The benefits of a good night's sleep - Shai Marcu

睡眠的好处 - Shai Marcu

翻译人员: Peipei Xiang 校对人员: Jenny Yang

『音乐』

It's 4 a.m., and the big test is in eight hours,

现在是凌晨四点，

八小时之后你有一场重要的考试，

接着还有一场钢琴独奏会。

followed by a piano recital.

你已经连日学习和苦练钢琴，

You've been studying and playing for days, but you still don't feel ready for either.

但你仍觉得你还未准备好。

So, what can you do?

那么你能做些什么呢？

Well, you can drink another cup of coffee

你可以再喝一杯咖啡，

and spend the next few hours cramming and practicing,

并在仅剩的一点时间里继续奋战，

but believe it or not,

但是你也许不相信，

you might be better off closing the books, putting away the music,

如果你关上书本，停止练习

and going to sleep.

并去睡一觉， 效果会更好。

Sleep occupies nearly a third of our lives,

睡眠几乎占据了我们生命的三分之一，

but many of us give surprisingly little attention and care to it.

可令人惊讶的是， 许多人并不关心他们的睡眠。

This neglect is often the result of a major misunderstanding.

人们对睡眠的忽视 往往是来自于一个很大的误解。

Sleep isn't lost time,

睡觉并不是浪费时间，

or just a way to rest when all our important work is done.

睡眠也不仅仅是工作后的休息，

Instead, it's a critical function,

相反，睡眠是一个很关键的过程，

during which your body balances and regulates its vital systems,

睡眠期间，你的身体会对各系统进行调节，

affecting respiration

你的呼吸系统会受到影响，

and regulating everything from circulation to growth and immune response.

血液循环系统、免疫系统 与身体的成长都会受到影响。

That's great, but you can worry about all those things after this test, right?

听起来很棒，但你可以等考完试以后 再来担心睡眠，对吧？

Well, not so fast.

先别这么快下结论。

It turns out that sleep is also crucial for your brain,

原来睡眠对你的大脑也至关重要，

with a fifth of your body's circulatory blood

在你进入梦乡的时候，你身体里 五分之一的血液都会流入到你的大脑。

being channeled to it as you drift off.

And what goes on in your brain while you sleep

你睡觉的时间正是你的大脑

is an intensely active period of restructuring

内部重新调整组合的时间，

that's crucial for how our memory works.

这个阶段对我们的记忆功能十分重要。

At first glance,

乍一看，

our ability to remember things doesn't seem very impressive at all.

我们的记忆能力并不值得惊叹，

19th century psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus

十九世纪的心理学家，赫尔曼·艾宾浩斯发现

demonstrated that we normally forget 40% of new material

一般在20分钟内我们会忘记40%的新事物，

within the first twenty minutes,

a phenomenon known as the forgetting curve.

这个现象被称作“遗忘曲线”。

可是记忆力可以通过对记忆的巩固来提高，

But this loss can be prevented through memory consolidation,

the process by which information is moved

在这个巩固的过程中，新的事物会从短期记忆

from our fleeting short-term memory to our more durable long-term memory.

移到更稳定的长期记忆。

This consolidation occurs with the help of a major part of the brain,

记忆巩固得益于脑部的一个重要部位，

known as the hippocampus.

这个部位被称为海马体，

Its role in long-term memory formation

海马体在长期记忆形成中扮演的角色

was demonstrated in the 1950s by Brenda Milner

于1950年代被布兰达·米尔内

in her research with a patient known as H.M.

通过她对一位名为H.M.的病人的研究证实。

After having his hippocampus removed,

H.M.的海马体被移除后，

H.M.'s ability to form new short-term memories was damaged,

他形成新的短期记忆的能力遭到破坏，

but he was able to learn physical tasks through repetition.

但他仍能够通过 不断重复学习新的体能任务。

Due to the removal of his hippocampus,

由于海马体的移除，

H.M.'s ability to form long-term memories was also damaged.

H.M形成长期记忆的能力也被破坏了。

What this case revealed, among other things,

这个例子反映出

was that the hippocampus was specifically involved

海马体在长期陈述性记忆 而非程序性记忆巩固的过程中至关重要，

in the consolidation of long-term declarative memory,

陈述性记忆包括你考试要记的事实、概念等，

such as the facts and concepts you need to remember for that test,

rather than procedural memory,

程序性记忆包括 你钢琴独奏要记住的手指动作。

such as the finger movements you need to master for that recital.

