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What to Do When You Can’t Fall Asleep May Surprise You

题材：社会与生活类

出处：SA《科学美国人》

[1] We’ve all been there: lying in bed wide awake and desperately wondering how to get to dreamland. In fact, scientists say it’s pretty normal to have a little trouble falling asleep or staying asleep from time to time.

译文【我们都有过这样的经历：躺在床上完全醒着，绝望地想知道如何进入梦境。事实上，科学家表示，偶尔入睡或保持睡眠有点困难是很正常的。】

[2] “There’s this expectation that we should just go to sleep and stay sleeping for seven to eight hours,” says Roxanne Prichard, a neuroscientist at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. “That’s just not biologically supported with how humans sleep.”

译文【明尼苏达州圣托马斯大学的神经科学家罗克珊·普里查德说:“人们期望我们应该睡觉，并保持7到8个小时的睡眠。”“这与人类的睡眠方式不符。”】

[3] While having trouble drifting off to sleep isn’t unusual, it still can be frustrating. Fortunately sleep experts are gaining an increasingly strong understanding of what’s happening in the brain during the process—and they say you can use that knowledge to increase your chances of catching some z’s, even when sleep feels elusive.

译文【虽然难以入睡并不罕见，但它仍然会让人沮丧。幸运的是，睡眠专家对大脑在这个过程中发生的事情有了越来越深入的了解——他们说，你可以利用这些知识来增加你睡个好觉的机会，即使你觉得难以入睡。

【重点词汇】

drift off 慢慢地睡去

[4] “It’s very uncommon for people to be able to just transition from being awake and active to falling asleep right away,” says Kim Hutchison, a sleep medicine specialist at Oregon Health & Science University.

译文【俄勒冈健康与科学大学的睡眠医学专家金·哈奇森说:“很少有人能够从清醒和活跃的状态立即过渡到入睡的状态。”】

【重点词汇】

transition /trænˈzɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 过渡

[5] Falling asleep is a big shift for your brain. When conditions are good, hitting the sack allows your brain activity to slow down and become more orderly, and your brain waves synchronize, Prichard says. This switch is governed in part by environmental cues, such as light or temperature. A hot summer night or a bright streetlamp seeping through the window can interfere. The process of nodding off can also be affected by your emotions.

译文【入睡对你的大脑来说是一个很大的过渡。普里查德说，在条件良好的情况下，睡觉可以让你的大脑活动放慢速度，变得更加有序，你的脑电波也会与之同步。这种转换在一定程度上受环境因素的影响，比如光线或温度。炎热的夏夜或从窗户透进来的明亮的路灯都会对此产生干扰。打盹的过程也会受到情绪的影响。】

【重点词汇】

synchronize /ˈsɪŋkrənaɪz/ v. （使）同步

interfere /ˌɪntəˈfɪə(r)/ v. 干涉

【6】“You need to feel both physically and psychologically safe to sleep,” Prichard says. “If there’s something that you are really worried about, if you are sleeping next to someone you don’t trust, if you’re worried that the newborn that you’re caring for might stop breathing, it’s going to be hard to fall asleep.”

译文【“你需要在身体和心理上都感到安全才能睡觉，”普里查德说。“如果你真的很担心什么事情，或是如果你睡在一个你不信任的人旁边，又或是如果你担心你照顾的新生儿可能会停止呼吸，那么你就很难入睡。”】

【7】That’s why anxiety and stress are key culprits when people are unable to fall and stay asleep—and why relaxation is a crucial tool for easing into slumber. Hutchison and Prichard both say that the key, whether you’re struggling to sleep just as you’re heading to bed or after waking up in the middle of the night, is to limit the amount of time you spend lying awake fretting about not being asleep

译文【这就是为什么焦虑和压力是人们无法入睡和保持睡眠状态的罪魁祸首，也是为什么放松是进入睡眠的关键工具。Hutchison和Prichard都说，无论你是在上床睡觉的时候还是在半夜醒来后挣扎着入睡，关键是要限制你躺在床上为睡不着而烦恼的时间。】

【重点词汇】

culprit /ˈkʌlprɪt/ n. 引起问题的事物

slumber /ˈslʌmbə(r)/ n. 睡眠

fret about为……烦恼

【8】“If you’re unable to fall asleep in what seems like or feels like 20 minutes or so, or you feel your body getting more amped up because you’re getting anxious that you’re not falling asleep, then I would recommend getting out of bed and sitting somewhere quietly with dim light and just relaxing, doing something boring,” Hutchison says.

译文【Hutchison说:“如果你在20分钟左右的时间内无法入睡，或者你觉得自己的身体变得更加活跃，那是因为你对自己无法入睡感到焦虑，那么我建议你离开床，坐在昏暗的灯光下安静地放松，做一些无聊的事情。”】

【重点词汇】

amped up充满活力的

【9】You could use the time to read, listen to calming music, drink some chamomile tea or do breathing exercises—anything that slows and comforts your body and mind, Hutchison and Prichard say. Avoid snacking, exercise and screens.

