People who sleep fewer than six hours a night are more likely to die early, researchers in University of Warwick have found in a recent study. They discovered that people who slept for less than six hours each night were 12% more likely to die before the age of 65 than those who slept the recommended six to eight hours a night.
The researchers pointed out that previous studies had shown that the lack of sleep was associated with problems like heart disease and high blood pressure. However, the researchers also found that sleeping too much was linked to an early death. Those who slept for more than nine hours a night were 30% more likely to die early, as an article in the latest Sleep suggested. That directly contradicts another passage in the same journal last month suggesting that people who slept for ten hours or longer a night were more likely to live to 100. This was thought to be because people who lived into extreme old age were healthier and therefore slept better.
However, the authors of the latest research contradicted this and suggested that long sleep was a sign of underlying illnesses such as depression and low levels of physical activity. Professor Francesco Cappuccio at the University of Warwick said: “While short sleep may represent a cause of ill-health, long sleep is believed to represent more an indicator of ill-health.”
He also mentioned: “Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take, and this pattern is more common among full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to social pressures for longer working hours. On the other hand, the worsening of our health is often accompanied by an extension of our sleeping time.”
“Consistently sleeping six to eight hours per night may be good for health. However, whether to achieve the goal depends on various factors such as the environment as well as measures of public health aimed at favourable changes of the working environments,” Professor Francesco Cappuccio added.
8. What did researchers in University of Warwick find?
A. People who sleep fewer than 6 hours each night die before 65.
B. Sleeping for more than 9 hours a night does good to one’s health.
C. Six to eight hours’ sleep can be appropriate for people.
D. People at an old age are healthier because they sleep longer.
9. What is Professor Francesco Cappuccio most likely to agree with?
A. Long sleep is what causes our health problems.
B. Modern people sleep less because they work longer.
C. Our health becomes worse because we sleep less.
D. How long we sleep depends on our education.
10. What did the researcher think may help people have proper sleep?
A. Social pressure. B. Longer working hours.
C. Extension of sleeping time. D. Changes of working environments.
11. What can be the best title for this passage?
A. How Long Should We Sleep B. Longer Sleep Makes Better Health
C. Time to Sleep Early D. The Importance of Sleep
C
【答案】8. C    9. B    10. D    11. A
【解析】
【分析】
这是一篇新闻报道。华威大学的研究人员经过研究发现，每晚睡眠不足6小时的人死亡风险更大，每晚睡6至8小时最合适，而每晚睡10小时或更长时间的长睡眠则被认为更能代表健康不良的一个指标。