Milner's findings, along with work by Eric Kandel in the 90's,

米尔内的发现，加上 埃里克·坎德尔在90年代的发现

have given us our current model of how this consolidation process works.

给我们提供了这个巩固过程的现有模型。

Sensory data is initially transcribed

感官数据会先被暂时 转录到短期记忆的神经元上面，

and temporarily recorded in the neurons as short-term memory.

再进入到海马体，

From there, it travels to the hippocampus,

which strengthens and enhances the neurons in that cortical area.

而海马体再将其皮质区的神经元进行强化。

Thanks to the phenomenon of neuroplasticity,

多亏了这一神经可塑性，

new synaptic buds are formed, allowing new connections between neurons,

新的突触芽得以形成 并在神经元之间建立新的连接，

and strengthening the neural network

从而强化相应神经网络

where the information will be returned as long-term memory.

并形成长期记忆。

So why do we remember some things and not others?

为什么我们会记住一些而忘掉另一些？

Well, there are a few ways to influence

那是因为有很多东西会影响

the extent and effectiveness of memory retention.

记忆形成的程度和有效性。

For example, memories that are formed in times of heightened feeling,

比如，那些在情感或 压力强烈的时候形成的记忆

or even stress,

will be better recorded due to the hippocampus' link with emotion.

会更容易被记录下来 因为海马体和情感之间的关联。

But one of the major factors contributing to memory consolidation is,

但是一个影响记忆巩固的重要因素是，

you guessed it,

你已经猜到了，

a good night's sleep.

就是一晚好的睡眠。

Sleep is composed of four stages,

睡眠有四个阶段组成，

the deepest of which are known as slow-wave sleep

最深的就是慢波睡眠

and rapid eye movement.

和快速眼动睡眠。

EEG machines monitoring people during these stages

脑电图监测结果显示在这些阶段

have shown electrical impulses

电脉冲在脑干、海马体、 丘脑和大脑皮层间移动，

moving between the brainstem, hippocampus, thalamus, and cortex,

which serve as relay stations of memory formation.

而这些都是记忆形成的中转站。

And the different stages of sleep have been shown to help consolidate

不同的睡眠阶段有助于巩固

different types of memories.

不同类型的记忆。

During the non-REM slow-wave sleep,

在非快速眼动慢波睡眠阶段，

declarative memory is encoded into a temporary store

陈述性记忆被暂时放在

in the anterior part of the hippocampus.

海马体的前部。

Through a continuing dialogue between the cortex and hippocampus,

通过大脑皮层和海马体的不断对话，

it is then repeatedly reactivated,

这些记忆反复被激活，

driving its gradual redistribution to long-term storage in the cortex.

使得它们慢慢转到大脑皮层的 长期记忆存储区域。

REM sleep, on the other hand, with its similarity to waking brain activity,

同时， 快速眼动睡眠， 跟大脑醒着的时候相似，

is associated with the consolidation of procedural memory.

跟程序性记忆的巩固有关。

So based on the studies,

基于这些研究，

going to sleep three hours after memorizing your formulas

在你背公式三个小时后，

and one hour after practicing your scales would be the most ideal.

练习钢琴一个小时后进入睡眠是最好的。

So hopefully you can see now that skimping on sleep

希望你现在已经明白牺牲睡眠

not only harms your long-term health,

不仅对你的长期健康有害，

but actually makes it less likely

而且会影响

that you'll retain all that knowledge and practice from the previous night,

你记住前晚的知识和练习的能力，

这些都证明了这句话的智慧 ——先睡一觉再说。

all of which just goes to affirm the wisdom of the phrase, "Sleep on it."

When you think about all the internal restructuring

想一下你睡觉的时候，

and forming of new connections that occurs while you slumber,

你的大脑在忙着重组、形成新连接等，

you could even say that proper sleep

你甚至可以说，

好的睡眠让你第二天 有一个全新的更好的大脑，

will have you waking up every morning with a new and improved brain,

ready to face the challenges ahead.

准备迎接新的挑战。