Forget milky drinks, hot water bottles or curling up with a good book。
The real secret to a good night's sleep may be where you sit at work。
Not only can the stress of work leave employees tossing and turning, but sitting too far from a window can knock 46 minutes off a normal night’s sleep。
Researchers found that workers forced to toil in windowless rooms had a poorer quality of life and more erratic sleep patterns than those with access to daylight。
The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, suggest the working environment may be crucial to setting the body's own internal clock。
Researchers say better designed offices could boost the physical and mental health of workers。
“We suggest that architectural design of office environments should place more emphasis on sufficient daylight exposure for workers in order to promote health and well-being,” said Dr Ivy Cheung of the Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago。
“Office workers with more light exposure at the work place also tended to have better sleep quality, more physical activity and a better quality of life. “
A sunny day is equivalent to about 10,000 lux or higher of light. However indoor office lighting typically provides only about 300 to 500 lux。
One in three Britons suffers from poor sleep, with stress, computers and taking work home often blamed for the lack of quality slumber。
However, the cost of all those sleepless nights is more than just bad moods and a lack of focus。
Regular poor sleep raises the risk of serious medical conditions like obesity, heart and diabetes - and can even shorten life expectancy。
Adequate exposure to natural daylight is known to be crucial for governing the body's circadian rhythm - the built-in clock which dictates our sleeping and waking patterns。
They recruited 49 office employees, just over half of whom spent the day in mostly windowless environments, while the rest enjoyed frequent exposure to daylight through windows。
Each one was quizzed on sleeping patterns, physical activity and general lifestyle。
Some of the volunteers also wore high-tech watches round-the-clock for a fortnight to measure their light exposure, levels of physical activity and sleep/wake times。
The results showed those with the most work-time light exposure snoozed an average of 46 minutes more per night than their light-deprived colleagues。
They also scored better on a sleep quality scale and reported fewer night-time disturbances。
Scientists also found they were more likely to exercise, having got a good night's sleep。
The study backs up earlier research suggesting that nurses are less likely to face burnout from work-related stress and more likely to achieve job satisfaction if they have exposure to at least three hours of daylight a day。
Independent sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley said the body needs exposure to daylight to keeps its sleeping patterns on track。
"Light is essentially the thing that tells our bodies to be awake and dark tells them to go to sleep。
"The problem with office lighting is that it is not made up of 'blue' light, which is the wavelength of light you get from the sun and which controls your body clock。
"So you could have a very well lit office but it does not have the same effect because it's artificial and does not contain blue light."
忘了牛奶飲料，熱水瓶或者蜷縮在床上看一本好書吧。
睡個好覺的真正秘密可能在于你工作時所坐的地方。
不僅僅工作壓力會使員工們夜里輾轉反側，坐得離窗戶太遠也能減少掉夜里正常睡眠46分鐘。
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)在沒有窗戶的房間工作的員工相對那些能接觸到陽光的員工生活質量更差，睡眠模式也更不穩(wěn)定。
這份發(fā)表于臨床睡眠醫(yī)學期刊的調查結果表明工作環(huán)境對于人體生物鐘的調制起到至關重要的作用。
研究人員表示設計得好的辦公室能夠促進員工們的身心健康。
加哥西北大學[微博]神經學系教授張艾薇(Ivy Cheung)說：“我們建議，為了促進身體健康，辦公室環(huán)境的建筑設計應更強調讓員工們能夠接觸到足夠的日光。”
“在辦公地方能接觸到更多光的辦公室職員也傾向于會有更好的睡眠質量，有更多的體育活動，而且有更好的生活質量。”
一個大晴天相當于有10000勒克斯或更多的光。然而辦公室室內照明通常只提供大約300到500勒克斯。
三分之一的英國人忍受著睡眠不好的痛苦。缺乏一個好的睡眠質量常歸咎于壓力，電腦以及將工作帶回家。
然而，所有那些不眠之夜所致的代價絕不僅僅是壞心情和注意力缺少。
經常睡眠不好會提高患上如肥胖癥、心臟病和糖尿病等嚴重疾病的風險，而且甚至會縮短壽命。
充足地接觸陽光對于控制身體生理節(jié)律起到至關重要的作用。(生理節(jié)律：管理我們睡眠和清醒模式的內置時鐘)
他們聘用了49個辦公室人員，剛好過半的人呆在大部分沒有窗戶的環(huán)境，然而其他人經常接觸到透過窗戶的陽光。
對每個人針對睡眠模式，身體活動和生活作息進行測試。
一些志愿者也持續(xù)兩周全天帶高科技手表來測量他們的曝光量，身體活動量以及睡著和醒來的次數(shù)。
研究結果顯示那些在工作時間接觸最多陽光的員工比他們那些無陽光環(huán)境的同事平均每晚多46分鐘的睡眠時間。
他們在睡眠質量評分中得分更高而且夜醒次數(shù)也更少。
科學家們也發(fā)現(xiàn)他們更可能去做運動，夜里能睡個好覺。
該研究支持早前的一項調查研究，此調查提出如果護士們能每天接觸陽光至少三個小時，她們將不太可能會面臨和工作相關的壓力而且更可能實現(xiàn)工作上的滿足感。
獨立睡眠專家尼爾·斯坦利(Neil Stanley)博士表示身體需要接觸陽光來維持睡眠模式處于正軌。
“光在本質上是告訴我們身體白天處于清醒、夜晚進入睡眠的事物。”
“辦公室照明所存在的問題是，它不是由你從太陽得到的光的波長且能掌控你生物鐘的‘藍光’組成。”
“所以就算你有明亮的辦公室，但也不能有相同的效果。因為這是人造光且不包含藍光。”
