又中又英｜An upside and a downside

Do you prefer sleeping more or exercising more? Which will you choose if sleeping more will result in you exercising less or vice-versa? Many people will scoff at this question. If you scoff at a question, it means you ridicule it as stupid or silly. Many will say exercising more doesn't cause less sleep and sleeping more doesn't cause less exercise. That's true but only if they don't drink coffee. A new study shows there is an upside and a downside to drinking coffee. If something has an upside and downside it means it has something good and something bad.

The study found that people who drink one to three cups of coffee a day are more active. They walk on average an extra 1000 steps a day. This may explain why drinking coffee can result in better health. But the study found that even one cup of coffee a day causes less shut-eye, which is a slang word for sleep. People who drink a cup of coffee a day lose about 36 minutes of nightly sleep. The more they drink, the less they will sleep. Many studies have shown coffee drinkers live longer, have lower rates of diabetes, cancer, and liver disease.

What I can't understand is why coffee drinkers live longer and have lower rates of serious diseases even though coffee makes them sleep less. Isn't sleep supposed to repair the body? But I won't beat my brains out on why coffee drinkers are healthier even if they sleep less. To beat your brains out means to try very hard to understand something.

你寧願睡多一些還是做多一些運動？如果睡多些會令你做少一些運動，或反過來做多些運動令你睡少些，你會怎樣選擇？許多人會scoff at這道問題。若你scoff at一條問題，意即你藐視、嘲笑它是一條蠢問題。許多人會說，做多些運動並不會令睡眠減少，睡多一些也不會導致運動做少一些。這是真的——只有在他們不喝咖啡的情況之下。一個最新的研究顯示，喝咖啡有 an upside and a downside——若某事有 an upside and a downside，意即它有好處亦有壞處。

研究發現，每天喝1至3杯咖啡的人較為活躍，他們平均每天多走1000步。這或許能解釋為何喝咖啡可以帶來好健康。但該研究又發現，即使1天只是喝1杯咖啡，也會導致少些shut-eye——這是睡覺的俚語。每天喝1杯咖啡的人，會失去大概36分鐘晚間睡眠的時間；他們喝得愈多，睡得愈少。許多研究也顯示，喝咖啡的人較長命，患上糖尿病、癌症和肝病的比率亦較低。

但我不明白的地方是，為何喝咖啡令人睡得更少，他們卻可更長壽，患重病比率較低？睡眠不是理應用來讓身體復元的嗎？到底為甚麼即使喝咖啡的人睡少些，也能更健康，我不會beat my brains out—— to beat my brains out是指絞盡腦汁去弄明白一件事。

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