The surprising health benefits of dreaming | Sleeping with Science

Transcriber:

Why do we dream?

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

我們為什麼會作夢？

[Sleeping with Science]

〔從科學看睡眠〕

Well, we dream for at least several different reasons.

我們會作夢的理由至少有好幾個。

One key benefit is creativity.

其中一項重要益處是創意。

Sleep, including dream sleep,

睡眠，包括邊有作夢的睡眠，

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

和增強隔天解決問題的能力有關係。

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

就好像我們帶著拼圖入睡，

but we wake up with the puzzle complete.

但我們醒來時，拼圖就拼好了。

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

快速動眼期睡眠作夢的第二個益處

是情緒急救。

REM sleep takes the painful sting out of difficult emotional experiences

快速動眼期睡眠能把痛死人的刺

從難過的情緒經歷中拔出來。

so that when we come back the next day,

隔天我們再回來時，

we feel better about those painful events.

我們對那些痛苦事件的感受會好些。

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

你幾乎可以把作夢 想成是某種形式的一夜治療。

It's not time that heals all wounds,

治癒所有傷口的並不是時間，

but it's time during dream sleep

而是有作夢的睡眠時間，

that provides emotional convalescence.

能協助情緒康復。

Now, it's not just that you dream.

不只是要作夢，

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

作什麼樣的夢似乎也會有差別。

Scientists have discovered

科學家發現，比如， 在學習了虛擬迷宮之後，

that after learning a virtual maze, for example,

those individuals who slept

不只是睡覺，重要的是，

but critically also dreamed about the maze

睡覺同時還有夢到迷宮的人，

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

最後是唯一醒來之後

還能夠在迷宮中找到方向的人。

when they woke up.

And this same principle is true for our mental health.

同樣的原則對我們的 心理健康也適用。

比如，當一個人經歷了很難過

For example, people going through a difficult or traumatic experience

或創傷性的事件，如離婚，

such as a divorce,

and who are dreaming about that event,

若有夢見這個事件，

go on to gain resolution to their depression

接下來能想辦法解決他們的沮喪，

relative to those who were dreaming

相對之下，有作夢，

but not dreaming about the events themselves.

但沒有夢見該事件的人就沒辦法。

All of which means that sleep

上述這一切意味著，

and the very act of dreaming itself

睡眠以及作夢這個動作本身，

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

顯然是構成我們

清醒生活的重要元素。

We dream,

我們作夢，

therefore we are.

故我們在。