We can all have a bad night of sleep and that's perfectly normal, but how could we try to improve both the quantity and the quality of our sleep?
我们都可能会睡眠不佳, 这很常见。 但我们要如何同时提升 我们的睡眠时间和质量呢?
[Sleeping with Science]
【科学睡眠】
(Music)
【席梦思让美梦成为可能】 【睡眠的第一堂课】
Here are six scientifically grounded tips for better sleep.
以下是六个具有科学依据的建议, 能够帮助您提升睡眠质量。
The first tip is regularity. Go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time. Regularity is king, and it will actually anchor your sleep and improve both the quantity and the quality, no matter whether it's the weekday or the weekend or even if you've had a bad night of sleep. And the reason is because deep within your brain, you actually have a master 24-hour clock. It expects regularity and works best under conditions of regularity, including the control of your sleep-wake schedule. Many of us use an alarm to wake up but very few of us use a to-bed alarm, and that's something that can be helpful.
第一个建议是:规律睡眠。 按时睡觉,按时起床。 规律作息是最重要的, 它能使你的睡眠习惯固定下来, 同时提升睡眠的时长与质量, 无论是工作日还是周末, 或者即使你有一天睡得不好。 而原因就在于,在你的大脑深处 存在着一个 24 小时的生物钟。 它需要规律的作息, 而且在规律的作息下 才能最好地工作, 这种规律性包括了 对于你睡眠-醒来模式的整体控制。 很多人会设置叫醒自己的闹钟, 但很少人会设置睡眠闹钟, 而那也是非常有帮助的。
The next tip is temperature. Keep it cool. It turns out that your brain and your body need to drop their core temperature by about one degree Celsius or around two to three degrees Fahrenheit in order to initiate sleep and then to stay asleep. And this is the reason that you will always find it easier to fall asleep in a room that's too cold than too hot. So, the current recommendation is to aim for a bedroom temperature of around about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, or a little over 18 degrees Celsius. It sounds cold but cold it must be.
第二个建议:温度。 要保持睡眠环境凉爽。 事实证明,你的大脑和身体 需要降低大约 1 摄氏度, 或者 2 到 3 华氏度左右的核心温度, 才能够进入初级睡眠阶段, 而后真正入睡。 这也是为什么你总是觉得 在更冷的房间里比 在更热的房间里更容易睡着。 所以当前的建议是, 将卧室的温度 设置为华氏 65 度左右的温度, 或者略微高于 18 摄氏度的温度。 听起来是有一点点冷, 但是这是必须的。
The next tip is darkness. We are a dark-deprived society and, in fact, we need darkness specifically in the evening to trigger the release of a hormone called melatonin. And melatonin helps regulate the healthy timing of our sleep. In the last hour before bed, try to stay away from all of those computer screens and tablets and phones. Dim down half the lights in your house. You'd actually be quite surprised at how sleepy that can make you feel. If you'd like, you can wear an eye mask or you can have blackout shades and that will help best regulate that critical sleep hormone of melatonin.
第三个条件:黑暗的环境。 我们是一个从黑暗中起源的社会, 而且事实上,我们也需要黑暗, 尤其是在晚上, 只有黑暗才能引发 褪黑素的释放。 褪黑素可以让我们的 健康睡眠时间变得规律。 在上床前的最后一小时 要尽量远离电子屏幕, 包括电脑、平板和手机。 把家里的灯光调暗一半。 你将非常惊喜地发现, 这种昏暗的环境 会让你感到困倦。 如果你愿意的话,还可以带上眼罩, 或者拉上遮光的百叶窗, 这些都能够最大程度地帮助你 调节重要的褪黑素的分泌。
The next tip is walk it out. Don't stay in bed awake for long periods of time. And the general rule of thumb is if you've been trying to fall asleep and it's been 25 minutes or so, or you've woken up and you can't get back to sleep after 25 minutes, the recommendation is to get out of bed and go and do something different. And the reason is because your brain is an incredibly associative device. The brain has learned the association that the bed is this trigger of wakefulness, and we need to break that association. And by getting out of bed, you can go and do something else. Only return to bed when you're sleepy. And in that way, gradually, your brain will relearn the association that your bed is this place of sound and consistent sleep.
