中英文稿

如果可以擁有 更高效的睡眠會怎么樣？?作為一名睡眠專家，?在過去的10年里，?我一直在研究這個(gè)問題。?當(dāng)電燈和科技使得世界

24小時(shí)燈火通明，?我們付出的代價(jià)?是違背自然的晝夜節(jié)律，?和我們身體對睡眠的需求。

晝夜節(jié)律決定了 我們一天的能量水平，?直到最近，我們才開始 就這一節(jié)律問題開展全球?qū)嶒?yàn)，?講究其如何對我們的睡眠健康，?甚至生活質(zhì)量產(chǎn)生危害。?正是因?yàn)槿绱耍?我們總是睡得不夠，?與1940年代相比， 美國人的平均睡眠時(shí)間?少了整整一個(gè)小時(shí)。

不知道為什么，?我們以睡眠不足為榮，?將其視為一塊 可以佩戴的榮譽(yù)勛章。?這其實(shí)都為各類 健康隱患埋下了伏筆、?眾所周知，睡眠不足 與疾病高度相關(guān)，?譬如老年癡呆，心血管疾病，?中風(fēng)，糖尿病。?如果不對睡眠紊亂 （如睡眠窒息）加以治療，?你將更容易患上這些疾病。?但是你知道睡眠 對你的精神狀態(tài)有什么影響嗎？?睡眠不足會讓我們 草率地做出冒險(xiǎn)的決定，?我們體諒他人的能力也會下降。?缺乏睡眠會使我們 對自己的痛苦更加敏感，?難怪當(dāng)我們睡得不夠的時(shí)候，?會難以作為一個(gè)健康的正常人?同他人相處。

除了睡眠時(shí)長之外， 科學(xué)家們還開始了解到?睡眠的質(zhì)量?是如何影響著我們的健康和幸福的。?我的研究重點(diǎn)放在?被許多科學(xué)家視為 最有再生力的睡眠階段：?深度睡眠期。?我們知道，一般而言?睡眠有三個(gè)階段：?淺睡期，?快速動(dòng)眼期，?深睡期。?通過將電極與頭皮，下巴和胸部相連， 我們可以記錄這些睡眠階段的電信號。?在淺睡及快速動(dòng)眼期，?我們的腦電波與 清醒時(shí)的腦電波幾乎一致。?但在深睡期中， 我們的腦電波卻是一種長脈沖，?與我們清醒時(shí)的腦電波大相徑庭。?這些長脈沖腦電波 被稱為δ（delta）波。?當(dāng)我們不能獲得充足的深度睡眠時(shí)，?我們的學(xué)習(xí)能力會受到抑制，?細(xì)胞再生和身體機(jī)能的 修復(fù)也會受到影響。?深度睡眠讓我們將?白天的經(jīng)歷?轉(zhuǎn)化為長期記憶， 讓我們成為我們自己。?當(dāng)我們老去，?我們將很可能不再有 這些可再生的δ波。?可以說，深度睡眠和δ波?是生理年輕的一大標(biāo)志。

自然，我希望自己 有更長的深度睡眠，?我?guī)缀鯂L試過各種小發(fā)明、小設(shè)備——?零售的，臨床的,?只要市面上有的我都愿意嘗試。?我學(xué)到了很多，我發(fā)現(xiàn) 和大多數(shù)人一樣，?我真的需要八個(gè)小時(shí)的睡眠。?我甚至通過控制我的飲食，運(yùn)動(dòng)和?暴露在光照下的時(shí)間 改變了自己的生理節(jié)律，?但我仍不能延長深度睡眠時(shí)間，?直到我遇到了哈佛醫(yī)學(xué)院的?Dmitry Gerashchenko博士。

Dmitry告訴了我 文獻(xiàn)中的一項(xiàng)新發(fā)現(xiàn)，?一個(gè)德國實(shí)驗(yàn)室發(fā)現(xiàn)， 如果你能在人們?nèi)胨蟮倪m當(dāng)時(shí)機(jī)?播放某些聲音，?他們就能獲得更深度、 更高效的睡眠。?除此以外，這一實(shí)驗(yàn)室還發(fā)現(xiàn)?這一聲音還能夠幫你提升?第二天的記憶力。?我和Dmitry決定合作?進(jìn)一步開發(fā)這項(xiàng)技術(shù)。?我們與賓夕法尼亞 州立大學(xué)的實(shí)驗(yàn)室合作，?設(shè)計(jì)了實(shí)驗(yàn)來驗(yàn)證我們的系統(tǒng)。?我們得到了來自美國國家科學(xué)基金會?和國家衛(wèi)生研究院的資金支持，?以順利開發(fā)這種 激勵(lì)深度睡眠的技術(shù)。?它是這樣運(yùn)作的。?人們來到實(shí)驗(yàn)室，?我們把許多設(shè)備連接到他們身上，?我現(xiàn)在手上拿的是其中的兩個(gè)——?這可不是時(shí)尚秀。

當(dāng)我們探測到人們進(jìn)入深度睡眠后，?我們會播放刺激深度睡眠的聲音，?讓他們能睡得更深。?我現(xiàn)在將為大家展示這段聲音。

（重復(fù)聲波）

很奇怪，對嗎？

這一聲音其實(shí)和你深睡時(shí)的腦電波?有相同的突發(fā)頻率。?實(shí)際上，它可以促使你的大腦?產(chǎn)生更多的可再生δ波。?當(dāng)我們第二天詢問參與者 是否聽到了這些聲音時(shí)，?他們?nèi)徊恢覀冊シ怕曇簦?然而，他們的大腦對此做出了反應(yīng)， 產(chǎn)生了更多的δ波。

