如果你不愛(ài)運(yùn)動(dòng)，也阻擋不了美食的誘惑，你可以試試每天午睡半小時(shí)。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，定期午睡可以延緩大腦萎縮三至六年，這應(yīng)該是最不費(fèi)力的養(yǎng)生習(xí)慣了。

Regularly finding time for a little snooze is good for our brain and helps keep it bigger for longer, say University College London researchers.

英國(guó)倫敦大學(xué)學(xué)院的研究人員指出，定期午睡對(duì)大腦有好處，能延緩大腦萎縮。

The team showed nappers' brains were 15 cubic centimetres (0.9 cubic inches) larger - equivalent to delaying ageing by between three and six years.

該研究團(tuán)隊(duì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，有午睡習(xí)慣的人的大腦比不午睡的人的大腦要大出15立方厘米，相當(dāng)于延緩衰老三至六年。

However, the scientists recommend keeping naps to less than half an hour.

然而，科學(xué)家建議，午睡不要超過(guò)半小時(shí)。

The brain naturally shrinks with age, but whether naps could help prevent diseases like Alzheimer's will still need extra research.

隨著年齡增大，大腦會(huì)自然地萎縮，但是午睡能否預(yù)防阿爾茨海默癥等疾病仍需要更多研究。

Overall brain health is important for protecting against dementia and the condition is linked to disturbed sleep.

大腦健康對(duì)于預(yù)防癡呆癥十分重要，而癡呆癥和睡眠不佳有關(guān)。

The researchers suggest poor sleep is damaging the brain over time by causing inflammation and affecting the connections between brain cells.

研究人員指出，長(zhǎng)時(shí)間睡不好會(huì)損害大腦，導(dǎo)致大腦炎癥，從而影響腦細(xì)胞之間的聯(lián)系。

"Thus, regular napping could protect against neurodegeneration by compensating for deficient sleep," researcher Valentina Paz said.

研究員瓦倫蒂娜·帕茲說(shuō)：“因此，定期午睡能彌補(bǔ)睡眠不足，從而預(yù)防神經(jīng)退行性疾病?！?/p>

Napping might boost health, but the reverse is also true as your health can leave you so tired you need to nap more.

午睡可能有利于健康，但是反過(guò)來(lái)，你的身體如果特別累，也會(huì)需要更多的小憩。

So the researchers used a clever technique to prove that napping is beneficial.

所以研究人員用了一種巧妙的技術(shù)來(lái)證明午睡的益處。

They used a gigantic natural experiment based on the DNA. Previous studies have identified 97 snippets of our DNA that either make us more likely to be nappers or to power through the day.

他們采用了基于DNA的超大型自然實(shí)驗(yàn)的數(shù)據(jù)。先前的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，人類DNA中有97個(gè)片段決定你是否喜歡午睡。

So the team took data from 35,000 people, aged 40 to 69, taking part in the UK Biobank project and simply compared those genetic "nappers" and "non-nappers".

因此該團(tuán)隊(duì)抽取了參加英國(guó)生物樣本庫(kù)計(jì)劃的年齡在40歲和69歲之間的3.5萬(wàn)人的數(shù)據(jù)，并將天生的午睡者和不午睡者做了比較。

The results, published in the journal Sleep Health, showed a 15 cubic centimetre difference - equivalent to 2.6 to 6.5 years of ageing.

發(fā)表在《睡眠健康》期刊上的這項(xiàng)研究結(jié)果顯示，二者大腦體積相差了15立方厘米，相當(dāng)于前者比后者晚衰老2.6至6.5年。

英文來(lái)源：BBC

翻譯&編輯：丹妮