Morning people have few problems springing out of bed bright and early to face the day.

对于爱早起的人来说，一大早从床上爬起来迎接新的一天根本不是什么难事儿。

Now it has emerged they are less likely to suffer from depression and are generally happier too.

如今科学家发现，爱早起的人不容易得抑郁症，总体来说也更快乐。

A study has found morning ‘larks¹’ are up to 35 percent less likely to suffer from depressive symptoms, based on their genes³.

一项研究指出，早起的人患抑郁症的可能性要低35%，这是由他们的基因决定的。

These people, who are more likely to be older and female, also have better wellbeing.

早起的人多为老年人和女性，这些人的幸福感也更强。

The silver lining⁴ for night owls⁵ is their ‘late riser’ genes may also make them more intelligent, perhaps because they spend more time reading when they are up late.

不幸中的万幸是，夜猫子的晚睡基因令他们更聪明，可能是因为他们在熬夜时花更多时间阅读。

Scientists have discovered 327 new genetic⁷ regions which determine whether people are ‘larks’ who get up early in the morning or ‘owls’ with later bedtimes who naturally lie in for longer.

科学家发现了327个新基因区域，这些基因区域决定了人们是“早起的鸟儿”还是“夜猫子”。

They have found for the first time that larks and owls may process caffeine differently, so that a morning cup of coffee may stay in a night owl⁶’s system for longer and keep them up at night.

科学家首次发现，早起的人和夜猫子摄入咖啡因后身体的处理机制不同，早上喝的咖啡可能在夜猫子体内停留时间更久，让他们在深夜保持清醒。

While shift workers who work at night were already known to be more prone⁸ to depression, this is the largest genetic study to find those with night owl genes are more at risk.

我们已经知道，上夜班的工人更容易得抑郁症，而这项大型基因研究发现携带夜猫子基因的人患抑郁症的风险更高。

Professor Mike Weedon, of the University of Exeter Medical School, said: ‘The large number of people in our study means we have provided the strongest evidence to date that “night owls” are at higher risk of mental health problems, such as schizophrenia and lower mental wellbeing, although further studies are needed to fully understand this link.’

埃克塞特大学医学院的麦克·威登教授说：“我们的研究涵盖了许多人，这意味着我们有强有力的证据表明夜猫子患上精神疾病的风险更高，比如精神分裂症和较低的幸福感，不过我们还需要进一步研究才能理解这两者之间的关联。”

Dr Sam Jones, of the University of Exeter, said: ‘The link with depression could be explained by the fact that night owls are forced by their jobs and everyday life to get up early.

埃克塞特大学的山姆·琼斯博士说：“晚起和抑郁之间的关联可以用一个事实来解释：夜猫子受工作和日常生活所迫不得不早起。”

'Constantly having to fight against your natural body clock could have negative effects on your mental health.’

“总是要和体内的生物钟作斗争对心理健康会产生负面影响。”

Experts believe around 15 percent of people are night owls, another 15 percent are larks and the rest of us are morning or evening types to a lesser⁹ degree.

专家认为，约15%的人是夜猫子，还有15%的人是早起者，其他人则没有那么明显。

The largest genetic study of people’s body clocks took in almost 450,000 British people from the UK Biobank genetic database and close to 250,000 people from the US who had used genetic testing service 23andMe.

这项对人体生物钟的基因研究是有史以来规模最大的，从英国生物银行基因数据库调取了近45万英国人的基因资料，并从基因测试服务机构23andMe获取了近25万美国人的数据。

Scientists found 351 genetic locations thought to make people early or late risers, of which 327 were previously¹⁰ unknown.

科学家发现有351个基因区域决定人们是早起还是晚起的类型，其中327个基因区域是此前所不知道的。

People with ‘lark²’ genes appeared up to 11 percent less likely to be schizophrenic and had up to a third lower risk of depression.

研究显示，有早起基因的人患上精神分裂症的可能性要低11%，患上抑郁症的可能性要低三分之一。

The larks’ genetic profiles were compared to those of people in a previous study on wellbeing and happiness.

这些早起者的基因资料被拿来和先前一项幸福感研究中的研究对象相比较。

This showed larks were significantly more likely than night owls to be content with their lives.

结果显示，相比夜猫子，早起的人对自己的生活满意度要高得多。

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, show for the first time that night owls have differences in their genes which are also linked to intelligence.

发表在《自然通讯》期刊的这一研究结果首次表明，夜猫子的基因和常人有差异，而这一差异与智力有关。

Some night owl genes are active in the retina and the part of the brain which detects light.

一些夜猫子的视网膜以及察觉光线的大脑部位很活跃。

Researchers now suspect night owls may be kept awake more by the artificial light in our homes, which may affect their eyes differently and disrupt signals to the brain telling them it is night-time.

研究人员现在怀疑夜猫子可能是因为家里的人工光线才保持清醒，这些人工光线会对夜猫子的眼睛产生特殊影响，扰乱大脑收到的信号，让大脑误以为夜晚还没到。

The experts do not yet know how genes for light recognition and caffeine metabolism¹¹ differ in larks and owls.

专家还不知道早起者和夜猫子在光线识别和咖啡因代谢有关的基因方面存在怎样的差异。

But the differences they have found suggest night owls could be more strongly affected¹² by caffeine, so it wakes them up more or lasts longer in their system, making them sleepy later on.

但是科学家发现的差异表明，夜猫子受咖啡因的影响更强烈，因此咖啡因能让他们清醒时间更长，在体内留存时间也更久，从而导致他们晚睡。

The findings show at least 13 percent of whether someone is a night owl or morning lark is inherited from their parents.

研究结果显示，一个人是夜猫子还是早起者，至少有13%是遗传自父母。

However the study found no link between night owl genes and obesity¹³ and type 2 diabetes¹⁴, despite previous evidence.

然而，该研究没有发现夜猫子基因和肥胖以及2型糖尿病之间的关联，这与先前的证据不相符。

The findings could lead to drugs to help people avoid depression, and sleep earlier, by blocking troublesome genes.

该研究可能会促进药物的研发，通过阻断问题基因来帮助人们预防抑郁症并早睡。