Just one day of work a week is enough to give a mental health boost, Cambridge University finds

　　剑桥大学研究发现，每周工作一天就足以促进心理健康

　　Laura Donnelly, health editor

　　劳拉·唐纳利，健康编辑

　　Just one day of work per week is the most "effective dose" to give the mental health benefits of paid employment, research by Cambridge University suggests.

　　剑桥大学的研究声称，要想让人们通过带薪工作获得心理健康，最“有效的剂量”只需要一周工作一天。

　　A study indicated that the risk of mental health problems reduces by 30 per cent when people move from unemployment or stay-at-home parenting into paid work of eight hours or less per week.

　　有一项研究表明，当那些失业的人或者是在家专心带娃的人，找到了一个每周只需工作8小时(也就是一天的工作时间)甚至更少时间的带薪工作后，出现心理健康问题的风险降低了30%。

　　But researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Salford found no evidence that working any more than eight hours provided further boosts to well-being.

　　然而，剑桥大学和索尔福德大学的研究人员并没有发现任何证据表明，工作时间超过8小时能进一步提高人们的幸福感。

　　Sociologists had set out to define a recommended "dosage" of work for optimal well-being and their findings are published in the journal Social Science And Medicine. They did this in the context of a rise in automation which may require shorter hours for all and a redistribution of work.

　　社会学家们已经开始定义能产生最佳幸福感的推荐工作“剂量”，而他们的研究结果已经发表在了《社会科学与医学》杂志上。他们做这项研究，是基于工作中自动化的崛起，因为自动化已经缩短了人们的工作时间，并让人们重新进行工作的分配。

　　The researchers used data from a panel survey to examine how changes in working hours were linked to mental health and life satisfaction in more than 70,000 UK residents between 2009 and 2018.

　　研究人员利用一项小组调查的数据，调查了2009年至2018年间，英国7万多名居民的工作时间变化与心理健康、生活满意度之间的关系。

　　They controlled for characteristics including age, children, longstanding illness and household income.

　　他们的控制变量包括年龄、孩子、长期病史以及家庭收入等。

　　The study suggests that to get the mental well-being benefits of paid work, the most "effective dose" is only around one day a week - as anything more makes little difference.

　　研究表明，为了获得带薪工作带来的心理健康益处，最“有效的剂量”大约只有一周一天左右——因为再多的话，也基本不会有什么改变了。

　　"We have effective dosage guides for everything from Vitamin C to hours of sleep in order to help us feel better, but this is the first time the question has been asked of paid work," said study co-author Dr Brendan Burchell, a sociologist from Cambridge University who leads the Employment Dosage research project.

　　“我们之前已经定义了很多种事情的有效剂量了，从服用维他命C的有效剂量，到最佳的睡眠时间长度，这些都是为了让我们感觉更好，但这次是我们第一次研究关于带薪工作的最佳剂量(时长)，”研究合作者Brendan Burchell博士这样说道。他是从剑桥大学毕业的社会学家，同时也是这个研究“工作最佳剂量”项目的领队。

　　"We know unemployment is often detrimental to people's well-being, negatively affecting identity, status, time use, and sense of collective purpose.

　　“我们都知道，失业这件事情是对人们有害的，会对人们的身份认知、地位、时间利用以及集体目标感产生负面影响。

　　"We now have some idea of just how much paid work is needed to get the psychosocial benefits of employment - and it's not that much at all."

　　“而我们现在知道了，需要多少带薪工作才能获得就业带来的心理健康的好处——其实并不多。”

　　Supporting the unemployed in a future with limited work is the subject of much policy discussion, such as universal basic income.

　　在未来，通过提供一些短期的工作来支持失业者，是许多政策讨论的主题，比如全民基本收入政策。

　　"In the next few decades we could see artificial intelligence, big data and robotics replace much of the paid work currently done by humans," said Dr Daiga Kamerade, study first author from Salford University.

　　索尔福德大学的Daiga Kamerade博士是这项研究的第一作者，他说:“在未来的几十年里，我们将看到人工智能、大数据和机器人技术将取代目前人类所做的大部分带薪工作。”

　　"If there is not enough for everybody who wants to work full-time, we will have to rethink current norms.

　　“如果到那个时候，并没有足够多的工作提供给每个想要做全职工作的人，我们就得重新思考一下当前的规范了。

　　"This should include the redistribution of working hours, so everyone can get the mental health benefits of a job, even if that means we all work much shorter weeks.

　　“而在这其中，也应该包括重新分配工作时间，这样一来，每个人都能从工作中获得心理健康方面的好处，即使这意味着我们每周的工作时间都要短得多。”

　　"Our findings are an important step in thinking what the minimum amount of paid work people might need in a future with little work to go round."

　　“我们的发现是很重要的一步，它让我们思考，在未来需要人们做的工作很少的情况下，人们可能需要的最低带薪工作的时长是多少。”

　　Researchers suggested creative policy options for moving into a future with limited work, including "five-day weekends", working just two hours a day, or increasing annual holiday from weeks to months - even having two months off for every month at work.

　　研究人员提出了一些有创意的政策建议，可以限制人们在未来的工作时间，比如“五天周末”，每天只工作两小时，或者把年假从几周延长到几个月，甚至每工作一个月，就放两个月的假期。

　　Dr Burchell added: "If the UK were to plough annual productivity gains into reduced working hours rather than pay rises, the normal working week could be four days within a decade."

　　波切尔博士还表示:“如果英国将年度生产率的增长用于减少工作时间，而不是加薪，那么不出10年，人们每周的正常工作时间就有可能变成4天。”

　　本文只作学习交流使用，不作商业用途。文章来源：

　　https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/18/just-one-day-work-week-enough-give-mental-health-boost-cambridge/