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“夜猫子”，那么你可能很快就会有一个更适合自己的睡眠类别。

最近，研究人员提出了另外两种睡眠时间类型：“午后派”和“午睡派”。睡眠时间类型是由一个人每天最清醒和最犯困的时间来定义的。

比利时的一组研究人员设计了一份简短的在线调查，询问参与者全天的睡眠习惯和疲劳情况，有1300多名12岁至90岁的人参与了该调查。之后，研究人员与俄罗斯的一个组织合作分析了调查结果。

他们发现，确实有631人属于众所周知的晚睡型或早起型。“百灵鸟”在早晨非常清醒，然而随着时间的推移会越来越困，而“猫头鹰”则恰恰相反。

但是，他们还发现，根据这些参与者对于清醒和犯困时间的回答，有550人属于另外两个群体：“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.

在所有的睡眠时间类型中，“午后派”的人醒来时是最困的，上午11点左右他们会变得清醒，一直保持清醒状态直到下午5点左右，之后他们会再次感到疲劳。“午睡派”的人醒来后直到上午11点左右都是清醒的，之后他们会变得非常疲惫，直到下午3点左右。下午3点过后，直至晚上10点左右，他们一直清醒且高效。

不过，剩下30%的参与者并不属于任何一个群体。

研究报告的主要作者是来自莫斯科的俄罗斯科学院高级神经活动与神经生理学研究所的神经生物学家阿尔卡德·普季洛夫。他说：“识别这些睡眠时间类型之所以重要，是因为一些人可以从午睡中获益，而且你知道，在现代社会，午睡的条件不太好。如果午睡派的人白天用10到15分钟的时间打一个盹儿，他们的业绩也许就会提高。”

研究者还发现，研究结果在很大程度上对男性和女性均适用，也适用于倒班的人以及各个年龄段。从年龄上看只有一些微小的差异，比如老年人往往更多属于“午睡派”群体。

Word Bank

propose /prə'pəʊz/ v. 提出

She proposed a possible solution to the mystery.

napper /'næpə/ n. 打盹的人

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

collaboration /kə'læbə'reɪʃn/ n. 合作

The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.