The surprising health benefits of dreaming | Sleeping with Science

Transcriber:

Why do we dream?

翻译人员: 陈 若雅 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

人为什么做梦？

[Sleeping with Science]

【睡眠中的科学】

Well, we dream for at least several different reasons.

我们做梦至少有几个不同的原因，

One key benefit is creativity.

做梦给我们带来最大的好处是：创造力。

Sleep, including dream sleep,

睡眠，包括梦境中的睡眠

is associated with an enhanced ability to solve next-day problems.

都和第二天问题解决能力的增强有关，

It's almost as though we go to sleep with the pieces of the jigsaw,

就好像我们带着散乱的拼图入眠。

but we wake up with the puzzle complete.

第二天却抱着完成的拼图醒来，

The second benefit of REM-sleep dreaming is emotional first aid.

快速眼动睡眠的第二个好处是情感急救，

REM sleep takes the painful sting out of difficult emotional experiences

快速眼动睡眠将我们 从痛苦的情绪里解救出来，

so that when we come back the next day,

这样当第二天醒来时，

we feel better about those painful events.

我们不会感到特别难受。

You can almost think of dreaming as a form of overnight therapy.

你大可以把做梦当成一种夜间疗法，

It's not time that heals all wounds,

治愈一切的不是时间，

but it's time during dream sleep

而是睡眠中那段做梦的时间

that provides emotional convalescence.

在帮助我们平复情绪。

Now, it's not just that you dream.

这种改变不只取决于做梦，

It's also what you dream about that seems to make a difference.

还取决于梦境的内容。

Scientists have discovered

科学家发现，

that after learning a virtual maze, for example,

例如，那些尝试过虚拟迷宫后

those individuals who slept

并且睡着后会在睡梦中梦到迷宫的人，

but critically also dreamed about the maze

were the only ones who ended up being better at navigating the maze

是为数不多的在醒来后 能更好地走迷宫的人。

when they woke up.

And this same principle is true for our mental health.

这个原则同样适用于我们的心理健康，

For example, people going through a difficult or traumatic experience

举个例子，经历过困境或创伤，

such as a divorce,

像是离婚，

and who are dreaming about that event,

并且在梦中情景重现的人，

go on to gain resolution to their depression

相比于那些做无关梦的人

relative to those who were dreaming

更容易消除内心的抑郁。

but not dreaming about the events themselves.

All of which means that sleep

这些都意味着睡眠

and the very act of dreaming itself

和做梦这个行为本身，

appears to be an essential ingredient to so much of our waking lives.

似乎是我们现实生活中不可缺少的部分。

We dream,

我梦，

therefore we are.

故我在。