斯坦福大學的新研究發現，老年人保持正常的睡眠時間很重要。如果睡眠時間不足6個小時，患癡呆癥的風險會增加；如果睡眠時間超過9個小時，大腦執行力會變差。

Older adults who sleep six hours or fewer a night may have elevated risk for dementia and other cognitive issues, a new study finds.

一項新研究發現，每晚睡眠時間在6個小時以下的老年人患癡呆癥和其他認知障礙的風險會增高。

Researchers at Stanford University measured seniors' (ages 65 to 85) dementia risk and cognitive abilities, finding higher risk in those patients who regularly slept six or fewer hours compared to those who slept seven or eight hours.

斯坦福大學的研究人員通過對年齡在65歲到85歲之間的老年人的癡呆風險和認知能力測評發現，平時睡眠6個小時以下的人相比睡7個或8個小時的人癡呆風險更高。

Those seniors who slept nine or more hours also had lower cognitive functions and other health issues, but the researchers didn't find the same high dementia risk in this group.

平時睡9個小時以上的人也出現了認知能力低下和其他健康問題，但是研究人員發現該群體的癡呆風險不像睡眠不足的人群這么高。

The findings demonstrate how important it is for adults to maintain a healthy sleep cycle, especially as they get older.

研究結果表明，成年人保持一個健康的睡眠周期有多么重要，尤其在步入老年之后。

As adults age, it's common for their sleep patterns to change or become disrupted - leading to longer, shorter, or more irregular sleep.

隨著年紀增長，成年人的睡眠模式通常會發生改變或出現紊亂，從而導致睡眠時間變長、變短或變得不規律。

This disruption may be linked to Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, impacting seniors' ability to remember information, problem-solve, and go through everyday behaviors.

睡眠紊亂可能和老年癡呆癥或其他類型的癡呆癥有關，影響著老年人記憶信息、解決問題的能力，并會影響日常行為。

Sleep disruption can also be caused by - or heighten - depression, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions.

睡眠紊亂還可能由抑郁癥、冠心病和其他疾病導致或加劇這些病癥。

New research from Stanford University provides additional evidence for the connection between sleep and brain function. The study was published Monday in JAMA Neurology.

斯坦福大學的這項新研究為睡眠和大腦功能之間的聯系提供了新證據。該研究本周一（8月30日）發表在《美國醫學會神經病學雜志》上。

The Stanford study included health records from about 4,400 patients, all between the ages of 65 and 85. These patients had undergone brain scans and other cognitive tests, but hadn't been diagnosed with dementia.

斯坦福大學的這項研究包含了年齡在65歲到85歲之間的約4400名患者的健康記錄。這些患者都接受了大腦掃描和其他認知測試，但是都還未被確診為癡呆癥。

This data was drawn from a long-term Alzheimer's investigation, conducted at 67 clinics in the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan.

研究所用的數據來自一項長期的癡呆癥調查，該調查在美國、加拿大、澳大利亞和日本的67個診所開展。

The researchers grouped these patients according to how long they typically slept. Sleep times were self-reported by the patients, not measured by a sleep tracker.

研究人員根據患者平時的睡眠時間給他們進行分組。睡眠時間是由患者自己報告的，而不是由睡眠跟蹤器記錄的。

A recommended sleep time for seniors is seven to eight hours, the researchers said. Six or fewer hours corresponded to short sleep, while nine or more hours corresponded to long sleep.

研究人員稱，老年人的最佳睡眠時間是7到8個小時。6個或6個小時以下屬于睡眠時間過短，9個小時以上則被定義為睡眠時間過長。

The Stanford researchers measured levels of beta amyloid, a protein in the brain that is typically found in high levels when a patient develops Alzheimer's.

斯坦福大學的研究人員測量了名為β淀粉樣蛋白的大腦蛋白質的水平，這種蛋白質通常在老年癡呆癥患者大腦中會大量出現。

In addition, the researchers used several tests for memory, attention, spatial skills, and executive function to identify patients' cognitive abilities.

此外，研究人員還測試了記憶力、注意力、空間感知力和執行力來評定患者的認知能力。

Those patients sleeping for six hours or fewer a night were more likely to develop dementia, the researchers found. The low-sleep patients had higher levels of beta amyloid.

研究人員發現，睡眠時間在6個小時以內的患者更容易患癡呆癥。這些睡眠少的患者大腦中的β淀粉樣蛋白含量更高。

'Amyloid-β is one of the first detectable markers in the progression of Alzheimer's disease,' Joe Winer, postdoctoral researcher at Stanford and the study's lead author, told CNN.

該研究的首席作者、斯坦福大學的博士后研究員喬·維納告訴美國有線電視新聞網說：“β淀粉樣蛋白是癡呆癥病程進展中最早可察覺到的標記物之一。”

The Stanford researchers found that patients with lower sleep also performed worse on memory tests, while those with higher sleep (nine or more hours) performed worse on executive function tests - which measure the brain's ability to switch between different tasks.

斯坦福大學的研究人員發現，睡眠少的患者在記憶測試中表現更差，而睡眠多（睡眠時間在9個小時以上）的患者在執行力測試中表現更差。執行力測試用于衡量大腦在不同任務之間轉換的能力。

Both the low and high sleep patients were more likely to nap during the day, the researchers found. Low-sleep patients may have been compensating for a lack of sleep at night, while high-sleep patients may have simply been drowsy throughout the day.

研究人員發現，睡眠少和睡眠多的患者都更容易在白天打盹。睡眠少的患者可能是在補夜里缺的覺，而睡眠多的人可能只是一整天都昏昏欲睡。

In addition, both the low and high sleep patients had higher body mass index and symptoms of depression.

此外，睡眠少和睡眠多的患者身體質量指數都偏高，出現抑郁癥狀的比例也更高。

'The main takeaway is that it is important to maintain healthy sleep late in life,' Winer told CNN.

維納告訴美國有線電視新聞網說：“研究帶給我們的主要啟示在于，老年人保持健康的睡眠很重要。”

英文來源：每日郵報

翻譯&編輯：丹妮