如何专心睡眠 当我们的思维停不下来的时候

My sleep schedule:

我的睡眠时间表是这样的：

8:30: Get ready for bed

8:30: 准备上床睡觉

9:00: Be in bed

9:00: 上床

9:30: Hopefully be sleeping

9:30: 希望自己入睡

9:55: Definitely be sleeping

9:55: 确定自己要入睡

10:00: Oh god, you’re not asleep? Why aren’t you asleep? You know what happens when you can’t sleep. Well, you just keep thinking about sleep. I mean wait, don’t think about sleep! Just don’t even think about the word.

10:00:我的天啊，你还没睡？你为什么不睡？你知道自己不睡觉时将发生些什么。好吧，只想着睡觉吧。我的意思是，等一下，别再想睡觉这件事啦！甚至连这个词也别去想。

10:05: Now it’s ruined, it’s all ruined.

10:05:一切都毁了，全毁了。

12:30: Is someone vacuuming? I am pretty sure someone is vacuuming. I will find them, I will find them and I will hurt them.

12:30:有人在用真空吸尘器打扫卫生吗？我确定有人在这么做。我一定要把他们找到，拽出来痛打一顿。

1:00: silent rage until sleep comes

1:00: 无声的愤怒，直至睡意袭来

Much of my life is dictated by my fear of not falling asleep at the right time. I calculate how much sleep I need down to the exact minute. I lay in bed each night waiting for the unyielding thought-vomit to occur. I used to think that the endless stream of thoughts that plagued my nightly routine were unique to me, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

我生活中的许多时光都充斥着我对于无法适时入睡的恐惧。我计算了我所需的睡眠时间并精确到了分钟。每晚我躺在床上等待着那些执着的想法从脑袋中涌出。我曾经认为困扰我夜间休息的那无尽的思维洪流仅仅是我所独有。但是我大错特错了。

If you have trouble turning your mind off at night, you aren’t alone. It is estimated that 30-to-40 million Americans have a sleep disorder and an additional 20 million have occasional difficulty sleeping. It’s so bad that the Centers for Disease Control considers it a public health epidemic. To unearth the reasons why we can’t turn off our mind at night, we should first understand the body’s mechanisms which govern sleep.

如果你无法在晚上关掉你的思维阀门，你不是一个人。据估计，有3,000-4,000万美国人都患有睡眠障碍，另有2,000万人患有偶发性失眠。糟糕的是，疾病控制中心认为这是一种关乎公众健康的传染病。要明白为什么我们在夜间无法停止思考，首先我们应该弄懂我们身体中管理睡眠的机制。

Until as recently as the 1950s scientists believed that falling asleep was a completely passive process. Scientists now think that the body’s wakefulness and sleep mode is dictated by a two-process model. Process S: Promotes our desire to sleep and inhibits our arousal centers at night. Process C: Maintains our wakefulness during the day. This two-process model is also influenced by the circadian rhythm.

直至20世纪50年代，科学家才相信，睡眠完全是一个被动过程。现在，科学家认为身体的觉醒和睡眠模式是一种双进程模型（two-process model）。分为S进程：在夜间提升我们的睡眠渴望，抑制我们的觉醒中枢。以及C进程：在白天让我们保持清醒。这种双进程模式也被昼夜节律[1]（circadian rhythm）所影响。

The circadian rhythm is the body’s clock that regulates our activities and behaviors. It’s controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) — a part of the brain known as the circadian rhythm pacemaker. Morning light lets the SCN know ‘Hey, it’s time to get up and start this process over again.’ As the sun sets, the SCN signals our body to calm down and prepare for sleep.

昼夜节律是身体的时钟，管理着我们的活动和行为。昼夜节律由视交叉上核（suprachiasmatic nucleus-SCN）所控制，视交叉上核是大脑的一部分，被称为昼夜节律起搏器。早晨的光线让视交叉上核知道“嘿，该起床了，重新再开始这一过程吧”。随着日落，视交叉上核给我们的身体发出信号，让身体平静下来，准备睡觉。

Disruptions to the circadian rhythm can prevent us from falling asleep at night and feeling overly tired during the day. These disruptions can also adversely effect our health.

昼夜节律如果被破坏，将会阻止我们在夜间入睡，让我们在白天感到极度疲惫。这种破坏也会对我们的健康产生有害影响。

(Night) Shift workers have an increased risk of heart problems, digestive disturbances, and emotional and mental problems, all of which may be related to their sleeping problems. The number and severity of workplace accidents also tend to increase during the night shift.

（夜班）倒班工人患心脏疾病、消化紊乱以及情绪和精神疾病的风险更高，这些都与他们的睡眠问题相关。夜班期间，车间事故的数量和严重性也会有所上升。

Okay, so we understand the process that drives us to sleep, but what happens to our bodies once we are in bed?

