夜间工作有诀窍：如何做个高效的夜猫子

Being an early riser has its benefits, but it isn’t for everyone. Some of humanity’s greatest minds (Voltaire for example) were renowned for sleeping in. Depending on personality, environment, and work schedule, beingan early riser may not be practical.

做一名早起者有它的好处，但并不是每个人都适合。一些伟人（比如说伏尔泰）因睡懒觉而闻名。根据性格、环境和工作安排的不同，做一个早起者可能并不现实。

A few months ago I gave early rising a try. I was able to wake up 1-1.5 hours earlier, but I couldn’t adjust to the early bed time. Each night around 10:00, no matter how tired I’d felt that day, my mind became active and I was unable to shut down until after 12:00. After a few weeks, sleep deprivation set in and I went backto my normal sleep pattern.

几个月前，我尝试着早起。我能够比之前早起1-1.5个小时，但是我不能调整早睡的时间。每晚约10:00，不管我那天多累，我的头脑变得活跃，而且在12:00前无法停止。过了几周，我开始感到睡眠不足，开始回到正常的睡眠模式。

For those of us who experience a late night surge of mentally activity, waking before 6 a.m. can lead to exhaustion. Sleep schedule depends on many factors and is subject to change, but it’s important to findwhat works for you. Fortunately, those of us who aren’t suited to early rising can be just as productive byutilizing those quiet evening hours.

对于我们这种深夜心理活动激增的人来说，六点之前醒来会导致疲惫。作息规律基于很多因素并很容易改变，但是找到适合自己的很重要。幸运的是，我们这些不适合早起的人可以充分利用深夜的安静时光来使自己富有成效。

Late rising isn’t automatically beneficial. It has a negative connotation because, if poorly managed, sleeping late leads to perpetual grogginess and wasted days. Here are few strategies I’ve developed for effective late rising.

晚起一般是没好处的。它有负面作用，因为如果时间管理不善，晚睡会导致长期浑浑噩噩和浪费光阴。这里是我为了高效的晚起列的几点策略。

1. Don’t Over Sleep

别睡过头

The biggest temptation with late rising is to over sleep. Too much sleep is a bad thing. Rather than feeling more rested, it makes you lethargic. Having a regular wake up time is just as important for night owls as it is for early risers. If you don’t set a schedule, you’ll have a hard time being productive.

晚起的一个副作用就是导致过度睡眠，睡得太多不是好事。它不会让你感觉休息充分，只会让人头昏脑涨。对夜猫子来说，保持一个有规律的起床时间就像早起者一样重要。如果你作息没有规律，那你就很难保持高效。

2. Don’t Sleep Too Late

不要睡得太晚

Along the same lines, I’ve found that late rising is best in moderation. Sleeping until mid-afternoon can ruinan entire day. It throws off your biological clock, leaving you mentally dull, and makes it harder to get to sleep at a reasonable hour the following night. For me, the ideal wake up time is between 8:00 and 10:00a.m. This gives me a chance to get the 6-8 hours of sleep that I need without oversleeping or losing toomuch of the day.

同样的，我发现晚起最好要有节制。一觉睡到中午会废掉一整天的时间。这会毁掉你的生物钟，导致你反应迟钝，并且会使你在第二天晚上不能正常入睡。对我来说，最好的起床时间是早上8点到10点之间。这可以让我得到6-8小时的充足睡眠，并且除了不让我睡眠过多外，还不会让我损失很多白天的时间。

3. Set a Cut Off Time

设置一个截止时间

The challenge with being productive at night is that it’s hard to wind down. This can lead to late nights that throw off your schedule. The way to manage this is setting a cut off time. I set my cut off time for an hourbefore bed time, usually around 11:00-11:30.

要在夜间保持高效的另一项挑战是你很难平静下来，这可能会导致作息不规律的午夜时间。处理这种情况的方法是设置截止时间。我的截止时间在就寝时间之前一小时，一般在11点到11点半之间。

After the cut off time I stop working and wind down. I switch to mentally relaxing activities like minor household chores and light reading. I’d also recommend avoiding television and the computer completely. The brightness of the screen can trick your brain into thinking it’s day. Although there will always be those nights when I ride a rush of creativity until 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., it’s better to make that the exception.

在截止时间过后，我停止工作放松一下。我会切换到一些放松大脑的活动，比如做家务或者读点闲书。我还要劝大家，不要看电视或者玩电脑。荧幕的亮光会让你的大脑认为现在还是白天。不过现在总是有一些晚上，我的创造力井喷到凌晨三四点才停止，最好把这种情况作为例外处理。

4. Schedule around Your Energy Cycle

调节精力循环

To maximize productivity it’s important to leverage the natural peaks of your energy cycle. Late rising works best for people who peak in the evening. If this is the case, you should create a schedule that lets you work at night. I’ve found mid-mornings to be productive, so I’ve built my schedule around a morning and evening shift.

为了使效率最大化，调节自身的精力循环高峰期很重要。晚起适用于精力高峰在晚上的人。如果出现这种情况，你可以设置作息表，让你在夜里工作。我发现每天上午工作很有效率，因此我建立了作息规律，使我可以在晚上和上午都能工作。

After getting up around 8:00 or 9:00, I eat breakfast and work for 3-4 hours. By early afternoon my energy fades and I switch from creative work to less demanding tasks like responding to email, reading feeds, and running errands. Around 8:00 p.m. I have another energy peak and work the night shift until my cut off time at 11:00.

在8:00或9:00起床后，我吃点早餐，工作三到四小时。但在下午早些时候，我的精力较差，我就把工作从创造型的转换成要求较低的工作，比如回复邮件，阅读摘要，并且做些琐碎的事。在晚上8点左右，我有了自己的另一个精力高峰，并在11:00的截止时间前加夜班。

Although it can be tough to schedule around a 9-5 job, you can probably figure out a way to take advantage of your evening energy peak by working from home or on side projects.

尽管对于朝九晚五的工作来说这样的作息很艰苦，但你可以通过在家工作或做辅助项目的方法来利用你的夜间精力高峰。

5. Take Advantage of Distraction Free Evenings

利用无干扰的夜

Early risers rave about the productivity of the wee morning hours before the rest of us wake up. Late risers have a similar advantage on the other end. By working in the evening we can avoid the distractions of meetings, email, and other demands. For me, the evening is when I’m able to break free from the outside world and immerse myself in mentally challenging work. Some people can’t concentrate at night, but I’vefound it’s the easiest time get into creative work flow without interruption.

在我们起床前，早起的人会达到他们的效率高峰。晚起者也在其他方面有所优势。晚上工作能使我们不受会议、邮件和其他事情的干扰。对我来说，夜晚能使我从喧嚣的外部世界摆脱出来，是我完全沉浸在有挑战性的脑力工作中。有些人在夜里无法集中精力，但是我发现这是进入连续创造性工作流程的最简单的时间。

It’s all about finding what works best for you. As a night person in his early 20′s with roommates who tend to keep late hours, I found early rising problematic. As I get older and my living situation evolves, it’s entirely possible I’ll join the 5 a.m. club. Until then I’ll continue to take pride in being a highly productive night owl.

最重要的是找到最适合你的。作为一个20多岁多岁的小年轻，室友也多是夜猫子型，我觉得早起有困难。随着年龄的增长和生活状态的改变，我有很大可能会加入早晨5:00俱乐部。不过在那之前，我仍然为成为一个高效的夜猫子而自豪。