中英對照讀新聞》The secret to happiness is getting EXACTLY seven hours and six minutes of sleep a night 幸福的秘訣是一晚恰好7小時又6分鐘的睡眠

◎劉宜庭

People who are ’perfectly happy’ get precisely seven hours and six minutes of shuteye, a new survey of 2,000 people reveals. Participants who rated themselves ’mostly happy’ people sleep a little bit less than the ’perfectly happy’ people, getting seven hours. Seven hours is the minimum amount of sleep for adults recommended by the NHS.

一項2000人參與的新調查顯示，「感到十分幸福」的人們恰好睡了7小時又6分鐘。估計自己「基本上感到幸福」的參與者，睡眠時間是7小時，略少於「感到十分幸福」的人。英國國民保健署建議的成人最少睡眠時間便是7小時。

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But age is a big factors – the survey by mattress company also found that those 25 or younger get a lot of sleep regardless of happiness level. Single people report sleeping the most, while separated people sleep the least.

另一方面，年齡是個重要因素─床墊公司的這項調查也發現，不論幸福基準為何，25歲或25歲以下的人睡得更多。單身人士回報的睡眠時間最多，而分居的人睡得最少。

While a lot of research tends to focus on the amount of time we sleep, scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found routine is just as important. They discovered people who go to bed at the same time every night are far more healthy and successful than their more spontaneous peers.

正當大量研究傾向聚焦於人們的睡眠時間之際，布里翰婦女醫院的科學家發現，規律的睡眠也同樣重要。每天晚上在相同時間上床睡覺的人，相較於想睡就睡的同齡人，更健康也更成功。

’This suggests that a regular sleep schedule may be an effective, relatively simple, and inexpensive preventative treatment for heart disease as well as many other health problems.’ said Sierra B. Forbush, an research assistant in the Sleep and Health Research Program at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson.

「這表明，對於心臟病和其他諸多健康問題而言，規律的睡眠時程可能是一種有效、相對簡單且便宜的預防療法。」亞利桑那大學醫學院圖森市校區睡眠暨健康研究計畫研究助理塞拉利昂．福布什表示。

新聞辭典

shuteye：名詞，睡覺、睡眠。例句：You look exhausted! Try to grab some shuteye on the train.（你看起來很累！試著在火車上補眠。）

mattress：名詞，床墊。例句：The mattress needs to be aired.（這床墊得拿出去晾一晾。）

spontaneous：形容詞，自然而然的。例句：Poetry flows spontaneous to his lips.（他出口成章。）