温暖宜人的房子可能扰乱人体季节节律
An 'eternal summer' created by home heating and lighting may be disrupting seasonal rhythms in the human body with the risk of illness or even premature death, researchers say.
研究人员指出，由家庭供暖和照明设备创造的“永恒夏日”可能会扰乱人体内部的季节节律，有着导致人们患病甚至过早死亡的风险。
Scientists fear that the prevalence of warm houses and sustained contact with bright lights could supress important genes which have evolved to activate at different times of the year.
They think perpetually warm dwellings may be a recipe for disaster as the sensitive proteins – some of which kick in during the winter to fight off common diseases like flu – are fooled into thinking it is still the summer and do not activate.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge have previously found that a quarter of human genes display seasonal variation, including the protection against various infectious diseases.
Now a study says that the efficacy of these genes could be hampered by modern western lifestyles.
Dr Tyler Stevenson, a senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, said: "The real take home message is that seasonal rhythms are pervasive.
"Just like daily rhythms which tell us to sleep at night, a similar thing is happening seasonally.
"But over time these seasonal signals are dampening down.
"Seasonal changes in environmental variables play a significant role in the regulation of many physiological and behavioural processes.
"Presently many of us no longer live in accordance with the naturally occurring variation in geophysical rhythms."