夜猫子还是早起的鸟儿？基因来定夺

A new study suggests morning people are born, not made.

一项新的研究表明，早睡早起是与生俱来的特质，不是后天养成的。

Here's some good news for all you night owls desperately trying to get better at mornings - new research suggests that it's not your fault that you can't string a sentence together before 9am. You may simply be genetically predisposed to being more productive at night-time.

好消息!还在为晨起打不起精神抓狂的夜猫子们，新的研究表明，9点前连话都说不完整不怪你们啦，或许就是基因决定了你们晚上效率更高。

After investigating the genomes of fruit flies, researchers from the University of Leicester in the UK have identified nearly 80 genes that are linked to a preference for either 'morningness' or 'eveningness'. And although that may sound pretty unrelated to your own body clock, the team showed that most of these genes are found in mammals, too.

在调查了果蝇的基因染色体组后，英国莱斯特大学的研究人员鉴别出了80种和喜欢“早起早睡或是“晚起晚睡相关的基因。尽管这听起来和生物钟不甚相关，研究团队表明这些基因也大都可以在哺乳动物身上找到。

Previous research has demonstrated that most people find they're most productive either early in the day or late at night - a preference that's known as a 'chronotype'. And while a lot of studies have looked into the effects of this chronotype, there hasn't been much investigation into what actually causes these differences, up until now.

先前的研究证实大多数人都发觉自己不是在早晨就是晚上效率最高，这种对时间早晚的倾向性就是“睡眠类型。尽管已有很多关于这种睡眠类型效应的研究，但是，到目前为止，究竟是什么导致了这些差异却鲜有人研究。

"In this new study, we have used fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), whose gene clocks are very similar to a human's, to get a first insight into the molecular basis of ‘morningness/eveningness’ preference," explained team member Eran Tauber in a press release. "Because this genetic system is so similar between insects and humans, there is a good chance that some of the genes that we have identified in flies, would be also important for diurnal preference in humans."

“这项新研究，我们选用生物钟和人类十分接近的(黄猩猩)果蝇，以初步洞察其偏好‘早起还是晚起’的分子基础，研究队员埃兰·图博在资讯发布会上解释道。“因为昆虫和人类的遗传体系非常相似，一些我们在果蝇里发现的基因很有可能对人类倾向白天起到重要作用。

As part of their research, the team identified two different fly strains that were at their most active either in the morning, or the evening, and they then compared and contrasted their genes. They found nearly 80 genes that appear to be linked to the flies' chronotypes, but interestingly, these genes aren't ones that are known to regulate our body clock.Instead, they're involved in a range of molecular pathways.

这项研究中，队员们还鉴别出不是早晨特活跃就是夜晚特活跃的两类果蝇，然后比较、对比了两类果蝇的基因。研究人员发现，将近80种基因似乎和果蝇的“睡眠类型相关。有意思的是，这些基因并不控制我们的生物钟。相反，这些基因和一系列分子途径有关。

The ultimate goal is to find potential targets for treatments that could help people overcome their evening or morning chronotype. While that sounds a little extreme, it could help prevent a range of disorders, such as obesity and depression, which have been linked to a lifestyle that's out of whack with your body clock.

最终目的是要找到潜在治疗目标，以帮助人们克服晚睡或早起的睡眠类型。尽管这听着有点儿极端，但还是能起到预防疾病的作用，像肥胖症、忧郁症等一系列病症，都是由于生物钟和生活方式不协调所致。

"The rhythm of life is such that for many people the economic or social call to start a new day comes hours before the endogenous call from the body clock. This creates a clock dysfunction that is not only reflected in temporal disorientation and sleep problems, but also in conditions such as obesity, mental illness, cardiovascular disease and cancer," said Taubler.

“生活节奏就是这样的，大多数人都是生物钟还没醒，就因为经济压力或是社会因素开始一天的生活。这样引发的生物钟紊乱问题，不仅影响时间概念和睡眠质量，还会引发肥胖症、精神病、心血管疾病和癌症，图博如是说。

While I'm not sure I'm ready for medication to help turn me into a morning person just yet, I kind of love the fact that researchers are finally revealing that, biologically, not everyone can function on a 9 to 5 schedule.

虽然我也不大确定自己是不是做好了接受药物治疗的准备，好把自己变成早睡早起的人。不过我还是蛮开心的，研究人员终于揭示了真相，从生物学上讲，不是每个人都能朝九晚五且保持好状态的。