睡覺時暴露于光線下可能引發(fā)抑郁癥

Any kind of light past bedtime -- from a gap in the curtains to a flash of your smartphone -- could pave the way to depression, new research warns.

新研究警告稱，睡眠時任何種類的光線--無論是從窗簾縫隙透出的光，還是智能手機的閃光--都可能為罹患抑郁癥創(chuàng)造條件。

Researchers found even the smallest hint of light exposure in the bedroom during the night could cause depressive symptoms by confusing your body clock.

研究人員發(fā)現，夜間臥室里哪怕一絲光亮，都可能通過干擾你的生物鐘而造成抑郁癥狀。

Previous studies have linked nocturnal light exposure to a disruption in the body's sleep-wake cycle, but have struggled to explain how this impacts depression.

先前的研究在夜晚臥室光線和身體的睡眠-覺醒周期受干擾之間找到了關聯，但科學家一直未能很好解釋這如何影響抑郁癥風險。

While the new study by researchers at Nara Medical University does not solve the mystery, it provides some of the clearest evidence to date that the link is stronger than most realize.

雖然日本奈良縣立醫(yī)科大學的研究人員進行的這項新研究沒有解開這個謎題，但它提供的一些迄今為止最明確的證據表明，有關聯系比大多數人意識到的要強。

Researchers led by Dr Kenji Obayashi recruited 863 elderly adults, with the average age of 72 years, who did not have depressive symptoms -- anxiety or a persistent feeling of sadness -- at the start of the two-year study.

由大林賢史博士領導的研究人員，共招募了863名平均年齡為72歲的老年人。在這一為期兩年的研究的初期，這些老人并沒有抑郁癥狀--焦慮或長期的悲傷感。

They measured light levels in their room by placing light meters at the heads of everyone's bed to determine the amount of light their subjects would see while going to sleep.

研究人員測量了這些老人房間的光線水平。他們將測量儀器放在每個人的床頭，以判斷老人入睡時會看到的光量。

About 710 participants slept in a completely dark room, while the rest of the subjects were exposed to light at night.

大約710人睡在完全黑暗的房間內，而其余的人在夜間會暴露于光線下。

The participants were also asked to keep sleep diaries and completed surveys that monitoredthe development of depressive symptoms.

研究人員還要求這些老人記睡眠日記，并完成一些調查，以監(jiān)視他們抑郁癥狀的發(fā)展。

Researchers found that compared to the dark group, people exposed to more than 5 lumens of light at night had a significantly higher risk of developing depressive symptoms.

研究人員發(fā)現，同黑暗組的人相比，晚上接觸超過5勒克斯的人出現抑郁癥狀的風險要高得多。

This isn't the first study to link nocturnal light exposure to the mood disorder.

這不是第一個將夜間光照同情緒失調相聯系的研究。

Research published in a 2009 issue of Behavioral Brain Research found mice that were put in a room that was lit 24 hours a day had more depressive symptoms than those that had a normal light-dark cycle.

2009年美國《行為大腦研究》雜志上發(fā)表的一項研究發(fā)現，相比生活在正常的光照-黑暗周期中的小鼠，被放在全天24小時明亮的房間內的小鼠存在更多的抑郁癥狀。