研究人員表示，每晚至少睡五小時可能會降低五十歲以上人群患多種慢性病的幾率。他們說，健康狀況不佳會影響睡眠，但睡眠不好本身也可能是疾病的預警或威脅健康的風險。

Experts generally recommend we all get around seven or eight hours' sleep per night for good health. Now new research, based on a study of UK civil servants, suggest five hours' might be the bare minimum you can get away with.

專家通常建議，為了身體健康，我們每晚都要睡七到八小時左右。現在，一項以英國公務員為調查對象的研究表明，五小時可能是避免威脅健康的最低睡眠時間。

The investigators from University College London and Paris City University tracked the health of 8,000 participants through their 50s, 60s and 70s to see if sleep duration might be linked to their chance of developing multiple chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease.

倫敦大學學院和巴黎城市大學的調查人員跟蹤調查了8000名參與者50歲、60歲和70歲期間的健康狀況，以了解他們的睡眠時間是否與他們患多種慢性病的幾率有關，如癌癥、糖尿病或心臟病。

The results suggest short sleep may be a risk or a marker for disease, and five hours a night is the tipping point.

研究結果表明，睡眠時間短可能是導致患病的風險或標志，而每晚睡五小時則是健康狀況是否受影響的臨界點。

詞匯表

recommend 建議
civil servants 公務員
bare minimum 最少量，最低限度
tracked 追蹤了
chronic 慢性的
marker 標志
tipping point 臨界點，轉折點

閱讀理解：請在讀完上文后，回答下列問題。

1. What is considered a good amount of sleep for good health?

2. How much time do experts think is the minimum amount of sleep you need to stay healthy?

3. Which group of people were studied for this research about sleep?

4. What did this research aim to discover about the effects of too little sleep?

答案  

1. What is considered a good amount of sleep for good health?
Experts generally recommend we all get around seven or eight hours' sleep a night for good health.

2. How much time do experts think is the minimum amount of sleep you need to stay healthy?
The results of the research suggest short sleep may be a risk for disease and five hours a night is the tipping point.

3. Which group of people were studied for this research about sleep?
UK civil servants were studied for this research about sleep.

4. What did this research aim to discover about the effects of too little sleep?
The research aimed to discover if sleep duration might be linked to people's chances of developing multiple chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease.