加州大学伯克利分校人类睡眠科学中心的主任马修•沃克在接受《卫报》采访时解释说，睡眠不足会引发疾病。

Through his work, he’s determined¹ that people who don't get enough sleep tend to be less healthy and have lower energy levels than those who get the recommended amount of shut eye per night.

沃克通过研究发现，与睡眠足够的人相比，那些每晚睡眠不足的人往往健康状况不佳，精力不足。

After analyzing² the results of 20 separate studies, he's found a strong correlation³ between how much people sleep and how long they live. In summary: The less you sleep, the shorter your life will be.

他分析了20个独立的研究结果，发现人们的睡眠时间与寿命长短存在很强的关联。简而言之，睡眠越少，寿命越短。

This is a problem, particularly because many of us are conditioned to equate⁴ sleep with laziness. "We want to seem busy, and one way we express that is by proclaiming how little sleep we’re getting," he told The Guardian⁵. "It’s a badge of honor."

我们很多人都把睡觉与懒惰联系起来，这样是不对的。沃克对《卫报》说:“我们想让自己看上去很忙，所以常常对别人说自己睡眠很少，感觉睡得少是一种荣誉勋章。”

When he gives talks, he says people will wait until afterwards to whisper to them that they need eight or nine hours of sleep at night, similar to how someone might confess a crime. But they shouldn’t -- they’re the ones making the healthier choice.

沃克说，他去做演讲时，听众等到结束后悄悄告诉他，他们需要每晚8-9个小时的睡眠，那样子就像是在承认干了什么错事儿。他们不应该这么想，这才是更健康的生活方式。

In one study, for instance, adults age 45 and older that slept less than 6 hours each night were 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke during their lifetime compared to participants who got seven or eight hours.

以其中一项研究结果为例，45岁及以上年龄的人群如果每晚睡眠少于6小时，他们一生中心脏病发作或者中风的几率是每晚睡眠7-8小时人群的2倍。

In other studies, sleeping less has been associated with an increased risk of weight gain, developing Alzheimers, and relapses in addition disorders⁶. On a basic level, lack of sleep also lowered participants' immune systems.

在其它研究中，睡眠过少的人更容易肥胖、患阿茨海默症，而且身体机能失调的旧病容易复发。从基本上看，缺乏睡眠会导致人体免疫力降低。

“I’m not going to say that the obesity⁷ crisis is caused by the sleep-loss epidemic⁸ alone,” says Walker. “It’s not. However, processed food and sedentary lifestyles do not adequately explain its rise. Something is missing. It’s now clear that sleep is that third ingredient.”

“我并不是说肥胖完全是因为缺觉造成的。加工食品以及长期伏案、缺乏运动的生活方式并不能完全解释肥胖案例数量呈上升趋势的原因，一定有什么因素被我们忽略了。现在弄明白了，缺乏睡眠是造成肥胖的第三个原因，”沃克说。

Walker’s suggestion for people: Avoid pulling all-nighters. After you’ve been awake for 19 hours you’re essentially⁹ as cognitively¹⁰ impaired¹¹ as a drunk person.

沃克建议人们尽量避免熬夜。清醒19小时后，人的认知功能基本和醉酒者相当。

Also, think of sleep like a job. Just like going to the gym, you need to make sure you go to bed.

他还建议人们把睡眠当成一种任务，就像去健身房那样，要保证让自己按时上床睡觉。

“People use alarms to wake up,” Walker told The Guardian. “So why don’t we have a bedtime alarm to tell us we’ve got half an hour, that we should start cycling down?”

沃克对《卫报》表示：“人们会设置起床闹钟，其实也可以设一个睡觉闹钟，告诉自己还有半小时就要去睡觉了，要安静入眠了。”