專家建議學(xué)校11點(diǎn)開始上課

School start times should be put back to as late as 11am to combat a sleep-deprivation crisis among young people, a scientist has suggested.
一位科學(xué)家指出，學(xué)校應(yīng)當(dāng)把上課時(shí)間推遲到上午11點(diǎn)，以應(yīng)對(duì)年輕人所面臨的睡眠不足危機(jī)。

Paul Kelley, of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford, said young people in Britain were losing on average 10 hours’ sleep a week, making them more sleep-deprived than a junior doctor on a 24-hour shift.
來(lái)自牛津大學(xué)(University of Oxford)睡眠和晝夜節(jié)律神經(jīng)科學(xué)研究所(Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute )的保羅·凱利(Paul Kelley)表示，英國(guó)的年輕人平均每周損失10小時(shí)睡眠時(shí)間，這使他們比一個(gè)24小時(shí)輪班工作的實(shí)習(xí)醫(yī)生更缺乏睡眠。

Speaking at the British Science Festival in Bradford on Tuesday, Prof Kelley called for an end to early starts at schools, colleges and university to “improve the lives of a generation”.
凱利教授在8日在布拉德福德(Bradford)舉辦的英國(guó)科學(xué)節(jié)(British Science Festival)上講話時(shí)呼吁，學(xué)校、學(xué)院和大學(xué)取消清早上課的規(guī)定，以“改善這一代人的生活”。

He said children aged eight to 10 should start school at 8.30am or later, 16-year-olds should start at 10am and 18-year-olds at 11am.
他表示，8到10歲的兒童應(yīng)該在早晨八點(diǎn)半或之后開始上課，16歲和18歲的青少年應(yīng)該分別在上午10點(diǎn)和11點(diǎn)開始上課。

Kelley has been working with fellow Oxford neuroscientist Russell Foster and Steven Lockley of Harvard Medical School to push for a sea-change in the approach to sleep for children.
凱利教授曾與牛津大學(xué)的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)科學(xué)家拉塞爾·弗斯特(Russell Foster)和哈佛醫(yī)學(xué)院(Harvard Medical School)的史蒂文·洛克利(Steven Lockley)共同努力推動(dòng)兒童睡眠方式的一場(chǎng)巨變。

They have been working with the Education Endowment Foundation and the Wellcome Trust on the Teensleep project, which Kelley said was the largest study of its kind and which is aims to recruit 100 schools to trial different start times.
他們?cè)c教育捐助基金會(huì)(Education Endowment Foundation) 和威康信托基金(Wellcome Trust)聯(lián)手共同發(fā)起了青少年睡眠（Teensleep）項(xiàng)目。凱利教授表示，這是此類項(xiàng)目中規(guī)模最大的，旨在召集100所學(xué)校來(lái)進(jìn)行不同上課時(shí)間的試點(diǎn)。

The recommendations arise from a deeper understanding of circadian rhythms – our internal body clock, which determines optimum levels of concentration, wakefulness and work ability.
這些提議基于對(duì)晝夜節(jié)律（也就是我們內(nèi)部的生物鐘）更深層的認(rèn)識(shí)，因?yàn)闀円构?jié)律決定了我們的注意力、清醒狀態(tài)和勞動(dòng)能力何時(shí)能達(dá)到最佳水平。

“At the age of 10 you get up and go to school and it fits in with our nine-to-five lifestyle,” Kelley said. “When you are about 55 you also settle into the same pattern. But in between it changes a huge amount and, depending on your age, you really need to be starting around three hours later, which is entirely natural.”
凱利說(shuō)：“10歲時(shí)，你每天早起去學(xué)校，這符合我們朝九晚五的生活習(xí)慣，大約55歲時(shí)你也很適應(yīng)這個(gè)模式。但這中間的時(shí)期有很大的變化發(fā)生，根據(jù)你的年齡，你的確需要把上課時(shí)間往后推遲3小時(shí)，這是很正常的。”

Ignoring our natural circadian rhythms could lead to exhaustion, frustration, anxiety, weight gain and hyper-tension, he said, and could make a person more prone to stimulant or alcohol use and risk-taking.
他還說(shuō)，忽視人體自然的晝夜節(jié)律將會(huì)引發(fā)疲憊、沮喪、焦慮、增重和高度緊張等癥狀，還會(huì)使人更容易服用興奮劑、飲酒以及冒險(xiǎn)。

“This is a huge issue for society,” Kelley said. “We are generally a sleep-deprived society but the 14-24 age group is more sleep-deprived than any other sector of society. This causes serious threats to health, mood performance and mental health.”
凱利說(shuō)：“這對(duì)社會(huì)來(lái)說(shuō)是個(gè)不小的問(wèn)題。當(dāng)今社會(huì)，我們普遍都缺乏睡眠，但年齡14到24歲的人群比任何其他年齡段的人都更缺乏睡眠。這會(huì)嚴(yán)重威脅人們的健康、情緒表現(xiàn)和精神健康。”

