你到底需要多少睡眠？：英语精读讲义

Tired?

累了吗？

We all know the feeling.

这种感觉我们都懂。

Irritable, groggy, and exceptionally lazy.

烦躁、昏昏沉沉，而且格外懒散。

Chances are you didn't sleep enough last night or the past few nights. 短語搭配

很可能是你昨晚或过去几晚没睡够。

But what exactly is enough sleep?

但究竟睡多久才算够？

And more importantly, can you ever catch up on it? 短語動詞

更重要的是，缺的觉以后还能补回来吗？

While the very function of sleep is still debated by scientists, 語法

虽然科学家仍在争论睡眠究竟有什么作用，

we do know that it's necessary to function efficiently and productively. 語法

但我们知道，要高效且富有成效地运转，睡眠必不可少。

After all, we spend 24 years of our lifetime sleeping. 表達脈絡

毕竟，我们一生中有24年都在睡觉。

It'd better be important. 語法

那它最好真的很重要。

Researchers have tested how much is required each night 語法

研究人员测试了人每晚究竟需要睡多久，

by assigning groups of people to 4, 6, and 8 hours of sleep

他们让不同组的人分别睡4小时、6小时和8小时，

over extended periods of time.

并持续了很长一段时间。

After 14 days,

14天后，

those with 8 hours of sleep exhibited few attention lapses or cognitive issues.

每晚睡8小时的人几乎没有出现注意力涣散或认知问题。

However, those with 6 or 4 hours of sleep showed a steady decline.

然而，每晚睡6小时或4小时的人，状态却持续下滑。

In fact, after only 2 weeks,

事实上，仅仅两周后，

the 6 hour group showed a similar reaction time 短語搭配

6小时组的反应时间就和

to a person with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1%, 文化背景

血液酒精浓度为0.1%的人差不多，

which is considered legally drunk.

而这在法律上已属于醉酒状态。

The 4 hour sleepers suffered even more,

4小时组的情况更糟，

occasionally falling asleep during their cognitive tests.

他们有时甚至会在认知测试中睡着。

In both groups,

在这两组中，

brain function decreased day by day

大脑功能都日渐下降，

almost linearly with no sign of leveling off.

而且几乎呈线性趋势，丝毫没有趋于稳定的迹象。

Scientists have dubbed this cumulative effect as sleep debt. 文化背景

科学家把这种累积效应称为“睡眠债”。

So, can we recover from it?

那么，这笔债能补回来吗？

After a night or two of little sleep, 語法

如果只是一两个晚上没睡够，

studies show that the body and brain can fully recover with a few nights of good sleep.

研究显示，只要接下来几晚睡得好，身体和大脑就能完全恢复。

However, with long-term sleep deprivation on the scale of weeks to months, 短語搭配

然而，如果长期缺觉，持续数周甚至数月，

the recovery of cognitive function is much slower,

认知功能的恢复就会慢得多，

requiring many more nights of quality sleep. 語法

需要更多晚的优质睡眠。

On the time scale of months to years,

如果时间跨度达到数月甚至数年，

it's unknown whether brain function can be fully repaired 語法

大脑功能能否完全恢复，

or if it causes permanent damage.

或者是否会受到永久性损伤，目前还不得而知。

Paradoxically, with chronic sleep deprivation, 表達脈絡

矛盾的是，长期缺觉时，

your sleepiness or how tired you feel does eventually level off, 短語動詞

你的困意，也就是主观疲劳感，最终会趋于稳定，

meaning that you become less and less aware of your objective impairment over time. 語法

这意味着时间越久，你越难察觉自己的实际能力已经受损。

So, how long should you sleep?

那么，到底该睡多久？

Most studies tend to show that 7 to 8 hours of sleep is the average ideal for humans. 短語搭配

大多数研究表明，人类平均而言，理想睡眠时长是7到8小时。

Apart from the cognitive issues,

除了认知问题，

individuals who consistently sleep less than 7 hours a night

每晚长期睡不到7小时的人

have an increased risk of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes,

患心脏病、肥胖症和糖尿病的风险都会增加，

not to mention a 12% higher risk of death. 表達脈絡

更别提死亡风险还会提高12%。

On the flip side, 習語

反过来说，

studies have shown that while sleeping more than 8 hours does not impair brain function,

研究表明，虽然睡眠超过8小时不会损害大脑功能，

it also carries an increased risk of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, 短語搭配

但患心脏病、肥胖症和糖尿病的风险同样会增加，

and a 30% increased risk of mortality.

死亡风险也会提高30%。

So, too much sleep may also be a bad thing.

所以，睡得太多也可能不是好事。

But variation most certainly exists,

但个体差异确实存在，

and our genetics play a large role. 短語搭配

而基因在其中扮演着重要角色。

In fact,

事实上，

individuals genuinely unaffected by only 6 hours of sleep

有些人即使只睡6小时也确实不受影响，

were found to have a mutation of a specific gene. 語法

研究发现，他们的某个特定基因发生了突变。

When scientists genetically engineered mice to express this gene,

当科学家通过基因工程让小鼠表达这种基因时，

they were able to stay awake for an extra 1.2 hours than normal mice. 語法

这些小鼠能比普通小鼠多保持清醒1.2小时。

It turns out these short sleepers have more biologically intense sleep sessions than the average person. 表達脈絡

原来，这些睡眠时间短的人，睡眠在生理层面的强度其实高于普通人。

Ultimately,

归根结底，

while it's important to know the ideal average of 7 to 8 hours exists,

虽然我们应该知道，平均7到8小时是理想睡眠时长，

let your body and brain help you figure out its own needs. 短語動詞

但也要让你的身体和大脑帮你判断自身究竟需要睡多久。

After all,

毕竟，

no one shoe size fits all. 習語

没有一种鞋码适合所有人。

If you want to know how to get better quality sleep each night

如果你想知道如何提高每晚的睡眠质量，

in order to conquer the hurdles of sleep deprivation,

从而克服睡眠不足带来的种种难题，

we have some tips and research for you over on ASAPThought.

ASAPThought上有一些技巧和研究可以分享给你。

You can find the link in the description below to that video.

你可以在下方简介中找到那期视频的链接。

Thanks to audible.com for giving you a free audiobook

感谢audible.com免费赠送你一本有声书，

of your choice at audible.com/asap. 短語搭配

你可以在audible.com/asap上自行挑选。

Audible is the leading provider of audiobooks

Audible是领先的有声书提供商，

with over 150,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature.

各类文学作品中可下载的书目超过15万种。

We recommend the A Song of Ice and Fire series,

我们推荐《冰与火之歌》系列，

which the Game of Thrones TV show is based off of. 用詞

电视剧《权力的游戏》正是根据它改编的。

It's kept us up through the nights and caused a lot of lost sleep. 短語動詞

它让我们彻夜不眠，少睡了不少觉。

You can download this audiobook or another of your choice for free

你可以免费下载这本有声书，也可以任选另一本，

at audible.com/asap.

网址是audible.com/asap。

And with a subscription,

而且订阅之后，

you get one free book a month,

你每个月都能免费获得一本书，

so you can read the whole series.

这样就能读完整个系列。

Special thanks to Audible for making these videos possible.

特别感谢Audible的支持，让这些视频得以制作。

And subscribe for more weekly science videos.

别忘了订阅，每周观看更多科学视频。