第四个建议:下床走走。 如果长时间睡不着, 不要一直呆在床上。 经验法则告诉我们, 【约 10-15% 的成人 如果你一直尝试入睡, 承认患有慢性失眠。】 而且已经将近 25 分钟了, 或者醒来到再次睡着的时间 超过了 25 分钟, 那么我的建议是下床走走, 找点其他的事情做。 因为人的大脑 是一件难以置信的联想机器。 我们的大脑学会了建立联系, 而床就是帮助你醒来的触发器, 所以我们需要打破这种联系。 而通过下床做其他的事情, 只是在你感觉困的时候 再回到床上, 这样一来, 你的大脑才会逐渐 重新建立一种联系, 即床才是能够给你 带来安稳睡眠的地方。
The fifth tip is something that we've actually already spoken about in detail in this series, which is the impact of alcohol and caffeine. So, a good rule of thumb here is to try to stay away from caffeine in the afternoon and in the evening and certainly try not to go to bed too tipsy.
关于第五个建议, 我们其实已经 在这个系列片中具体讲过了, 那就是酒精和咖啡因的影响。 经验告诉我们, 在下午和晚上 要尽量远离咖啡因, 更要避免入睡前醉酒。
The final tip: have a wind-down routine. I think many of us in the modern world, we expect to be able to dive into bed at night, switch off the light, and we think that sleep is also just like a light switch, that we should immediately be able to fall asleep. Well, unfortunately, sleep isn't quite like that for most of us. Sleep, as a physiological process, is much more similar to landing a plane. It takes time for your brain to gradually descend down onto the firm bedrock of good sleep. In the last 20 minutes before bed or the last half an hour, even the last hour, disengage from your computer and your phone and try to do something relaxing. Find out whatever works for you and when you have found it, stick to that routine.
最后一条建议是: 培养一些睡前习惯。 我认为我们中的很多人 在现在的社会 都希望能够关灯之后 就立马沉睡, 我们以为睡眠 也像灯的开关一样, 可以瞬间发生。 但是可惜的是, 对于我们大部分人来说, 睡觉并不是这么回事。 睡眠作为一种生理过程 更像是飞机降落。 大脑活动需要一段时间 才能逐渐下降到 利于良好睡眠的坚实基础上。 在上床前的 20 分钟或半个小时, 甚至一个小时, 远离你的电脑和手机, 试着做些令你放松的事情。 找出对你的睡眠真正有帮助的事情, 当你找到之后, 要坚持这样的习惯。
The last thing I should note is that if you are suffering from a sleep disorder, for example, from insomnia or sleep apnea, then these tips aren't necessarily going to help you. If I was your sports coach, I could give you all of these tips to improve your performance, but if you have a broken ankle, it's not going to make a difference. We have to treat the broken ankle first before we can get back to improving the quality of your performance. And it's the same way with sleep. So, if you think you have a sleep disorder, just go and speak with your doctor. That's the best piece of advice.
最后需要注意的是, 如果你正经受着睡眠障碍, 比如失眠或者睡眠呼吸暂停, 那么这些建议 可能就不一定能帮到你。 打个比方来说, 如果我是你的运动教练, 我会给你这些建议, 以提升你的场上表现。 但如果你的膝盖受伤了, 这些建议并不会带来什么改变。 我们必须先要治好受伤的膝盖, 再去考虑如何提高比赛中的表现。 睡眠的道理也是大同小异。 所以,如果你有睡眠障碍, 就去和你的医生谈谈。 这是最好的建议。
Where do we stand, then, in all of this conversation about sleep? Well, I think the evidence is clear. We can think of sleep almost like a life-support system. In fact, some may even call sleep a super power.
那么我们的立场是什么呢? 在所有这些关于睡眠的谈话里, 我认为显而易见的是, 我们可以把睡眠看作是 维持生命的系统。 事实上,一些人甚至认为 睡眠是一种超能力。