The next time you can't sleep, your brain whirring over shopping lists, tomorrow's meetings and whether or not you locked the back door, the solution could be simple - move your mobile phone off the bedside table and out of your bedroom altogether.
Eight out of ten of us keep our mobiles on overnight according to Ofcom, and around half use our phone as an alarm clock, a survey found. But experts are concerned about the effect this is having - at the very least it makes us 'hypervigilant' so our sleep is more likely to be disturbed and we end up not getting enough of the restorative sleep we need. But it might also trigger insomnia and other sleeping problems.
翻來覆去，徹夜難眠，腦袋卻還在思考明天早上要上菜市場的採購清單、公司的會議、門窗到底鎖了沒、瓦斯關了沒…等生活瑣事而無法順利成眠時，不妨做一個簡單的動作：將您的手機拿離床頭，最好讓它遠離臥房。
根據英國通訊管理局(Ofcom)的調查顯示，百分之八十的民眾晚上睡覺手機都不關機，一半以上的人更直接把手機當鬧鐘來使用。專家們擔心這樣的習慣，會帶來一些負面的影響，他們發現手機會讓我們『過度警覺』，這很可能會干擾我們的睡眠，使我們不能得到充分的休息，間接導致不眠症以及其他睡眠問題。
- altogether (adv.) 完全；全然 = totally, completely, entirely
I am altogether on your side in this matter. 在這個問題上我完全支持你。
- hypervigilant (adj.) 過度警覺的；過分緊張的 ﹡vigilant (adj.) 警戒的；警惕的
- restorative (adj.) 恢復健康的
- trigger (v.) 觸發，引起
A spark triggered the explosion. 一粒火星引起了這場爆炸。
Most people will sleep better if the bedroom is kept free of mobile phones and other electronic devices, says Dr Guy Meadows, insomnia specialist at The Sleep School, London. Dr Meadows leaves his smartphone in the kitchen at night.
The main problem with mobile phones in the bedroom is light, particularly the kind produced by the bright, high-quality screen on modern phones. It interferes with the body's natural rhythm, effectively tricking our bodies into believing it's daytime, according to Dr Charles Czeisler, a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard University.
Light stimulates cells in the retina, the area at the back of the eye that transmits messages to the brain. The light-sensitive cells inform our body what time it is, explains Dr Meadows. 'This controls the release of the hormone melatonin, which makes you feel sleepy, and the waking hormone, cortisol.'
All artificial light, whether from standard light bulbs or fluorescent strips, is thought to inhibit the release of melatonin, keeping us awake longer. But light from mobiles may have a greater effect.
倫敦睡眠學校失眠專家 Guy Meadows 表示，如果將手機或其它電子產品拿離開臥房，多數人都將睡得更好。而他本人睡覺時則把手機放到廚房去。
手機在臥房最大的問題是其光線，特別是時下高品質手機螢幕所呈現的夜間光線。哈佛大學睡眠醫學教授 Charles Czeisler 說，它會干擾人體的自然規律，有效地欺騙我們的身體，讓我們的身體相信那時是白天。
Guy Meadows 解釋，光線會刺激眼球後面傳送訊息給大腦的視網膜細胞，感光細胞會通知我們的身體現在是什麼時候。「它會抑制讓人睡著的褪黑激素(melatonin)的釋放，並促使讓人醒來的皮質醇激素(cortisol)的釋放。」不管這個人造光線來自傳統的燈泡或是日光燈管，都會抑制褪黑激素的釋放，讓我們身體的清醒時間更長，只是手機螢幕的光線帶來的效果更明顯。
- interfere with 干擾；妨礙
Sedentary habits often interfere with health. 久坐不動的習慣往往有礙健康。
- trick (v.) 哄騙
They tricked me into making a mistake. 他們騙我犯錯。
- stimulate (v.) 刺激；促進…的功能
The optical system of the eye stimulates cells of the retina. 眼睛的視覺系統刺激視網膜內的細胞。
- retina (n.) 視網膜
- transmit (v.) 傳送，傳達
I will transmit the money by special messenger. 我將專門派人送這筆錢。
- hormone (n.)【生】激素；荷爾蒙
- fluorescent (adj.) 螢光的；發亮的
- inhibit (v.) 約束；抑制 = restrain, repress, suppress
Failure to set up a good transport network inhibited the expansion of trade.
未能建立良好的運輸網絡限制了貿易的發展。
Why? Most of us think of normal light as white, but it's made up of different colours of varying wavelengths, explains Professor Debra Skene, a neuroendocrinologist at the University of Surrey.
And the light emitted by phones, tablets and e-readers contains a great deal of blue - this means it has a more stimulating effect. 'We know that because of a pigment called melanopsin, the cells in the retina are most sensitive to blue light,' says Professor Skene.
'As well as the type of light, what determines the effect on your body clock is brightness, duration, time of day and the distance from the light,' says Professor Skene. 'So if you're holding a very bright screen close to your face, at 2, 3, 4am - you're doing everything you possibly could that would make you more alert.'
