夜里辗转难眠？你该归咎于你的办公室

Forget milky drinks, hot water bottles or curling up with a good book.

The real secret to a good night's sleep may be where you sit at work.

Not only can the stress of work leave employees tossing and turning, but sitting too far from a window can knock 46 minutes off a normal night’s sleep.

Researchers found that workers forced to toil in windowless rooms had a poorer quality of life and more erratic sleep patterns than those with access to daylight.

The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, suggest the working environment may be crucial to setting the body's own internal clock.

Researchers say better designed offices could boost the physical and mental health of workers.

“We suggest that architectural design of office environments should place more emphasis on sufficient daylight exposure for workers in order to promote health and well-being,” said Dr Ivy Cheung of the Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago.

“Office workers with more light exposure at the work place also tended to have better sleep quality, more physical activity and a better quality of life. “

A sunny day is equivalent to about 10,000 lux or higher of light. However indoor office lighting typically provides only about 300 to 500 lux.

One in three Britons suffers from poor sleep, with stress, computers and taking work home often blamed for the lack of quality slumber.

However, the cost of all those sleepless nights is more than just bad moods and a lack of focus.

Regular poor sleep raises the risk of serious medical conditions like obesity, heart and diabetes - and can even shorten life expectancy.

Adequate exposure to natural daylight is known to be crucial for governing the body's circadian rhythm - the built-in clock which dictates our sleeping and waking patterns.

They recruited 49 office employees, just over half of whom spent the day in mostly windowless environments, while the rest enjoyed frequent exposure to daylight through windows.

Each one was quizzed on sleeping patterns, physical activity and general lifestyle.

Some of the volunteers also wore high-tech watches round-the-clock for a fortnight to measure their light exposure, levels of physical activity and sleep/wake times.

The results showed those with the most work-time light exposure snoozed an average of 46 minutes more per night than their light-deprived colleagues.

They also scored better on a sleep quality scale and reported fewer night-time disturbances.

Scientists also found they were more likely to exercise, having got a good night's sleep.

The study backs up earlier research suggesting that nurses are less likely to face burnout from work-related stress and more likely to achieve job satisfaction if they have exposure to at least three hours of daylight a day.

Independent sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley said the body needs exposure to daylight to keeps its sleeping patterns on track.

"Light is essentially the thing that tells our bodies to be awake and dark tells them to go to sleep.

"The problem with office lighting is that it is not made up of 'blue' light, which is the wavelength of light you get from the sun and which controls your body clock.

"So you could have a very well lit office but it does not have the same effect because it's artificial and does not contain blue light."

忘了牛奶饮料，热水瓶或者蜷缩在床上看一本好书吧。

睡个好觉的真正秘密可能在于你工作时所坐的地方。

不仅仅工作压力会使员工们夜里辗转反侧，坐得离窗户太远也能减少掉夜里正常睡眠46分钟。

研究人员发现在没有窗户的房间工作的员工相对那些能接触到阳光的员工生活质量更差，睡眠模式也更不稳定。

这份发表于临床睡眠医学期刊的调查结果表明工作环境对于人体生物钟的调制起到至关重要的作用。

研究人员表示设计得好的办公室能够促进员工们的身心健康。

加哥西北大学神经学系教授张艾薇（Ivy Cheung）说：“我们建议，为了促进身体健康，办公室环境的建筑设计应更强调让员工们能够接触到足够的日光。”

“在办公地方能接触到更多光的办公室职员也倾向于会有更好的睡眠质量，有更多的体育活动，而且有更好的生活质量。”

一个大晴天相当于有10000勒克斯或更多的光。然而办公室室内照明通常只提供大约300到500勒克斯。

三分之一的英国人忍受着睡眠不好的痛苦。缺乏一个好的睡眠质量常归咎于压力，电脑以及将工作带回家。

然而，所有那些不眠之夜所致的代价绝不仅仅是坏心情和注意力缺少。

经常睡眠不好会提高患上如肥胖症、心脏病和糖尿病等严重疾病的风险，而且甚至会缩短寿命。

充足地接触阳光对于控制身体生理节律起到至关重要的作用。（生理节律：管理我们睡眠和清醒模式的内置时钟）

他们聘用了49个办公室人员，刚好过半的人呆在大部分没有窗户的环境，然而其他人经常接触到透过窗户的阳光。

对每个人针对睡眠模式，身体活动和生活作息进行测试。

一些志愿者也持续两周全天带高科技手表来测量他们的曝光量，身体活动量以及睡着和醒来的次数。

研究结果显示那些在工作时间接触最多阳光的员工比他们那些无阳光环境的同事平均每晚多46分钟的睡眠时间。

他们也在睡眠质量评分中得分更高而且有更少的夜间受干扰次数记录。

科学家们也发现他们更可能去做运动，夜里能睡个好觉。

该研究支持早前的一项调查研究，此调查提出如果护士们能每天接触阳光至少三个小时，她们将不太可能会面临和工作相关的压力而且更可能实现工作上的满足感。

独立睡眠专家尼尔·斯坦利（Neil Stanley）博士表示身体需要接触阳光来维持睡眠模式处于正轨。

“光在本质上是告诉我们身体白天处于清醒、夜晚进入睡眠的事物。”

“办公室照明所存在的问题是，它不是由你从太阳得到的光的波长且能掌控你生物钟的‘蓝光’组成。”

“所以就算你有明亮的办公室，但也不能有相同的效果。因为这是人造光且不包含蓝光。”