這是研究中一位 被測試者的腦電波圖像。?你們看到底部那塊了嗎？?那是播放聲音的突發(fā)頻率。?現(xiàn)在再看圖上部的腦電波。?從圖中可以看出，?這一聲音誘導(dǎo)產(chǎn)生了更多的再生δ波。?從中我們知道，我們可以 準(zhǔn)確地追蹤睡眠，?即使不把人和電極相連，?我們也可以讓人們睡得更深。?我們會繼續(xù)探究?合適的聲音環(huán)境和睡眠地點(diǎn)，?以幫助提升人們的睡眠健康。

我們的睡眠還可以有更強(qiáng)的再生力，?在不久的將來，?也許我們可以佩戴一個(gè)小裝置，?讓我們從睡眠中獲益更多。

謝謝你們。

What if you could make your sleep more efficient??As a sleep scientist,?this is the question that has captivated me?for the past 10 years.?Because while the lightbulb and technology have brought about a world?of 24-hour work and productivity,?it has come at the cost?of our naturally occurring circadian rhythm?and our body's need for sleep.

The circadian rhythm dictates our energy level throughout the day,?and only recently we've been conducting a global experiment on this rhythm,?which is putting our sleep health?and ultimately our life quality in jeopardy.?Because of this,?we aren't getting the sleep we need,?with the average American sleeping a whole hour less?than they did in the 1940s.

For some reason,?we decided to wear it as a badge of honor?that we can get by on not enough sleep.?This all adds up to a real health crisis.?Most of us know that poor sleep is linked to diseases?like Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease,?stroke and diabetes.?And if you go untreated with a sleep disorder like sleep apnea,?you're more likely to get many of these illnesses.?But did you know about sleep's impact on your mental states??Poor sleep makes us make risky, rash decisions?and is a drain on our capacity for empathy.?When sleep deprivation literally makes us more sensitive to our own pain,?it's not so surprising that we have a hard time relating to others?and just generally being a good and healthy person?when we're sleep-deprived.

Scientists are now starting to understand?how not only the quantity?but also the quality of sleep impacts our health and well-being.?My research focuses?on what many scientists believe is the most regenerative stage of sleep:?deep sleep.?We now know that generally speaking,?there are three stages of sleep:?light sleep,?rapid eye movement or REM?and deep sleep.?We measure these stages by connecting electrodes to the scalp, chin and chest.?In light sleep and REM,?our brain waves are very similar to our brain waves in waking life.?But our brain waves in deep sleep have these long-burst brain waves?that are very different from our waking life brain waves.?These long-burst brain waves are called delta waves.?When we don't get the deep sleep we need,?it inhibits our ability to learn?and for our cells and bodies to recover.?Deep sleep is how we convert all those interactions?that we make during the day?into our long-term memory and personalities.?As we get older,?we're more likely to lose these regenerative delta waves.?So in way, deep sleep and delta waves?are actually a marker for biological youth.

So naturally, I wanted to get more deep sleep for myself?and I literally tried almost every gadget, gizmo, device and hack out there --?consumer-grade, clinical-grade,?what have you.?I learned a lot, and I found I really do need, like most people,?eight hours of sleep.?I even shifted my circadian component?by changing my meals, exercise and light exposure,?but I still couldn't find a way to get a deeper night of sleep ...?that is until I met Dr. Dmitry Gerashchenko?from Harvard Medical School.

Dmitry told me about a new finding in the literature,?where a lab out of Germany showed that if you could play certain sounds?at the right time in people's sleep,?you could actually make sleep deeper and more efficient.?And what's more, is that this lab showed?that you actually could improve next-day memory performance?with this sound.?Dmitry and I teamed up,?and we began working on a way to build this technology.?With our research lab collaborators at Penn State,?we designed experiments in order to validate our system.?And we've since received grant funding from the National Science Foundation?and the National Institute of Health?to develop this deep-sleep stimulating technology.?Here's how it works.?People came into the lab?and we hooked them up to a number of devices,?two of which I have on right here --?not a fashion statement.

When we detected that people were in deep sleep,?we played the deep-sleep stimulating sounds?that were shown to make them have deeper sleep.?I'm going to demo this sound for you right now.

Pretty weird, right?

So that sound is actually at the same burst frequency as your brain waveswhen your brain is in deep sleep.?That sound pattern actually primes your mind?to have more of these regenerative delta waves.?When we asked participants the next day about the sounds,?they were completely unaware that we played the sounds,?yet their brains responded with more of these delta waves.

Here's an image of someone's brain waves from the study that we conducted.?See the bottom panel??This shows the sound being played at that burst frequency.?Now look at the brain waves in the upper part of the graph.?You can see from the graph?that the sound is actually producing more of these regenerative delta waves.?We learned that we could accurately track sleep?without hooking people up to electrodes?and make people sleep deeper.?We're continuing to develop?the right sound environment and sleep habitat?to improve people's sleep health.

Our sleep isn't as regenerative as it could be,?but maybe one day soon,?we could wear a small device?and get more out of our sleep.

Thank you.

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