VOA慢速：新研究表明满月能影响睡眠
欢迎来到今天的VOA慢速专区。
今天为大家带来一篇科学新闻。
You may have noticed brighter night skies recently as we experienced a full moon.
你可能注意到夜空比之前更明亮的事，这是因为我们最近一段时期经历过满月。
NASA reports the event, called the Wolf Moon, began Thursday afternoon and ended Saturday morning.
美国宇航局报道了那次的狼牙满月事件。狼牙满月是周四下午开始、周六早上结束的。
But did you notice any changes in your personal sleep patterns in the days leading up to the full moon?
但满月前的那段时间里，你是否有注意到自己的睡眠规律有何变化呢？
As the latest full moon was beginning, a new study was released suggesting that a full moon can affect human sleep cycles.
最近一次满月开始的时候，一项新研究发布了——研究表明，满月能影响人类睡眠周期。
Researchers confirmed that the nights leading up to a full moon have more natural light available after the sun goes down.
研究人员证实，满月前的一些夜晚里，日落后的自然光会更充足。
The new research found that in the days before a full moon,
该新研究发现，满月前的一些天里，
people go to sleep later in the evening and sleep for shorter periods of time.
人们晚上睡觉的时间要晚于平时，睡觉的时间也更短些。
The results were reported in a study appearing in the publication Science Advances.
《科学进展》期刊中发布了该研究的结果。
The research was led by biology professor Horacio de la Iglesia of the University of Washington.
该研究是由华盛顿大学的生物学教授奥拉西奥·伊格莱西亚牵头进行的。
When we looked at the data it was right there -
我们观测数据时，发现数据中呈现了这样的结果——
we didn't expect that pattern at all, de la Iglesia said in a video about the findings.
对此我们是未曾设想过的，伊格莱西亚在关于发现成果的一则视频中这样说道。
He said the study provided clear evidence that a person's sleep-wake cycle is synchronized with changes the moon goes through.
他表示，该研究提供了更清晰的证据，表明一个人的睡眠周期是跟月亮经历的变化相同步的。
The moon takes 27.3 days to orbit Earth, but it takes 29.5 days to complete a full cycle from New Moon to New Moon.
月亮需要27.3天来环绕地球，一次新月到下一次新月的完整周期是29.5天。
The new study measured the sleep patterns of test subjects as the moon progressed through at least one whole 29.5-day cycle.
该新研究测量了测试对象的睡眠规律，跨度至少是一个完整的29.5天周期。
Some subjects were tested through two moon cycles.
一些对象的测试跨度则达2个周期。
On average, people involved in the study slept about 52 minutes less on nights before a full moon.
平均来说，参与实验的人在满月前的一些夜晚，睡眠时间减少了大概52分钟。
They also went to bed about 30 minutes later.
另外，他们睡觉的时间大概晚了30分钟。
The research showed that people had the latest bedtimes and the shortest amount of sleep during the nights that were three to five days before a full moon.
该研究表明，满月前3-5天的夜晚，人们睡觉的时间最晚、睡眠时间也最少。
I became one of the subjects of the study
我也是该研究的一个测试对象。
and when I looked back on my own data I could not believe how much my sleep changed, de la Iglesia said.
我看自己的数据时，我无法相信我的睡眠居然改变了这么多，伊格莱西亚如是说道。
Past studies by de la Iglesia's team and other research groups have shown that access to electricity has a clear effect on sleep.
伊格莱西亚团队及其他研究组织过去所做的研究表明，对电的获取程度对睡眠有着明显的影响。
So the team included this element in their research.
所以，该团队把这一因素也体现在了研究中。
The study involved 98 individuals living in three different communities of Toba indigenous people in Argentina.
阿根廷的多巴有3个不同的本土社群，该研究的对象里有98个人来自这3个社群。
Each community had different access to electricity.
每个社群对电的获取程度不同。
One rural community had no electricity access, while a second had only limited access.
我们的农村社群没有电可以用，第2个社群只有有限的电可以用。
A third community was in a more populated area and had full access to electricity.
而第3个社群人口更加稠密，对电的获取程度更高。
Sleep data was collected electronically from the individuals through wrist monitors.
睡眠数据通过测试对象腕部的监控器发送过来。
The research team said it believes this method resulted in more effective data
该研究团队表示其认为该方法所获得数据的有效性更高，
than some past studies that depended only on user-reported sleep data.
因为之前的一些研究都是基于用户上报的睡眠数据。
In addition to the indigenous communities, the researchers also examined sleep data on 464 college students in the Seattle, Washington area.
除了本土的社群之外，研究人员还考量了华盛顿地区西雅图的464名大学生的睡眠数据。
That data had been collected for a separate study.
当时收集这些数据是为了进行另一项研究的。
The researchers said they discovered the same moon cycle patterns in the sleep data from the students.
研究人员表示，他们从这些学生的睡眠数据中发现了相同的月亮周期规律。
Although the effect is more robust in communities without access to electricity,
虽然这个影响在无法获取电的社群表现得更为明显，
the effect is present in communities with electricity, de la Iglesia said.
但这个影响在能用上电的社群中也是存在的，伊格莱西亚如是说道。
The scientists say further research is needed to help explain other possible causes for the changes in sleep patterns in the test subjects.
科学家表示，需要进一步的研究来助力解释测试对象睡眠规律变化的其他可能原因。
Such causes could involve biological differences in individuals or social patterns within communities.
这些原因可能包括社群内个体和社会规律的生物差异。
I'm Bryan Lynn.
布莱恩·林恩为您播报。
这里是 美国之音 频道