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【科普】研究表明：健康老年人不需要太多睡眠
ScienceDaily (July 25, 2008) — Along with all the other changes that come with age, healthy older people also lose some capacity for sleep, according to a new report published online on July 24th in Current Biology. When asked to stay in bed for 16 hours in the dark each day for several days, younger people get an average of 9 hours of shuteye compared to 7.5 for older people, the researchers report.
" The most parsimonious explanation for our results is that older people need less sleep," said Elizabeth Klerman of Brigham and Women's Hospital & Harvard Medical School. "It's also possible that they sleep less even when given the opportunity for more sleep because of age-related changes in the ability to fall asleep and remain asleep," she added, noting that the new results apply only to healthy individuals taking no medication and having no medical conditions or sleep disorders.
The study also found that most healthy people, and young people in particular, don't get as much sleep as they need.
The idea that sleep changes markedly across the life span isn't new. In fact, insomnia is a common complaint among older people. But whether age-related changes in sleep were due to changes in social factors, circadian rhythms, or shifts in an internal "set point" for sleep need or the ability to sleep had remained unresolved.
In the new study, Klerman and her colleague Derk-Jan Dijk, of the University of Surrey in the UK, set out to compare the capacity for sleep in young people (between the ages of 18 and 32) compared to older people (age 60 to 72) under conditions that controlled for circadian rhythms by allowing the chance to sleep during both the night and the day and by controlling individual choices in sleep opportunities.
" While humans can sometimes override the homeostatic set point and not sleep when tired, there is no evidence that they can sleep when they are not tired," Klerman explained.
Given the same amount of time in bed, older people take longer to fall asleep and sleep for less time than younger people do, they found. When required to remain in bed for 16 hours a day, older people slept 1.5 hours less on average than younger people, they showed. That age-related decline in sleep included an even split between rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which is associated with dreaming, and non-REM sleep, they found.
Most younger subjects slept for many more hours during the study than their usual self-selected sleep times. Given the evidence that insufficient sleep is associated with increased risk of accidents, errors, and metabolic changes similar to diabetes, Klerman emphasized that younger people should sleep more.
The findings may also influence treatment for insomnia in older people, Klerman said.
" If older people believe that they need more sleep than they can achieve even when they spend extra time in bed, then they may complain of insomnia: being awake when wanting to be asleep. They may start using medications needlessly. If they are tired during the day, they should consider evaluation for a sleep disorder that may be interfering with their ability to obtain good sleep at night."
The researchers include Elizabeth B. Klerman, Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and Derk-Jan Dijk, Surrey Sleep Research Centre, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080724123255.htm 本人已认领该文编译，48小时后若未提交译文，请其他战友自由认领。 Older People May Need Less Sleep, Study Finds
研究显示，老年人可能不需要太多睡眠
ScienceDaily (July 25, 2008) — Along with all the other changes that come with age, healthy older people also lose some capacity for sleep, according to a new report published online on July 24th in Current Biology. When asked to stay in bed for 16 hours in the dark each day for several days, younger people get an average of 9 hours of shuteye compared to 7.5 for older people, the researchers report.
每日科学（7.25.2008）－根据一项7.24在线发表在Current Biology的最新报告，在年龄老化带来的各种机体改变的同时，健康老年人也在逐渐丧失一部分睡眠功能。研究人员称，当被要求在黑暗环境中每日躺在床上休息16小时，年轻人平均睡眠时间为9小时，而老年人只有7.5小时。
" The most parsimonious explanation for our results is that older people need less sleep," said Elizabeth Klerman of Brigham and Women's Hospital & Harvard Medical School. "It's also possible that they sleep less even when given the opportunity for more sleep because of age-related changes in the ability to fall asleep and remain asleep," she added, noting that the new results apply only to healthy individuals taking no medication and having no medical conditions or sleep disorders.
“对于我们的研究结果最简单的解释是老年人不需要太多睡眠。”哈佛大学医学院、Brigham妇产医院的Elizabeth Klerman说。“即使当他们被给予更长睡眠时间的机会时他们也不会睡得更久的原因，也可能是在入睡和保持睡眠状态等方面的生理功能随年龄老化而退化。”她补充道，并强调这项最新研究结果只适用于没有因为其他疾病服药治疗、非处于疾病状态或睡眠障碍的人群。
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-02-18 05:11
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