薩里大學神經內分泌專家 Debra Skene 教授說，我們大多認為正常的光線是白光，其實它卻是由許多不同的光波所組成的。視網膜中的黑素蛋白(melanopsin)細胞對藍光最敏感，而手機、平板電腦和電子書所釋放的光線包含了大量的藍光，這意味著它對人體有更大的刺激作用。
Debra Skene 教授還說，決定我們身體時鐘效應的因素包括光線的亮度、持續時間、白天的時間和人體與光線的距離等，假設你在清晨2~4點讓手機的強光靠近臉部，就越容易讓你保持清醒。
- be made up of… 由...組成 = consist of, be composed of
Water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen. 水是由氧和氫組成的。
- wavelength (n.) 波長 ﹡on different wavelength 與某人志趣相異
We're on completely different wavelengths. 我們完全沒有共通之處。
- neuroendocrinologist (n.) 神經內分泌學家
- emit (v.) 散發，放射；發出〔熱﹑光﹑氣等〕
The chimney emitted thick smoke into the air. 煙囪向空中散發出濃煙。
- a great deal of… 大量的，許多的 = a great amount of
She has spent a great deal of money on clothes. 她在服裝上花了許多錢。
- pigment (n.) 色素；顏料
- duration (n.) 持續時間 = time, period, term
The duration of the examination is three hours. 考試時間為三個小時。
Even short bursts of light - from a message alert or checking your phone - may have an effect. A 2011 study at Stanford University in the U.S. tested the effect of a total of just 0.12 seconds of light exposure during the night. Participants were exposed to pulses of light lasting two milliseconds each for an hour. This delayed the bodyclock and people became more alert.
'This, along with other studies comparing intermittent and continuous light, suggests the first part of any light exposure is more effective on making the body more alert than the later part of light exposure,' says Professor Skene.
And because of the way we sleep, having a mobile by the bed means if we do wake up in the night, we're more likely to stay awake. As Dr Meadows explains: 'We sleep in cycles of 1½-2 hours, with brief moments of waking in between that normally go unnoticed.
'But in these brief waking moments, any outside stimulus has the potential to drag you out of sleep - for instance, a flash of light or vibration of your phone from a text message at the wrong moment could make you fully conscious.
'If you then check your phone, you'll be stimulating the cognitive parts of your brain, too - which really will stop you sleeping,' adds Dr Meadows.
Sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley adds: 'In order to get a good night's sleep, you have to feel safe and not worried about anything. By having your phone close by at night, you're subconsciously saying you wish to attend to that phone. 'The brain will monitor the situation and your sleep will be lighter and more likely to be disturbed.'
一份2011年美國史坦福大學的一項研究顯示，人體在夜間暴露於光線0.12秒就會干擾睡眠。Debra Skene 教授認為，配合其他研究結果，會發現間歇式的光線比連續性光線更容易讓身體保持清醒。
Guy Meadows 教授解釋，人體每次的睡眠周期是1.5~2個小時，在睡眠周期之外會有不易察覺的短暫清醒時刻。當手機因簡訊引起的閃光或震動若出現在不適當的時間，你便會徹底醒來。如果你這時起來查看手機，你將刺激大腦的認知部份，到時你可能就真的睡不著了。
睡眠專家史丹利 Neil Stanley 表示：「為了讓自己晚上能更好睡，你必須放鬆，不要擔心任何事情。若你晚上睡覺時手機不離身，大腦必須隨時監督這個情境，而你的睡眠將更容易被打擾。
- burst (n.) 爆發，突發
A burst of hand - clapping followed the ending of the song. 歌聲結束之後響起了一陣掌聲。
- exposure (n.) 暴露
The newspaper's exposure of their crimes led to their arrest.
報上揭露了他們的罪行，這些人因而被捕。
- intermittent (adj.) 間歇的；時斷時續的 = periodic
- drag out 拖延 = drag on
- cognitive (adj.) 認知的
- subconsciously (adv.) 潛意識地
We can now say that exposure to radiation before bed - at a level equivalent to making a call on a mobile for 30 minutes - does seem to lead to a small increase in electrical activity in the brain,' says Dr Sarah Loughran of the Australian centre for electromagnetic bioeffects research at the University of Wollongong. 'This happens mainly in the stage of non-rapid eye movement sleep that occurs either side of deep sleep. We don't yet know what these findings may mean.'
A small 2008 study found that participants took an average of six minutes longer to reach deep sleep after being exposed to mobile phone radiation. They also spent an average eight minutes less time in the deepest stage of sleep. This is believed to be the most refreshing part of the sleep cycle.
Dr Andrew Tresidder, a Somerset GP, says he's found some patients who complained of disturbed sleep or headaches improved once they switched their mobile phones off in their bedroom.
Dr Tresidder, now a trustee of the campaign group Electrosensitivity UK, adds: 'We don't really know the mechanism here, but given how sensitive the cells in our bodies are to other types of energy waves such as sound or light, it would be surprising if we weren't sensitive to other kinds of frequency - such as radio waves.'
臥龍崗大學澳洲電磁生物效應研究中心的 Sarah Loughran博士稱：「睡覺時若手機放在身旁，我們的身體暴露於輻射波的水平相當於持續用手機講電話30分鐘，這會在大腦累積一定程度的電流活動。這種情況主要發生在介於深度睡眠之間的非快速眼動睡眠階段。」
根據2008年一篇小型研究也發現，受測者在暴露於手機輻射波後，要比平常多6分鐘才能入睡，他們在深度睡眠的時間也比平常少8分鐘。
薩默塞特教育信託基金的 Andrew Tresidder 博士表示，他發現一些抱怨睡眠被干擾或頭疼的患者，只要將手機移開臥房後，睡眠情況便改善了。雖然目前無法確切明瞭其中的運作原理，但我們知道人體的細胞對聲光等能源波確實很敏感。
- radiation (n.) 輻射
- electromagnetic (adj.) 電磁的
- trustee (n.) 受託管理人
- mechanism (n.) 工作方式﹐運行機制
