I’ve often wondered how exactly sleep, or lack of it , can have such a devastating effect on our bodies and, guess what, how much we sleep switches good genes on and bad genes off.
我時(shí)常思考，睡眠的充足與否會(huì)對(duì)我們的身體健康帶來(lái)怎樣嚴(yán)重的后果；也不禁去猜測(cè)，多久的睡眠才會(huì)讓基因發(fā)揮有益作用。

In early 2013, the Sleep Research Centre at the University of Surrey found a direct link between hours spent sleeping and genes.
2013年初，英國(guó)薩里大學(xué)的睡眠研究中心發(fā)現(xiàn)，睡眠時(shí)長(zhǎng)與基因之間存在直接聯(lián)系。

Every cell in our bodies carries genetic instructions in our DNA that act as a kind of operating manual. However, each cell only ‘reads’ the portion of this manual it needs at any given moment.
我們?nèi)梭w的每一個(gè)細(xì)胞中DNA所攜帶的遺傳指令都相當(dāng)于一套操作說(shuō)明。然而在任何時(shí)候，細(xì)胞都只能夠讀取其需要的說(shuō)明。

Can sleep affect how a gene reads instructions? It’s a question asked by Professor Derk-Jan Dijk at the University of Surrey.
睡眠能夠影響基因讀取其操作說(shuō)明嗎？薩里大學(xué)的教授德克-簡(jiǎn)?迪克提出了這一問(wèn)題。

He set up an experiment and asked his volunteers to spend a week sleeping around seven and a half hours to eight hours a night and the next sleeping six and a half to seven hours.
他著手進(jìn)行了一項(xiàng)實(shí)驗(yàn)，要求志愿者們每晚睡大約七個(gè)半到八個(gè)小時(shí)，一個(gè)星期后再將睡眠時(shí)間調(diào)整為六個(gè)半到七個(gè)小時(shí)。

Blood samples were taken each week to compare which genes in blood cells were being used during the long and short nights. The results were startling.他將志愿者這兩周的血液樣本進(jìn)行比對(duì)，觀察在不同睡眠時(shí)長(zhǎng)下，血細(xì)胞中的基因運(yùn)作情況有何不同。實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果令人大吃一驚。

Several hundred genes changed in the amount they were being used, including some that are linked to heart disease, cancer, and Type 2 diabetes.
數(shù)百種基因的使用狀況因?yàn)樗邥r(shí)長(zhǎng)的不同而改變，其中一些基因還與心臟病、癌癥以及2型糖尿病有關(guān)。

Genes to do with cell repair and replenishment were used much less.
對(duì)有關(guān)細(xì)胞修復(fù)與補(bǔ)給的基因的使用大為減少。

Sleep restriction (six and a half to seven hours a night) changed 380 genes.
睡眠的受限（一晚只睡六個(gè)半到七個(gè)小時(shí)）改變了380種基因。

Of these, 220 genes were down regulated by sleep restriction (their power was reduced), while 160 were up regulated (their power was increased).
其中，有220種基因表達(dá)下調(diào)（他們的活性降低），另外160種表達(dá)上調(diào)（他們的活性上升）。

Those affected included body-clock genes which are linked to diabetes.
那些包括控制生物鐘在內(nèi)的基因都受到了影響，而它們又都與糖尿病有關(guān)。

One of the most downgraded genes is that which has a role in controlling insulin and is linked to diabetes and insomnia. The most upgraded gene is linked to heart disease.
在表達(dá)下調(diào)程度最高的基因中，有一種負(fù)責(zé)控制胰島素合成的基因與糖尿病和失眠密切相關(guān)。而表達(dá)上調(diào)程度最高的基因則與心臟病有關(guān)聯(lián)。

So changing sleep by tiny amounts can upgrade or downgrade genes that can influence our health and the diseases we become prey to when we sleep too little.
因此，稍微縮短睡眠時(shí)長(zhǎng)就會(huì)改變基因的運(yùn)作狀態(tài)，進(jìn)而影響到我們的身體健康。若是睡得太少，疾病說(shuō)來(lái)就來(lái)。

The important message is that getting close to eight hours of sleep a night can make a dramatic difference to our health in just a few days through the way it looks after our genes.
實(shí)驗(yàn)所傳達(dá)的重要信息是，保證每晚近八小時(shí)的睡眠是對(duì)我們的基因負(fù)責(zé)；僅僅幾天的充足睡眠，我們的健康也會(huì)有巨大的改觀。

So resist staying up late to listen to another podcast, read one more chapter, have one more drink or do a little bit more work, mistakenly thinking it won’t make much difference. It will.
所以說(shuō)，要是你堅(jiān)持熬夜再看一個(gè)視頻，再多讀一章小說(shuō)，再多貪一杯酒或是再多干點(diǎn)兒活，還安慰自己這沒(méi)什么大不了的話(huà)，那你會(huì)后悔的。

英文來(lái)源：鏡報(bào)
譯者：劉佳麗
審校&編輯：丹妮