調查:傳世精英很多都是"夜貓子"

If you start each day desperately wishing for an extra hour in bed, the following is likely to leave you feeling even more grumpy.

如果你每天起牀時，都巴不得再多睡一小時，那下面的調查很可能讓你感覺更焦躁。

Scientists have identified a ‘sleepless elite’ – a small group of people for whom a lie-inis a waste of time.

科學家已證實存在“夜貓子精英”一族，對這些爲數不多的人來說，睡懶覺就是在浪費生命。

Rather than being tired, bad-tempered under-achievers, they are an energetic, outgoing and optimistic group who can happily and healthily get by on just four or five hours of shut-eye a night.

雖然睡眠時間短，但他們精力充沛、外向活潑、樂觀向上，而不是疲憊而且脾氣壞的“後進生”。他們每晚只睡四到五個小時，卻過得快樂健康。

If that were not irritating enough, they tend to be slim, able to hold down two jobs at the same time, and breeze throughtheir extra-long days without needing caffeine pick-me-upsor cat naps.

如果你還不覺得煩惱，那還得告訴你，他們通常身材苗條，可以一心二用，輕鬆度過悠長的一天，而不必靠咖啡飲品提神，也不打瞌睡。

Working out how the gene cuts sleep without any obvious impact on health could help in the design of drugs that give us all a few extra hours in our day.

研究基因如何在不明顯影響健康的情況下縮短了睡眠時間有助於研製縮短睡眠時間的藥物。

The bad news is that while many of us get by on a few hours’ sleep a night, just one to three people in 100 qualify to be part of the sleepless elite.

不幸的是，儘管很多人睡眠時間都比較短，但每百人中只有一到三人能成爲“夜貓子精英”。

The research team is now appealing for members of the lucky group to come forwardto allow their DNA to be studied.

研究人員正呼籲幸運的精英一族自願接受DNA檢測。

University of California researcher Ying-Hui Fu said: ‘My long-term goal is to someday learn enough so we can manipulate the sleep pathways without damaging our health.

加州大學研究員付英輝（音）說：“我的長期目標是今後做足研究，從而在不影響健康的情況下人爲控制睡眠規律。”

‘Everybody can use more waking hours, even if you just watch movies.’

“每個人都可以縮短睡眠時間，哪怕你只是用多出的時間看電影。”

Many of those who have already volunteered share fascinating characteristics. They are thinner than average, relentlessly upbeat and seem to have a high tolerance for physical pain and psychological set-backs.

已自願接受檢測的受試者有些共同特點。他們身材更苗條，始終保持樂觀，而且似乎對疼痛感和心理挫折的忍耐力更強。

Researcher Dr Christopher Jones told the Wall Street Journal: ‘Typically, at the end of a long-structured phone interview, they will admit they have been texting and surfing the internet and doing crossword puzzles at the same time, all on less than six hours of sleep.”

研究員克里斯多弗 瓊斯博士在接受《華爾街日報》採訪時說：“通常，在一段長時間的電話調查後，受訪者會承認他們同時在發短信、上網、做拼字遊戲。而這些人每天睡眠時間不足六小時。”