上夜班损害健康
A study suggests working at night can be harmful to one’s health. Especially, it increases the risk of some cancers, diabetes, mental illnesses and some heart troubles.
Researchers from the Sleep Research Centre at the UK’s University of Surrey discovered that many genes(基因) in the body need to follow a regular(规律的) 24-hour cycle, during which the body sleeps at night. If this cycle is broken up, up to 1,500 genes could get damaged, and this finally makes people fall ill. Professor Derk-Jan Dijk said, “The study means a lot because we now need to discover why these rhythms(节律) exist and think about the results of that.”
The human body has around 24,000 genes. Many of these turn off if the body does not follow a regular sleeping pattern. This can cause parts of the immune system(免疫系统) to become less helpful. One of the researchers, Dr Simon Archer, said, “Over 97 percent of rhythmic genes become out-of-step when you sleep at the wrong time. It can really explain why we feel so bad during jet lag(时差) or if we have to work irregular shifts(轮班).”
Dr Dijk said that although we all know the bad results from the research, it would be difficult for people to change their ways of work and life. He explained it was difficult for society to function(运转) without people working at night, but he thought people needed to understand the dangers.