regulating the conversion of food and drink into energy.
我們的身體需要在漆黑的黑暗環境下才會分泌正常水平的一種調節食物和飲料轉換成能量的激素。

It means ambient light from street lamps can disrupt the release of melatonin and prevent us burning food as efficiently.
這意味着連周圍的路燈燈光都會擾亂褪黑激素的釋放量，影響身體燃燒食物能量的效果。

But scientists say short-wavelength blue light, which is emitted by some devices when they are charging, is the most disruptive to sleep – and consequently our metabolism.
但是科學家說，一些設備充電時發出的短波藍光對是睡眠最具破壞性，會影響到我們的新陳代謝。

Although it is not bright enough to light up a room, it still disrupts our bodies, they said. A team at the University of Granada in Spain discovered that injections of melatonin helped combat obesity and diabetes in rats by helping to regulate their systems.
雖然這樣的光線不足以照亮房間，但還是會影響我們的身體狀況。西班牙格拉納達大學的一個研究小組發現，給小鼠注射褪黑激素通過幫助調節體內系統能夠有助於對抗肥胖症和糖尿病。

Now experts at Manchester University are investigating how regulating sleep patterns might help patients who already have diabetes, a disease often linked with obesity.
目前曼徹斯特大學的專家們正在調查如何通過調節睡眠模式來幫助治癒患有糖尿病的患者，糖尿病往往與肥胖相關。

Dr Simon Kyle, a sleep researcher at the university, said: ‘A lot of people are interested in this at the moment given that as a 24-hour society, sleep deprivation is increasing and we are exposing ourselves to artificial light at night.
該大學的睡眠研究員西蒙·凱爾博士說：“很多人都對這個問題感興趣，在24小時的社會環境下，剝奪睡眠增加了我們身體接觸人造光的時間。”

‘We are interested in how an alteration in the sleep-wake pattern may be involved in the onset of diabetes and obesity and if, when you improve the timing of sleep you can also have a positive effect on conditions like diabetes and obesity.
“我們對如何改變糖尿病和肥胖症發病初期的睡眠模式很感興趣，如果改善睡眠時間，這將會對如糖尿病和肥胖症有着積極的影響作用。”

'There is a lot of research showing we are meant to be asleep at night when darkness falls and melatonin rises and when the sun rises the melatonin is blocked by the sun. This light-dark cycle is good for our bodies to predict changes in the environment.
“有很多研究證實，晚上當夜幕降臨後我們褪黑激素的分泌量在升高，而當太陽升起的時候，我們身體的新陳代謝隨之停止，環境的週期性變化對我們的身體有好處。”

‘So if you start sleeping shorter, or receive light at the wrong time late into night, it disrupts melatonin secretion and that could contribute to alterations in metabolism.’
“所以，如果你的睡覺時間開始變短，或在深夜這段時間讓身體錯誤地接收光線，就會擾亂褪黑激素的分泌，導致代謝的改變。”

Blue light is the most damaging because it keeps the mind buzzing, he added.
凱爾博士說，藍光是最具破壞性的，因爲藍光會使頭腦嗡嗡作響。

Earlier this year, leading scientists from universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, warned that a lack of sleep can cause severe health problems, such as cancer, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, because it upsets the body clock.
今年年初，來自牛津、劍橋和哈佛大學的科學家們警告稱，睡眠不足會導致嚴重的健康問題，比如癌症、心臟病、二型糖尿病和肥胖症等，因爲睡眠不足會打亂身體生物鐘。

They said the modern phenomenon was being fuelled by our use of devices late at night which emit blue light.
他們說，我們在深夜使用發藍光的設備已經是現代社會的普遍現象。

Dr Kyle advised turning off smartphones, tablets and desktop computers a couple of hours before going to bed to reduce exposure to artificial light.
凱爾博士建議在睡覺前的幾個小時就關掉智能手機、平板電腦和臺式電腦，減少接觸人造光的環境。

He added: ‘There is strong basic science and data to show the association between sleep interference and disease.
他補充說：“有強大的基礎科學和數據證實睡眠干擾和疾病之間有着直接關係。

‘If you can have complete darkness at night time you might be able to recreate time’s pre-industrial period and have a stab at improving the obesity epidemic.’
“如果你能在晚上處於完全黑暗的環境中，就像重新回到前工業化時期那樣，就能對控制肥胖流行病有改善作用。”