研究：睡午觉可以延缓大脑萎缩

如果你不爱运动，也阻挡不了美食的诱惑，你可以试试每天午睡半小时。研究发现，定期午睡可以延缓大脑萎缩三至六年，这应该是最不费力的养生习惯了。

Regularly finding time for a little snooze is good for our brain and helps keep it bigger for longer, say University College London researchers.

英国伦敦大学学院的研究人员指出，定期午睡对大脑有好处，能延缓大脑萎缩。

The team showed nappers' brains were 15 cubic centimetres (0.9 cubic inches) larger - equivalent to delaying ageing by between three and six years.

该研究团队发现，有午睡习惯的人的大脑比不午睡的人的大脑要大出15立方厘米，相当于延缓衰老三至六年。

However, the scientists recommend keeping naps to less than half an hour.

然而，科学家建议，午睡不要超过半小时。

The brain naturally shrinks with age, but whether naps could help prevent diseases like Alzheimer's will still need extra research.

随着年龄增大，大脑会自然地萎缩，但是午睡能否预防阿尔茨海默症等疾病仍需要更多研究。

Overall brain health is important for protecting against dementia and the condition is linked to disturbed sleep.

大脑健康对于预防痴呆症十分重要，而痴呆症和睡眠不佳有关。

The researchers suggest poor sleep is damaging the brain over time by causing inflammation and affecting the connections between brain cells.

研究人员指出，长时间睡不好会损害大脑，导致大脑炎症，从而影响脑细胞之间的联系。

"Thus, regular napping could protect against neurodegeneration by compensating for deficient sleep," researcher Valentina Paz said.

研究员瓦伦蒂娜·帕兹说：“因此，定期午睡能弥补睡眠不足，从而预防神经退行性疾病。”

Napping might boost health, but the reverse is also true as your health can leave you so tired you need to nap more.

午睡可能有利于健康，但是反过来，你的身体如果特别累，也会需要更多的小憩。

So the researchers used a clever technique to prove that napping is beneficial.

所以研究人员用了一种巧妙的技术来证明午睡的益处。

They used a gigantic natural experiment based on the DNA. Previous studies have identified 97 snippets of our DNA that either make us more likely to be nappers or to power through the day.

他们采用了基于DNA的超大型自然实验的数据。先前的研究发现，人类DNA中有97个片段决定你是否喜欢午睡。

So the team took data from 35,000 people, aged 40 to 69, taking part in the UK Biobank project and simply compared those genetic "nappers" and "non-nappers".

因此该团队抽取了参加英国生物样本库计划的年龄在40岁和69岁之间的3.5万人的数据，并将天生的午睡者和不午睡者做了比较。

The results, published in the journal Sleep Health, showed a 15 cubic centimetre difference - equivalent to 2.6 to 6.5 years of ageing.

发表在《睡眠健康》期刊上的这项研究结果显示，二者大脑体积相差了15立方厘米，相当于前者比后者晚衰老2.6至6.5年。

编辑：陈丹妮

英文来源：BBC