Starting the school day after 8.30 would add $83bn to the US economy, a study estimates? Mark Boster/Los Angeles Timesvia Getty Images

研究發現，早上8:30以後才開始上課可為美國經濟增收830億美元

圖片版權：Mark Boster/《洛杉磯時報》經蓋蒂圖片社

英文原文選自Financial Times20180205

https://www.ft.com/content/e3d2fbc4-db69-11e7-9504-59efdb70e12f

Why sleeping more will help the national economy

多睡有益國民經濟，為什麼呢？

A new understanding of circadianrythyms is helping combat the silent sleep-lossepidemic

人體生物鐘的新發現幫助我們與悄悄蔓延的睡眠不足流行病作抗爭

It sounds like an absurdly simple way to improve public health and boost the economy: delay the start of the school day until 8.30am at the earliest. Yet a recent study by RAND, the research organisation, estimated that such a move in the US, where classes often begin well before 8am, would add $83bn to the national economy over a decade, and $140bn over 15 years, by raising students』 academic attainments and reducing illness.

把早上上課時間至少推遲到8:30，用這麼簡單的方法就可以改善公眾健康、促進經濟發展，這聽起來也太荒謬了。然而，根據蘭德公司（RAND）最近的一項研究，在美國（通常8點之前就開始上課了）實施這一措施，可以提升學生的學術造詣，降低學生的患病幾率，10年內可為美國國民經濟增加830億美元，15年內可增加1400億美元。

The RAND report is the latest manifestation of a growing concern that inadequate and ill-timed sleep is causing a public health disaster in the industrialised world. Matthew Walker, neuroscience professor at the University of California, Berkeley, describes a silent sleep loss epidemic in his book Why We Sleep, published last summer. He says changing social and employment patterns and new sleep-disrupting consumer products such as smartphones, are 「having a catastrophic impact on our health, our life expectancy, our safety, our productivity and the education of our children.」

發達國家越來越擔心睡眠不足、作息不良對公眾健康造成的損害，蘭德的這份報告便是最新佐證。加州大學伯克利分校的神經學教授馬修·沃克（Matthew Walker）去年夏天出版了新書《意識、睡眠與大腦》（Why We Sleep），他在書中指出，睡眠不足流行病正悄無聲息地蔓延開來。他說，社會結構和就業模式的變化，智能手機等擾亂睡眠的消費品「正在給我們的健康、壽命、安全、效率和教育帶來災難性的影響」。

Students in secondary schools are particularly vulnerable as a result of biological changes during adolescence, which push back their circadian rhythm — the natural body clock that controls the sleep-wake cycle — by as much as three hours compared with the adult cycle. Even if they go to bed early and are not distracted by smartphones and social media, they struggle to fall asleep and then fail to get enough sleep before having to get up for an early school start.

中學生更是深受其害，因為他們正處於青春期，生理開始發生變化，控制睡眠周期的生物鐘比成人的要晚三個小時。即便他們早早上床，不用智能手機不刷社交媒體，他們也很難入眠，而早上又不得不早起上學，所以總是睡不夠。

Medical bodies such as the US Centres for Disease Control and the American Academy of Paediatrics recommend that no school should begin work before 8.30am. Yet the CDC estimates that 93 per cent of US high schools fail this test. Many start before 7.30am, with school buses beginning to pick up students as early as 5.45am. As Prof Walker puts it, 「this is lunacy」. The problem is less acute in most other countries; start times in the UK are typically 8.30am to 8.45am.

美國疾控中心（the US Centres for Disease Control）、美國兒科學會（the American Academy of Paediatrics）等醫療機構建議，所有學校不得在8:30之前開始上課。但美國疾控中心估計，美國93%的中學都做不到。許多中學還沒7:30就開始上課，校車5:45就開始接學生了。這個用沃克教授的話說就是「太瘋狂了」。這一問題在其他大多數國家都沒這麼嚴重；英國學校早上開始上課的時間一般在8:30至8:45之間。

In the face of a growing public clamour for later starts, many education authorities in the US have resisted on grounds ranging from the convenience of working parents to the cost of changing school bus schedules and the logistics of fitting in extracurricular activities.

儘管越來越多的公眾呼籲推遲上課時間，美國的教育當局卻各種反對，理由五花八門，如上班族父母不方便，改變校車時刻表要花錢，不便於安排課外活動等。

The RAND study found, however, that such costs of change would be far outweighed by the gains resulting from better academic performance and health, as adolescents benefit from more sleep. There is also a gain from reduction in car crashes, which are more likely when people are sleep-deprived.

