People who go to bed at the same time every night are far more healthy and successful than their more spontaneous peers, new research reveals.

一项最新研究显示，每晚都在同一时间上床睡觉的人比他们的同龄人更健康、更成功。

While the growing swell¹ of sleep research tends to focus on the amount of time we sleep, scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital have found routine is just as key.

虽然越来越多的睡眠研究倾向于关注我们睡眠的时间，但是布格里姆妇女医院的科学家发现，有规律的日常生活同样重要。

A team measured sleep and circadian rhythms in 61 undergraduates at Harvard College for 30 days using sleep diaries, then compared that data to their academic performance.

一个团队利用睡眠日记记录下了哈佛大学61名本科生30天的睡眠和日夜节律，然后再把这些数据和他们的学业表现进行比较。

Overwhelmingly, students with irregular patterns of sleep and wakefulness had a lower grade point average than the rest.

在大多数情况下，睡眠不规律的学生平均成绩比其他学生低一些。

They also tended to hit snooze more often, rather than bounding out of bed, and struggled to get sleepy, due to irregular releases of melatonin - the hormone² that makes us want to sleep.

由于褪黑激素（一种让我们想睡觉的荷尔蒙）的不正常释放，他们也往往会更频繁地打瞌睡、早上起床困难、夜里难以入睡。

It suggests a more inconsistent routine prevents your body from releasing hormones³ at the right time to make you feel sleepy and awake, thereby⁴ throwing off your circadian rhythm (body clock).

研究显示，不规律的生活习惯会让你的身体不能在适当的时间释放荷尔蒙，从而让你该睡的时候不能睡、该醒的时候不能醒，进而打乱你的生物钟。

In the study, the researchers quantified sleep regularity⁵ using the sleep regularity index (SRI), a newly devised metric.

在这项研究中，研究人员利用睡眠规律指数（一种新设计的指标）对睡眠规律进行定量。

They examined the relationship between the SRI, sleep duration, distribution of sleep across the day, and academic performance during one semester.

在一个学期里，他们研究了睡眠规律指数、睡眠时间长短、一整天内睡眠时间分布与学习成绩之间的关系。

Our results indicate that going to sleep and waking up at approximately the same time is as important as the number of hours one sleeps,' said Dr Andrew Phillips, a biophysicist at the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders⁶, Brigham and Women's Hospital and lead author on the paper.

该论文第一作者、布里格姆妇女医院“睡眠与昼夜节律紊乱”科生物物理学家安德鲁·菲利普斯博士表示：“我们的研究结果表明，在大约同一时间入睡和起床这一习惯，跟个人每天睡多少时间一样重要。”

Sleep regularity is a potentially important and modifiable factor independent from sleep duration,' Dr Phillips said.

菲利普斯博士称，睡眠规律是独立于睡眠时间之外的一个潜在的重要的、可改变的因素。