The brain benefits of deep sleep -- and how to get more of it | Dan Gartenberg

翻译人员: Danyang Luo 校对人员: Wenyue Yang

What if you could make your sleep more efficient?

如果可以拥有 更高效的睡眠会怎么样？

As a sleep scientist,

作为一名睡眠专家，

this is the question that has captivated me

在过去的10年里，

for the past 10 years.

我一直在研究这个问题。

Because while the lightbulb and technology have brought about a world

当电灯和科技使得世界

of 24-hour work and productivity,

24小时灯火通明，

it has come at the cost

我们付出的代价

of our naturally occurring circadian rhythm

是违背自然的昼夜节律，

and our body's need for sleep.

和我们身体对睡眠的需求。

The circadian rhythm dictates our energy level throughout the day,

昼夜节律决定了 我们一天的能量水平，

and only recently we've been conducting a global experiment on this rhythm,

直到最近，我们才开始 就这一节律问题开展全球实验，

which is putting our sleep health

讲究其如何对我们的睡眠健康，

and ultimately our life quality in jeopardy.

甚至生活质量产生危害。

Because of this,

正是因为如此，

we aren't getting the sleep we need,

我们总是睡得不够，

with the average American sleeping a whole hour less

与1940年代相比， 美国人的平均睡眠时间

than they did in the 1940s.

少了整整一个小时。

For some reason,

不知道为什么，

we decided to wear it as a badge of honor

我们以睡眠不足为荣，

that we can get by on not enough sleep.

将其视为一块 可以佩戴的荣誉勋章。

This all adds up to a real health crisis.

这其实都为各类 健康隐患埋下了伏笔、

Most of us know that poor sleep is linked to diseases

众所周知，睡眠不足 与疾病高度相关，

like Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease,

譬如老年痴呆，心血管疾病，

stroke and diabetes.

中风，糖尿病。

And if you go untreated with a sleep disorder like sleep apnea,

如果不对睡眠紊乱 （如睡眠窒息）加以治疗，

you're more likely to get many of these illnesses.

你将更容易患上这些疾病。

But did you know about sleep's impact on your mental states?

但是你知道睡眠 对你的精神状态有什么影响吗？

Poor sleep makes us make risky, rash decisions

睡眠不足会让我们 草率地做出冒险的决定，

and is a drain on our capacity for empathy.

我们体谅他人的能力也会下降。

When sleep deprivation literally makes us more sensitive to our own pain,

缺乏睡眠会使我们 对自己的痛苦更加敏感，

it's not so surprising that we have a hard time relating to others

难怪当我们睡得不够的时候，

and just generally being a good and healthy person

会难以作为一个健康的正常人

when we're sleep-deprived.

同他人相处。

Scientists are now starting to understand

除了睡眠时长之外， 科学家们还开始了解到

how not only the quantity

睡眠的质量

but also the quality of sleep impacts our health and well-being.

是如何影响着我们的健康和幸福的。

My research focuses

我的研究重点放在

on what many scientists believe is the most regenerative stage of sleep:

被许多科学家视为 最有再生力的睡眠阶段：

deep sleep.

深度睡眠期。

We now know that generally speaking,

我们知道，一般而言

there are three stages of sleep:

睡眠有三个阶段：

light sleep,

浅睡期，

rapid eye movement or REM

快速动眼期，

and deep sleep.

深睡期。

We measure these stages by connecting electrodes to the scalp, chin and chest.

通过将电极与头皮，下巴和胸部相连， 我们可以记录这些睡眠阶段的电信号。

In light sleep and REM,

在浅睡及快速动眼期，

our brain waves are very similar to our brain waves in waking life.

我们的脑电波与 清醒时的脑电波几乎一致。

But our brain waves in deep sleep have these long-burst brain waves

但在深睡期中， 我们的脑电波却是一种长脉冲，

that are very different from our waking life brain waves.

与我们清醒时的脑电波大相径庭。

These long-burst brain waves are called delta waves.

这些长脉冲脑电波 被称为δ（delta）波。

When we don't get the deep sleep we need,

当我们不能获得充足的深度睡眠时，

it inhibits our ability to learn

我们的学习能力会受到抑制，

and for our cells and bodies to recover.

细胞再生和身体机能的 修复也会受到影响。

Deep sleep is how we convert all those interactions

深度睡眠让我们将

that we make during the day

白天的经历

into our long-term memory and personalities.

转化为长期记忆， 让我们成为我们自己。

As we get older,

当我们老去，

we're more likely to lose these regenerative delta waves.

我们将很可能不再有 这些可再生的δ波。

So in way, deep sleep and delta waves

可以说，深度睡眠和δ波

are actually a marker for biological youth.