然而，蘭德的研究發現，這點成本根本不值一提，因為推遲上課時間可以讓青少年多睡點覺，從而提高學業成績，改善健康狀態，給社會帶來巨大的收益。此外，車禍也會減少，因為睡眠不足時更容易發生車禍。

A scan of regional and local news media across the US suggests that the message is beginning to get through, as more school districts are starting later, but there is scope for more progress.

從美國各大區域性和地方性媒體的新聞來看，這一舉措已經開始被採納，越來越多的學區推遲了上課時間，不過還有很大的改善空間。

Annual cost to the US economy of employees sleeping fewer than seven hours a night

一些員工晚上睡眠少於7小時，美國經濟每年因此損失超過4000億美元

While shifting the hours of the school day is, at least in some districts, a potential quick hit in the battle to engineer a more sleep-friendly society, there are many other arenas where change is desirable. A key one is the workplace, where a 「sleep is for wimps」 attitude is still common.

為建設一個睡眠友好型社會，推遲上課時間可能只是（至少在有些學區是）曇花一現，但在許多其他領域做改進也是值得的，例如職場。目前，職場還是普遍認為「弱者才需要睡覺」。

A 2016 RAND report estimated that employees sleeping fewer than seven hours per night cost the US more than $400bn a year, and the UK $40bn a year, because their performance at work is less productive than it would be if they slept for at least eight hours. The total economic cost of inadequate sleep is about 2 per cent of GDP.

蘭德在2016年的一個報告中指出，有些員工每晚睡眠少於7小時，美國每年因此損失超過4000億美元，英國每年損失400億美元，因為他們的工作效率低於睡眠超過8小時時的效率。由於睡眠不足造成的經濟損失共計約為GDP的2%。

Yet here too change is under way. Companies such as Procter & Gamble offer employees 「sleep hygiene」 courses, Prof Walker says, while Nike and Google allow employees to match their work hours to their individual circadian rhythms. A growing number of companies are installing 「nap pods」 in their office buildings.

不過，職場也在著手改進。沃克教授表示，寶潔（Procter & Gamble）等公司為員工開設了睡眠保健課程，耐克（Nike）和谷歌（Google）允許員工根據自己的生物鐘自行安排上班時間。越來越多的公司在辦公樓安裝「打盹艙」。

Companies like Google are installing "nap pods" in their office buildings

谷歌等公司在辦公樓安裝「打盹艙」

Hospitals often represent a nadir of sleep deprivation, with exhausted doctors and nurses putting their patients』 and their own health at risk. Long periods on duty without sleep, which are still required during medical training in many countries, lead junior doctors to make avoidable errors. While reform is in the air here too, more radical action is required to protect hospital doctors and patients from the adverse consequences of sleep deprivation.

醫院通常是睡眠不足的重災區，醫生和護士忙到精疲力竭，不僅危及病人的健康，也危及他們自身的健康。在許多國家，進行醫療培訓時，實習醫生必須長時間值班不能睡覺，從而犯下一些本可避免的失誤。雖然這些很快就會改革，但要保護醫生和病人免受睡眠不足之苦，還需要更為徹底的措施。

Patients also benefit from sleeping well in hospital. That means deploying noisy equipment and alarms only when they are really necessary, lighting wards at night as dimly as consistent with safety, and supplying ear plugs and eyemasks to patients who want them.

住院時能睡好覺，也有利於病人的恢復。所以，那些有噪音的設備、鬧鐘不是真有必要時就不要開；晚上，在保證安全的情況下，將病房的燈光調到最暗；為有需要的病人提供耳塞和眼罩。

Babies who are ill or born prematurely pose a particular challenge. Their developing brains should be sleeping most of the time, yet the strong lighting and noise of most neonatal intense care units makes this difficult to achieve. Recent research has shown — not surprisingly — that neonatal units in which lighting is dimmed as far as possible are associated with better sleep for the infants and earlier discharge from hospital.

生病或早產的嬰兒是一大特殊挑戰。嬰兒的大腦正在發育，需要用大部分時間來睡覺，而大多數新生兒重症監護室都有很強的燈光和噪音，不利於他們的睡眠。最新研究發現，新生兒病房燈光儘可能暗的，嬰兒睡眠更好，出院更快，這也不足為奇。

Every baby, child and adult deserves an opportunity to sleep well, whether in hospital, at home or at work. His or her health will depend on it.

不論是在醫院，在家裡，還是在辦公場所，每一個嬰兒、每一個孩子、每一位成年人都應該擁有睡好覺的機會。每個人的健康都有賴於此。

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