Our natural sleep cycle | Jessa Gamble

翻译人员: Felix Chen 校对人员: Xu Jiang

Let's start with day and night.

让我们从日夜开始。

Life evolved under conditions

生命的进化在

of light and darkness,

光明与黑暗中进行，

light and then darkness.

光明，然后是黑暗。

And so plants and animals

因此植物和动物

developed their own internal clocks

都进化出自己的内部时钟，

so that they would be ready for these changes in light.

这使得他们能适应光线的改变。

These are chemical clocks,

这是化学时钟，

and they're found in every known being that has two or more cells

每个已知的多细胞生物体内都有这种时钟，

and in some that only have one cell.

部分单细胞生物也有这种时钟。

I'll give you an example --

举个例子。

if you take a horseshoe crab off the beach,

如果你从海滩上抓一只鲎，

and you fly it all the way across the continent,

把它空运到大陆的另一端，

and you drop it into a sloped cage,

接着把它放入一个倾斜的笼子里，

it will scramble up the floor of the cage

在它数千里外家乡的海岸

as the tide is rising

涨潮的时候，

on its home shores,

它会爬到笼子的高处。

and it'll skitter down again right as the water is receding

而退潮时它又会

thousands of miles away.

退回笼子底部。

It'll do this for weeks,

这种行为它会重复数个星期，

until it kind of gradually loses the plot.

直到它渐渐失去这种判断能力。

And it's incredible to watch,

这非常不可思议，

but there's nothing psychic or paranormal going on;

但这不是什么灵异或是超自然现象；

it's simply that these crabs have internal cycles

原因很简单，这些鲎拥有

that correspond, usually, with what's going on around it.

能与周围环境相协调的内部周期。

So, we have this ability as well.

我们也有这种能力。

And in humans, we call it the "body clock."

就人类而言，我们称之为生物钟。

You can see this most clearly when you take away someone's watch

当你拿走某个人的手表，把他关进一个深入地下的地下堡垒

and you shut them into a bunker, deep underground,

关上几个月，你就能更清楚地观察到

for a couple of months. (Laughter)

生物钟的作用。

People actually volunteer for this,

实际上有志愿者做过这个实验，

and they usually come out

他们从洞里出来时

kind of raving about their productive time in the hole.

对他们在洞里的时间有点混乱。

So, no matter how atypical these subjects would have to be,

不管这些志愿者显得多不合逻辑，

they all show the same thing.

有一件事可以确认。

They get up just a little bit later every day -- say 15 minutes or so --

他们每天都比之前晚起一点--大约15分钟左右--

and they kind of drift all the way around the clock like this

在这几星期内他们的生物钟就

over the course of the weeks.

像这样不断向后推延。

And so, in this way we know that they are working on their own internal clocks,

而且，就这样，我们知道他们是用自己的生物钟做到这点的，

rather than somehow sensing the day outside.

而不是用某种方式感知外面的日光。

So fine, we have a body clock,

那么好的，我们有生物钟，

and it turns out that it's incredibly important in our lives.

并且它对我们的生活极其重要。

It's a huge driver for culture

它也是文化的巨大推动力，

and I think that it's the most underrated force on our behavior.

我认为这是在我们的行为中最被低估的一种力量。

We evolved as a species near the equator,

我们人类是从赤道附近进化而来的一个物种，

and so we're very well-equipped

因此我们能非常好的

to deal with 12 hours of daylight

适应12小时的白昼和

and 12 hours of darkness.

12小时的黑夜。

But of course, we've spread to every corner of the globe

不过当然，我们现在已经遍布全球的每个角落，

and in Arctic Canada, where I live,

在我居住的加拿大北极地区，

we have perpetual daylight in summer

夏天是极昼，

and 24 hours of darkness in winter.

而冬天则是极夜。

So the culture, the northern aboriginal culture,

因此传统上北部原住民文化

traditionally has been highly seasonal.

是高度季节性的。

In winter, there's a lot of sleeping going on;

在冬天，睡眠时间很长。

you enjoy your family life inside.

人们在室内享受家庭生活。

And in summer, it's almost manic hunting

而在夏天则是疯狂的狩猎

and working activity very long hours,

及很长时间的劳作，

very active.

非常活跃。

So, what would our natural rhythm look like?

那么，我们的自然节奏应该是什么样的呢？

What would our sleeping patterns be

我们的理想中的睡眠模式

in the sort of ideal sense?

应是什么样的呢？

Well, it turns out

嗯，事实表明，

that when people are living

当生活在完全没有

without any sort of artificial light at all,

任何人工光源的环境中时，

they sleep twice every night.

人们会每晚睡两次。

They go to bed around 8:00 p.m.

人们在晚上8点左右睡觉。

until midnight

直到午夜，

and then again, they sleep

接着再次入睡，

from about 2:00 a.m. until sunrise.

大约从凌晨2点直到日出。

And in-between, they have a couple of hours

在这两次睡眠之间，有几个小时

of sort of meditative quiet in bed.

在床上安静的沉思。

And during this time,

在这段时间内，

there's a surge of prolactin,

催乳素产生

the likes of which a modern day never sees.

这样的情况在现代社会不会出现。

The people in these studies

这些研究中的人们

report feeling so awake during the daytime,

在白天觉得很清醒，

that they realize

他们意识到

they're experiencing true wakefulness

正在经历生命中的

for the first time in their lives.

第一次真正的失眠。

So, cut to the modern day.

那么，转到现代社会。

We're living in a culture of jet lag,

我们的文化中充满时差，

global travel,

全球旅行，

24-hour business,

24小时营业，

shift work.

倒班工作。

And you know, our modern ways

你知道，我们现代人的

of doing things

这种生活方式

have their advantages,

有它的优点，

but I believe we should understand the costs.

但我想我们应该明白所付出的代价。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）