译文【Hutchison和Prichard说，你可以利用这段时间来阅读，听一些平静的音乐，喝一些甘菊茶或做一些呼吸练习——任何让你的身心放松下来的事情。避免吃零食、锻炼和看屏幕。】

【重点词汇】

chamomile /ˈkæməmaɪl/ n. 甘菊

【10】It’s also important to resist the urge to fixate on worries, concerns or challenges, both experts say, especially in the middle of the night. Not only will those thoughts keep you awake, you also probably won’t make much progress on what’s keeping you up because your prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that excels at planning and analysis, doesn’t get as much blood at night.

译文【两位专家都说，抑制对忧虑、担忧或挑战的执迷也很重要，尤其是在半夜。这些想法不仅会让你保持清醒，而且可能也不会在让你保持清醒的事情上取得多大进展，因为你的前额皮质，大脑中擅长计划和分析的部分，在晚上没有那么多的血液供它运作。】

【重点词汇】

fixate on 专注于

【11】An emerging hypothesis suggests the brain isn’t well suited for cognitive processing in the wee hours, Prichard says. “The mind, after midnight..., is less equipped to problem-solve and more prone to find problems,” she explains. “It’s really easy to wake up in the middle of the night and freak yourself out about something that you could probably problem-solve more effectively later.”

译文【Prichard说，一个新出现的假设表明，大脑不太适合在凌晨进行认知处理。“午夜过后……我们的大脑解决问题的能力减弱，更容易发现问题”，她解释说。“我们很容易在半夜醒来，为一些本来可以更有效地解决的问题而惊慌失措。”】

【重点词汇】

prone to易于（受某事物影响或做某事）的

【12】Sleep aids and supplements, such as melatonin, are commonly used to fall asleep, but Prichard likes to advise people to use relaxation practices instead. “I want people to learn sleep skills, not pills,” she says.

译文【人们通常使用褪黑素等助眠剂和补充剂来入睡，但普里查德喜欢建议人们用放松练习来代替。“我希望人们学习睡眠技巧，而不是通过药物，”她说。】

【13】If basic relaxation strategies fail to calm your brain, both Prichard and Hutchison recommend cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia.

译文【如果基本的放松策略不能让你的大脑平静下来，普里查德和哈奇森都建议用认知行为疗法来治疗失眠。】

【重点词汇】

insomnia /ɪnˈsɒmniə/ n. 失眠

【14】Even if your night’s rest is incomplete, avoid the urge to make up for it by sleeping in or napping the next day, Hutchison says, because that can backfire. To fall asleep more quickly the next night and get back on track, it’s important for your brain to crave sleep. “If you nap during the day, especially longer naps, then your brain gets little snippets of sleep and will be less likely to fall asleep quickly at bedtime,” she says.

译文【Hutchison说，即使你晚上没有得到充分的休息，也不要急于在第二天睡个懒觉或打个盹来弥补，因为这样做可能会适得其反。为了在第二天晚上更快入睡并回到正轨，你的大脑渴望睡眠是很重要的。她说:“如果你在白天小睡，尤其是长时间的小睡，那么你的大脑就会得到一小段睡眠，在睡觉时就不太可能很快入睡。”】

【重点词汇】

backfire /ˌbækˈfaɪə(r)/ v. 产生事与愿违的不良（或危险）后果

crave /kreɪv/ v. 渴望

【15】Although Hutchinson and Prichard emphasize that occasional sleep struggles are normal, they recommend seeing a doctor if the situation continues or if it interferes with your ability to function during the day, which could indicate something physiological is at play. “In general, if you’re having problems falling asleep for three nights or more per week, then we would consider that problematic, but it also needs to interfere with your daytime functioning,” Hutchison says.

译文【虽然哈钦森和普里查德强调，偶尔的睡眠困难是正常的，但他们建议，如果这种情况持续下去，或者如果它干扰了你白天的工作能力——这可能表明有生理因素在起作用。“一般来说，如果你每周有三个晚上或更多的时间失眠，那么我们会认为这是有问题的，但它也会干扰你白天的工作，”Hutchison说。】

【重点词汇】

occasional /əˈkeɪʒən(ə)l/ adj. 偶尔的

【结构分析】

让步状语从句：Although Hutchinson and Prichard emphasize…

宾语从句：that occasional sleep struggles are normal

条件状语从句1：if the situation continues

条件状语从句2：if it interferes with your ability to function during the day

非限制性定语从句：which could indicate something physiological is at play.

【16】For most sleep seekers, if something is keeping you up at night, it’s no help trying to force yourself to sleep. The best trick may be to simply preoccupy your mind until slumber comes naturally译文【对于大多数寻求睡眠的人来说，如果有什么事情让你在晚上睡不着，强迫自己睡觉是没有用的。最好的方法可能就是让你的大脑集中注意力，直到你自然入睡。】

【重点词汇】

preoccupy /priˈɒkjupaɪ/ v. 占据 （某人的思绪）

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