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很多人相信电灯和手机会让人晚睡，但直接证明这一点的长期证据其实很少，因为科学家很难在同一群人身上看到现代技术“到来之前和之后”的变化。据《自然》（Nature）10 月 23 日的研究速递，一项发表在《当代生物学》（Current Biology）上的研究恰好做到了这一点。阿根廷圣安德烈斯大学（Universidad de San Andrés）、阿根廷国家科学与技术研究委员会（CONICET）与美国华盛顿大学的研究者，在 2012 年至 2024 年间追踪了阿根廷北部原住民托巴/科姆（Toba/Qom）人的睡眠：一类是 2016 年后才逐步通电的农村社区，另一类是更早就有电的城镇周边社区。156 名参与者佩戴记录活动的腕戴设备，研究共收集了 12,000 多条睡眠记录。结果显示，两类社区的入睡时间都推迟了约 1 小时；农村社区每晚睡眠在十年内减少约 35 分钟。据论文较早公开的预印本，到 2018 年参与者及其家人中还没有人拥有智能手机，而到 2024 年约一半参与者有了自己的手机。不过作者的模型显示，电力和智能手机本身并不能完全解释入睡推迟，研究团队认为背后还有更广泛的现代化与生活方式变化；这类观察性研究也只能说明变化同时发生，难以确定每一项变化的具体原因。文章按“常见看法—研究对象与方法—主要发现—技术变化—解释与局限—意义”展开，阅读时可留意 because、while、so、however、instead 如何连接因果与转折，以及 may、can、cannot prove 等如何表达研究结论的边界。

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Many people believe that electric lights and phones keep us awake at night. It sounds reasonable, but clear proof has been hard to find, because scientists rarely see a community before and after modern technology arrives. A long study in Argentina has now watched this change happen in real time.

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很多人认为，电灯和手机会让我们晚上难以入睡。这听起来很有道理，但清楚的证据一直很难找到，因为科学家很少能在现代技术到来之前和之后都观察到同一个社区。如今，阿根廷的一项长期研究实时记录下了这种变化。

The study, published in the journal Current Biology this month and reported by Nature on October 23, followed Toba/Qom people, an Indigenous group in northern Argentina. From 2012 to 2024, researchers from Argentina and the University of Washington studied two kinds of communities. Rural groups only began to get electricity after 2016, while semi-urban groups near a town had it much earlier.

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这项研究本月发表在《当代生物学》（Current Biology）期刊上，《自然》（Nature）于 10 月 23 日作了报道。研究追踪的是阿根廷北部的原住民群体托巴/科姆（Toba/Qom）人。2012 年至 2024 年，来自阿根廷和华盛顿大学的研究人员研究了两类社区：农村社区直到 2016 年后才开始通电，而靠近城镇的半城市化社区则早得多就有了电。

To measure sleep, 156 people wore small devices on their wrists. These devices record movement, so they can show when a person falls asleep and wakes up. Over the years, the team collected more than 12,000 nights of sleep records, which allowed them to compare the same communities at different times.

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为了测量睡眠，156 人在手腕上佩戴了小型设备。这些设备记录身体活动，因此能够显示一个人何时入睡、何时醒来。多年来，研究团队收集了 12,000 多个夜晚的睡眠记录，这让他们能够比较同一批社区在不同时期的情况。

The results were clear. In both kinds of communities, people started sleeping about an hour later than before. In the rural groups, the change was even bigger: people slept about 35 minutes less each night within a decade. If people go to bed later but still get up at about the same time, they lose sleep.

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结果很明确。在两类社区中，人们开始睡觉的时间都比以前晚了大约一个小时。在农村社区，变化更大：十年内，人们每晚的睡眠减少了大约 35 分钟。如果人们睡得更晚，起床时间却差不多，睡眠就会减少。

Technology changed quickly during the same years. According to an earlier version of the paper, none of the people in the study, or anyone in their families, had a smartphone in 2018. By 2024, about half of them had their own. Some people in remote areas could even get online through free public Wi-Fi.

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在同一时期，技术也变化得很快。据这篇论文较早的一个版本，2018 年时，研究中的人及其家人都没有智能手机。到 2024 年，大约一半的人有了自己的手机。偏远地区的一些人甚至可以通过免费的公共 Wi-Fi 上网。

However, the researchers say these new tools do not tell the whole story. Their models found that electricity and smartphones alone could not explain how much later people were sleeping. Instead, the team points to wider changes in the way people live, as these communities become more connected to modern towns and their habits. Like other studies of this kind, it can show that the changes happened at the same time, but it cannot prove exactly what caused each one.

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不过，研究人员表示，这些新工具并不能说明全部情况。他们的模型发现，仅靠电力和智能手机无法解释人们入睡时间推迟了多少。研究团队转而指出更广泛的生活方式变化：这些社区与现代城镇及其习惯的联系越来越紧密。和其他同类研究一样，它能够说明这些变化是同时发生的，但无法证明每一项变化的确切原因。

The authors say the study is like watching, in about ten years, a change that probably took a century in many industrial countries. For these communities, modern life has arrived quickly, and so have later and shorter nights.

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作者表示，这项研究就像是在大约十年内，看到了一个在许多工业化国家可能花了一个世纪才完成的变化。对这些社区来说，现代生活来得很快，更晚、更短的夜晚也随之而来。

新闻来源

• Nature · Sleep declines in rural communities after electricity arrives (23 Oct 2026)
• Current Biology · Longitudinal study of Toba/Qom communities reveals delay and shortening of sleep in real time (Casiraghi et al., 2026)
• bioRxiv · Modern Times: Longitudinal Study of Toba/Qom Communities Reveals Delay and Shortening of Sleep in Real-Time (preprint, revised 4 Mar 2026)

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