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Daylight saving time is bad for your health
夏令时有害健康
Why do we have daylight saving time (DST), when it seems like it is constantly the butt of jokes? Why do we even have it if it appears to be bad for our health?
夏令时的存在似乎是个笑话，但为什么会存在夏令时呢？如果夏令时有害健康，我们又为何要实行呢？
It's an old joke. One idea for DST was presented in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin in a satirical essay in the Journal de Paris as a way to save on candle wax. It was first implemented in Europe and the US during World War I. The implementation of DST has, across the last hundred years, been supported by purported reductions in energy usage and increases in daily productivity. While in the US it has taken a few different forms, in 1966 the Uniform Time Act cemented the current schedule of six months of standard time and six months of DST.
这是个经典笑话。本杰明·富兰克林（Benjamin Franklin）于1784年在《巴黎日报》（Journal de Paris）上写了一篇讽刺文章，他表示实行夏令时制是为了节省蜡烛。在第一次世界大战期间，夏令时制首次在欧洲和美国实行。在过去的一百年里，夏令时制因能减少能源使用和提高日生产率而得到了大家的支持。在美国，夏令时制有几种不同的形式，但在1966年，《统一时间法案》确立了美国本土使用六个月的标准时间和六个月的夏令时时间。
Other arguments in favor of DST are that it allows people more time to enjoy leisure activities during the summer months and that it leads to an increase in physical activity — but all of these remain controversial. A 2014 study did not find any difference in activity patterns between people living in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico and residents of Arizona, a state which does not observe DST. Studies on energy usage have also had mixed results: one showed moderate savings in energy spending in Norway and Sweden, while another showed an increasing energy spending in Indiana.
支持夏令时的其他论点包括，实行夏令时制可以使人们在夏季时分有更多的时间享受休闲活动，从而增加了身体活动——但事实与否仍存在争议。2014年的一项研究发现：科罗拉多州，犹他州和新墨西哥州的居民与未实行夏令时制的亚利桑那州居民之间并不存在活动方式上的差异。关于能源使用的研究也得出了不同的结果：一项研究表明挪威和瑞典的能源支出有所降低，而另一项研究表明印第安纳州的能源支出有所增加。
Work and play are one thing, but it also matters that our bodies naturally run on approximately 24-hour cycles. Just like we have time zones so that we can keep timing consistent across the world, we also each have a system in our body that helps keep our physiological timing in check. This "master" clock is in the brain's hypothalamus and is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). It can sync time throughout the body through hormonal and chemical signals.
工作和休闲是一个因素，但同样重要的是，我们的身体会以24小时为周期运作。正如为了克服时间上的混乱，国际上统一实行了分区计时法一样，我们每个人的体内都有一个系统，可以帮助我们控制生理时间。这个“主”钟位于大脑的下丘脑，被称为视交叉上核（SCN）。它可以通过荷尔蒙和化学信号同步整个身体的时间。
These clocks are disrupted in many of the most devastating human diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders (i.e. Alzheimer’s disease), psychiatric disorders, and heart disease.
这些时钟在许多致命性人类疾病（例如癌症、糖尿病、神经退行性疾病（即阿尔茨海默症）、精神病和心脏病）中都受到干扰。
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