If schools across the UK adopted the new start times, he said, GCSE attainment would rise by about 10%.
他說(shuō)，如果英國(guó)的學(xué)校都采用這個(gè)新的上課時(shí)間，那么獲得普通中等教育證書(GCSE)的人數(shù)將會(huì)上漲約10%。

The problem goes beyond merely feeling tired, Kelley said. If a child gets less than six hours sleep a night, over the course of a week this can lead to more than 700 changes in the way their genes behave.
凱利說(shuō)，問(wèn)題不僅僅是會(huì)覺得疲憊。如果一個(gè)兒童每晚的睡眠時(shí)間少于6小時(shí)，這樣持續(xù)一周，將會(huì)導(dǎo)致基因行為方式發(fā)生700多個(gè)變化。

Similar changes are not seen in children who get eight-and-a-half hours sleep a night. He said illnesses as serious as schizophrenia often developed at an age associated with the beginnings of sleep deprivation problems.
同樣的變化卻不會(huì)發(fā)生在每晚睡8.5小時(shí)的兒童上。他說(shuō)，像精神分裂癥這種嚴(yán)重疾病的發(fā)病年齡通常與睡眠不足問(wèn)題開始的年齡有關(guān)。

Kelley said every governing body of every school in the UK had the power to alter start times if they wish. He conceded that later school starts might be problematic for working parents, but added: “The interesting thing is that parents usually support this. All the studies show that later start times improve family life, travel times are shorter, it’s safer for children to travel to school.”
凱利說(shuō)，英國(guó)每個(gè)學(xué)校的管理部門都有權(quán)利修改開始上課的時(shí)間，如果他們?cè)敢膺@么做的話。他承認(rèn)，推遲上課時(shí)間可能會(huì)給工作的父母帶來(lái)一些問(wèn)題，但又補(bǔ)充道：“但有趣之處就在于，家長(zhǎng)們倒普遍支持這一改變。各項(xiàng)研究都表明，推遲上課時(shí)間可以改善家庭生活，出行時(shí)間縮短了，孩子們?nèi)ド蠈W(xué)的路上也更安全。”

Guy Meadows, a sleep physiologist at the Sleep School in London, agreed there was a problem that needed tackling. He said: “British children are among the most sleep-deprived in the world. There was a recent study which looked at 900,000 children globally. The US was top and Britain came sixth. Sleep is vitally important for children, and it’s when they develop mentally, physically and emotionally.”
倫敦睡眠學(xué)校(Sleep School)的睡眠生理學(xué)家蓋伊·梅多斯(Guy Meadows)也同意，我們需要解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題。他說(shuō)：“英國(guó)兒童現(xiàn)在是全世界兒童中最缺乏睡眠的人群之一。最近有一項(xiàng)研究調(diào)查了全球90萬(wàn)名兒童的睡眠缺乏狀況，其中美國(guó)位列第一，英國(guó)位列第六。睡眠對(duì)兒童來(lái)說(shuō)至關(guān)重要，這是他們智力、體力和情緒發(fā)育的時(shí)期。”

He said families had a key role to play in ensuring children get enough sleep. In school sessions aimed at teaching children how to improve their sleep, Meadows said, 96% of participants said they used a phone or mobile device in the last 30 minutes before sleep.
他說(shuō)，家庭在確保兒童得到足夠睡眠上起著重要作用。在學(xué)校教授孩子改善睡眠質(zhì)量的課程中，梅多斯說(shuō)，96%的參與者表示，他們?cè)谒?/span>30分鐘使用手機(jī)或移動(dòng)設(shè)備。

“We’re finding that children have phones or tablet from the age of about 10 or 11. These devices emit light which mimics the light from the sun and they essentially trick our brains into thinking we should be active, not winding down for sleep, and that interferes with our circadian rhythms,” he said.
他表示：“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，很多兒童在10歲或11歲左右時(shí)就有了手機(jī)或平板電腦。這些設(shè)備發(fā)出的光亮模擬太陽(yáng)光，這使我們的大腦誤以為我們應(yīng)當(dāng)保持活躍狀態(tài)，而不是放松下來(lái)，準(zhǔn)備睡覺，這也干擾了我們的晝夜節(jié)律。”

Vocabulary

sleep-deprivation：睡眠不足

circadian：生理節(jié)奏的，晝夜節(jié)律的

optimum：最佳的

stimulant：興奮劑

schizophrenia：精神分裂癥

concede：承認(rèn)

英文來(lái)源：衛(wèi)報(bào)

譯者：Estelle89

審校&編輯：劉明