和寵物一起睡到底好不好？科學家幫你認清利弊

很多人都覺得和寵物睡在一起不衛生，但是對於愛寵人士而言，這根本不是問題。跟寵物同床而眠對身心健康到底是利大於弊，還是弊大於利？來聽聽科學家怎麼說。

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In the quest for better sleep, people often ask if they should share their bed with a pet. Before we get to that, let's take a moment to ponder the flip side: Is sleeping with you good for your pet?

很多人都有這個疑問：和寵物同床睡覺是否有助於睡眠？在回答這個問題之前，我們先來看看問題的另一面：寵物和你睡在一起，是否有利於寵物的健康？

"In general, it is a very good thing for animals to sleep with their people." said Dr. Dana Varble, the chief veterinary officer for the North American Veterinary Community.

北美獸醫社群的首席獸醫官戴娜·瓦布林醫生說：“總體來說，寵物和人一起睡覺對寵物來說是很好的。”

Pets who share their human's bed tend to have a "higher trust level and a tighter bond with the humans that are in their lives. It's a big display of trust on their part," Varble said.

瓦布林說，和人同床而眠的寵物通常“對主人更信任更親密。這是寵物非常信任人類的表現。”

"Dogs and cats who are more closely bonded with their humans get additional health benefits, including increases in beneficial neurotransmitters such as oxytocin and dopamine, the feel-good hormones," she added.

她補充道：“與人類更親近的狗和貓等動物還能得到額外的益處，包括會分泌更多催產素和多巴胺等神經傳導物質，也就是我們所說的快樂激素。”

With that important matter out of the way, let's turn to you -- is it good for you to sleep with a pet? Experts have traditionally said no because you might not get quality shut-eye.

在搞清這個重要問題之後，現在來關注一下寵物主人：和寵物一起睡覺對人有好處嗎？傳統上，專家都會給出否定答案，因為你可能無法得到高質量睡眠。

"Animals may move, bark and disrupt sleep. Sleep in dogs (and cats) is not continuous and they will inevitably get up and walk on the bed, stepping on people. All of that activity will lead to sleep fragmentation," said Dr. Vsevolod Polotsky, director of sleep research and a professor in the department of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

約翰斯•霍普金斯大學醫學院醫學系教授弗謝沃洛德·波羅特斯基博士說：“動物會動來動去，大聲叫喚，而這會干擾睡眠。狗和貓的睡眠是間斷性的，睡一會兒就必然會起來走動，並踩到主人。這些活動都會導致主人的睡眠片段化。”

These "microawakenings," which can happen without your awareness, "are disruptive because they pull you out of deep sleep," said Kristen Knutson, an associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. "They have been associated with the release of the stress hormone, cortisol, which can make sleep even worse."

西北大學範伯格醫學院的神經學及預防醫學副教授克里斯汀·克努森說：“這些你可能意識不到的短暫覺醒會打斷你的深度睡眠，並導致皮質醇釋放，而這種壓力激素會讓你的睡眠質量變得更糟糕。”

That may be true for many of us, but recent studies have shown that pets in the bedroom could be beneficial for some of us.

對許多人而言，和寵物共眠或許確實會影響睡眠質量，但是最近的研究表明，和寵物同睡對一些人是有益的。

"People with depression or anxiety may benefit from having their pet in the bed because the pet is a big pillow, a big blanket, and they may feel that snuggly, cuddly, furry creature decreases their anxiety," said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

南加州大學凱克醫學院的臨床醫學助理教授、睡眠專家拉傑·達斯古普塔博士說：“跟寵物同睡可能會對抑鬱或焦慮的人有好處，因為寵物就像一個大枕頭、一條大毯子，這種溫暖舒適、毛絨絨、讓人想擁抱的感覺會減輕他們的焦慮情緒。”

Data gathered in 2017 from the Mayo Clinic's Center for Sleep Medicine in Phoenix found over half of pet owners seen in the clinic allowed their pet to sleep in the bedroom -- and the majority found their pet "unobtrusive or even beneficial to sleep."

2017年鳳凰城的梅奧診所睡眠醫學中心收集的資料發現，來診所的超半數寵物主人都讓寵物在臥室裡睡覺，大部分人認為自己的寵物“沒有干擾、甚至有助於自己的睡眠。”

About 20% however, did believe their furry friends made their slumber worse.

不過的確有20%的寵物主人認為寵物讓自己的睡眠質量下降了。

Children may benefit from sleeping with a pet as well. A 2021 study asked adolescents ages 13 to 17 to wear sleep trackers for two weeks and then undergo a state-of-the-art sleep test. About a third of the kids slept with a pet, the study noted, which didn't appear to affect the quality of their rest.

孩子們也能得益於和寵物共眠。2021年的一項研究讓13到17歲的青少年連續兩週佩戴睡眠追蹤器並接受最先進的睡眠測試。研究指出，約有三分之一的孩子和寵物一起睡，而且寵物似乎沒有影響他們的睡眠質量。

state-of-the-art: adj. 最先進的；達到最高水準的

Despite the new science, many of us still need to think twice about bringing our dogs, cats or indoor pigs into our beds.

儘管新科學理論認為和寵物共眠有益，但是許多人在和狗、貓或寵物豬同睡之前還是要三思。

"It is particularly harmful in people with insomnia or in patients with other sleep disorders," Polotsky said.

波羅特斯基說：“對於患有失眠或其他睡眠障礙的人來說，和寵物同睡尤其有害。”

There is another reason why snuggling with pets all night may not be good for your health. If you are one of the millions of people who suffer from asthma, allergies or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sleeping with a furball could become a nightmare.

和寵物一起睡可能對你的健康不利還有另一個原因。如果你是數百萬患有哮喘、過敏或慢性阻塞性肺病的患者之一，和寵物一起睡將會帶來災難性的後果。

And there are some pets, Varble said, you should never invite to bed.

瓦布林說，還有一些寵物是絕對不能和人同床睡覺的。

"I work with exotic pets, and a lot of them have very specific health and safety requirements, including being in an enclosure," Varble said. "So while I know people who are very close to their ferrets and their guinea pigs, they need to be in their enclosure for their health at night. Those are not animals that we would want to have in bed with us."

瓦布林說：“我曾經和珍禽異獸打過交道，其中不少都有特殊的健康和安全要求，包括圈養規定。我知道有些人與自己的雪貂和豚鼠非常親密，但是為了健康著想，夜裡還是應該把它們關起來。這些動物都不適合和我們同床而眠。”

英文來源：美國有線電視新聞網

翻譯&編輯：丹妮

來源：中國日報網