The “Napper”午睡派

If you don’t quite fit in among the morning people or night owls， well， you might soon have your own， more relatable， sleep category.

Recently， researchers propose two more so-called chronotypes： the “afternoon” person and the “napper”. A chronotype is defined by the time of day a person is most alert and sleepiest.

A group of researchers in Belgium created and distributed a short online survey to over 1，300 people， ages 12 to 90， asking them questions about their sleep habits and tiredness levels throughout the day. They then analyzed the results in collaboration with a group in Russia.

They found that indeed there were 631 people who fit into one of the two well-known night and morning categories. While larks are wide awake in the morning and sleepier as the day progresses， owls are just the opposite.

But they also found， based on the wakefulness-sleepiness answers， that there were 550 participants that fell into one of two other groups—the “nappers” and the “afternoon” people.

如果你既不是喜歡早起的人，也不是“夜貓子”，那么你可能很快就會有一個更適合自己的睡眠類別。

最近，研究人員提出了另外兩種睡眠時間類型：“午后派”和“午睡派”。睡眠時間類型是由一個人每天最清醒和最犯困的時間來定義的。

比利時的一組研究人員設計了一份簡短的在線調查，詢問參與者全天的睡眠習慣和疲勞情況，有1300多名12歲至90歲的人參與了該調查。之后，研究人員與俄羅斯的一個組織合作分析了調查結果。

他們發現，確實有631人屬于眾所周知的晚睡型或早起型?！鞍凫`鳥”在早晨非常清醒，然而隨著時間的推移會越來越困，而“貓頭鷹”則恰恰相反。

但是，他們還發現，根據這些參與者對于清醒和犯困時間的回答，有550人屬于另外兩個群體：“午睡派”和“午后派”。

Of all the chronotypes， the “afternoon” people wake up the sleepiest and then they become alert around 11 am， staying that way until about 5 pm， after which they get tired again. The “nappers” wake up alert and stay alert until about 11 am， after which they get really tired until about 3 pm. After 3 pm until about 10 pm， they are alert and productive again.

Still， the remaining 30% of participants didn’t fall into any group.

“Recognizing these categories is important because some people can benefit from an afternoon nap and， you know， the conditions for an afternoon nap are not very good in the modern society，” said lead author Arcady Putilov， a neurobiologist at the Neurophysiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. “Maybe if the ‘nappers’， for example， took a quick 10—15 minutes’ snooze during the day， their performance would increase，” he said.

The authors also found that the results， for the most part， held true in men and women， in both day-and-night-shift workers and in all ages. There were some slight differences in age， such as older people tended to fall more into the “nappers” group.

在所有的睡眠時間類型中，“午后派”的人醒來時是最困的，上午11點左右他們會變得清醒，一直保持清醒狀態直到下午5點左右，之后他們會再次感到疲勞?！拔缢伞钡娜诵褋砗笾钡缴衔?1點左右都是清醒的，之后他們會變得非常疲憊，直到下午3點左右。下午3點過后，直至晚上10點左右，他們一直清醒且高效。

不過，剩下30%的參與者并不屬于任何一個群體。

研究報告的主要作者是來自莫斯科的俄羅斯科學院高級神經活動與神經生理學研究所的神經生物學家阿爾卡德·普季洛夫。他說：“識別這些睡眠時間類型之所以重要，是因為一些人可以從午睡中獲益，而且你知道，在現代社會，午睡的條件不太好。如果午睡派的人白天用10到15分鐘的時間打一個盹兒，他們的業績也許就會提高。”

研究者還發現，研究結果在很大程度上對男性和女性均適用，也適用于倒班的人以及各個年齡段。從年齡上看只有一些微小的差異，比如老年人往往更多屬于“午睡派”群體。

Word Bank

propose /pr?'p??z/ v. 提出

She proposed a possible solution to the mystery.

napper /'n?p?/ n. 打盹的人

If you’re a committed napper， you can skip all naps for a week.

collaboration /k?'l?b?'re??n/ n. 合作

The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.