是生理年轻的一大标志。

So naturally, I wanted to get more deep sleep for myself

自然，我希望自己 有更长的深度睡眠，

and I literally tried almost every gadget, gizmo, device and hack out there --

我几乎尝试过各种小发明、小设备——

consumer-grade, clinical-grade,

零售的，临床的,

what have you.

只要市面上有的我都愿意尝试。

I learned a lot, and I found I really do need, like most people,

我学到了很多，我发现 和大多数人一样，

eight hours of sleep.

我真的需要八个小时的睡眠。

I even shifted my circadian component

我甚至通过控制我的饮食，运动和

by changing my meals, exercise and light exposure,

暴露在光照下的时间 改变了自己的生理节律，

but I still couldn't find a way to get a deeper night of sleep ...

但我仍不能延长深度睡眠时间，

that is until I met Dr. Dmitry Gerashchenko

直到我遇到了哈佛医学院的

from Harvard Medical School.

Dmitry Gerashchenko博士。

Dmitry told me about a new finding in the literature,

Dmitry告诉了我 文献中的一项新发现，

where a lab out of Germany showed that if you could play certain sounds

一个德国实验室发现， 如果你能在人们入睡后的适当时机

at the right time in people's sleep,

播放某些声音，

you could actually make sleep deeper and more efficient.

他们就能获得更深度、 更高效的睡眠。

And what's more, is that this lab showed

除此以外，这一实验室还发现

that you actually could improve next-day memory performance

这一声音还能够帮你提升

with this sound.

第二天的记忆力。

Dmitry and I teamed up,

我和Dmitry决定合作

and we began working on a way to build this technology.

进一步开发这项技术。

With our research lab collaborators at Penn State,

我们与宾夕法尼亚 州立大学的实验室合作，

we designed experiments in order to validate our system.

设计了实验来验证我们的系统。

And we've since received grant funding from the National Science Foundation

我们得到了来自美国国家科学基金会

and the National Institute of Health

和国家卫生研究院的资金支持，

to develop this deep-sleep stimulating technology.

以顺利开发这种 激励深度睡眠的技术。

Here's how it works.

它是这样运作的。

People came into the lab

人们来到实验室，

and we hooked them up to a number of devices,

我们把许多设备连接到他们身上，

two of which I have on right here --

我现在手上拿的是其中的两个——

not a fashion statement.

这可不是时尚秀。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

When we detected that people were in deep sleep,

当我们探测到人们进入深度睡眠后，

we played the deep-sleep stimulating sounds

我们会播放刺激深度睡眠的声音，

that were shown to make them have deeper sleep.

让他们能睡得更深。

I'm going to demo this sound for you right now.

我现在将为大家展示这段声音。

(Repeating sound waves)

（重复声波）

Pretty weird, right?

很奇怪，对吗？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So that sound is actually at the same burst frequency as your brain waves

这一声音其实和你深睡时的脑电波

when your brain is in deep sleep.

有相同的突发频率。

That sound pattern actually primes your mind

实际上，它可以促使你的大脑

to have more of these regenerative delta waves.

产生更多的可再生δ波。

When we asked participants the next day about the sounds,

当我们第二天询问参与者 是否听到了这些声音时，

they were completely unaware that we played the sounds,

他们全然不知我们曾播放声音，

yet their brains responded with more of these delta waves.

然而，他们的大脑对此做出了反应， 产生了更多的δ波。

Here's an image of someone's brain waves from the study that we conducted.

这是研究中一位 被测试者的脑电波图像。

See the bottom panel?

你们看到底部那块了吗？

This shows the sound being played at that burst frequency.

那是播放声音的突发频率。

Now look at the brain waves in the upper part of the graph.

现在再看图上部的脑电波。

You can see from the graph

从图中可以看出，

that the sound is actually producing more of these regenerative delta waves.

这一声音诱导产生了更多的再生δ波。

We learned that we could accurately track sleep

从中我们知道，我们可以 准确地追踪睡眠，

without hooking people up to electrodes

即使不把人和电极相连，

and make people sleep deeper.

我们也可以让人们睡得更深。

We're continuing to develop

我们会继续探究

the right sound environment and sleep habitat

合适的声音环境和睡眠地点，

to improve people's sleep health.

以帮助提升人们的睡眠健康。

Our sleep isn't as regenerative as it could be,

我们的睡眠还可以有更强的再生力，

but maybe one day soon,

在不久的将来，

we could wear a small device

也许我们可以佩戴一个小装置，

and get more out of our sleep.

让我们从睡眠中获益更多。

Thank you.

谢谢你们。

(Applause)

（掌声）