好吧，虽然我们理解了睡眠的运行过程，但是当我们上床睡觉以后，我们的身体会发生什么呢？

There are two kinds of sleep, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and Non-REM (NREM) sleep. Both of which are necessary for the body to go through its restorative process. There are also five stages of sleep. The entire process takes about 90-120 minutes. In an ideal situation, it would look something like this:

睡眠有两种形式，分别是快速眼动（REM）睡眠和非快速眼动（NREM）睡眠。这两种睡眠对于处于恢复过程中的身体来说都十分必要。睡眠也有五个阶段，整个过程需要90-120分钟。在一种理想的情况下，睡眠看起来是这样的：

When we can’t turn off the mind it is because we are having trouble transitioning from the alpha waves of stage 1 to the theta-band waves of stage two. Those with severe sleep disorders often enter REM sleep immediately upon falling asleep. As we begin the transition into sleep our brains are letting go of a lot, but this is by no means a passive process. Our brains are reordering and assessing the day’s events, working to promote new memory formations, and cleaning up debris.

我们无法关掉思维的阀门，是因为我们无法将第一阶段的α脑波转化成第二阶段的θ脑波。那些患有严重睡眠障碍的人通常在入睡后就立刻进入快速眼动睡眠。当我们开始入睡时，我们的大脑会非常放松，但是这并不是一个被动的过程。我们的大脑会重新排列并评估白天的事务，促进新的记忆形成，清空记忆碎片。

Turning off our mind — as anyone who has tried to do will tell you — is easier said than done. There’s no magical switch you can flip to make yourself fall asleep, but there are some tricks you can do to help quiet your mind.

正如任何曾经尝试过的人都会告诉我的那样，关掉思维阀门说来容易做来难。你没有魔法开关，按下去就能入睡，但是有一些有助于你让脑袋静一静的小诀窍。

1.Cool yourself down

1. 给自己降温

Part of the body’s process for falling asleep each night involves a lowering of the body temperature. If you are in a room that is too hot it can disturb your internal sleep processes. To get slightly more technical, the metabolism of your brains frontal cortex wants to be cool when falling asleep. Insomniacs have a higher metabolism in their frontal cortex which is said to contribute to their inability to sleep. The body loses its ability to regulate its temperature at night, so finding the right balance is important.

每天晚上，我们身体的入睡都包含体温降低这一过程。如果你处在一个非常热的屋子中，这会扰乱你身体内部的睡眠过程。用稍微技术化一点的语言来说，当睡眠时，你大脑中额叶皮质的新陈代谢也需要放慢速度。失眠症患者的额叶皮质代谢水平更高，这也导致了他们没有入睡的能力。身体丧失了夜间调节体温的能力，因此寻找到一种正确的平衡（模式）十分重要。

2. Buy red lights

2. 购买红光灯

You know that sort of bluish glow given off by our TVs, computers, and phones? That seemingly serene blue light is literally robbing you of sleep. The short-wavelength of blue light stops the production of melatonin— a hormone necessary for sleep. Exposure to blue light can even throw off our circadian rhythm. If purchasing all red lights is a bit too drastic for you, aim to reduce the amount of light you use at least two hours before bed.

你知道我们的电视、电脑和手机发出的光稍稍有些偏 蓝色吗？那种看似平静的蓝光其实会剥夺你的睡眠。短波蓝光会抑制睡眠所需激素——褪黑素的产生。置身在蓝光之中甚至能够让我们不再遵守昼夜节律。如果全部购买红光灯对你来说有点极端，那么就至少在你睡前两小时降低你所使用的灯光量吧。

3. Breathe out of your left nostril

3.用左侧鼻孔呼吸

In yoga this is called nadi shodhana or alternate nostril breathing. Cover your right nostril and practice breathing in and out of your left nostril ten-times. The practice of breathing through your left nostril is said to help relax your sympathetic nervous system. Just simply focusing on the task of breathing can help you drown out other distractions.

在瑜伽中，这被称为“纳地净化调息”（nadi shodhana）或者“鼻孔交换呼吸法”。堵住你的右侧鼻孔，练习用左侧鼻孔呼吸十次。据说这种用左侧鼻孔进行的呼吸练习能够放松你的交感神经系统。仅仅集中精力呼吸就能够帮助你忘记其他的杂事。

4. Go outside in the morning

4.早晨出门转转

Being in the sun — especially upon first waking — tells our circadian rhythm to reset itself. The best time for this to happen is between 6 and 8:30 a.m. You should aim for at least 30-minutes of sun exposure a day to receive the maximum benefits. Sunlight inhibits the production of melatonin, which is responsible for making you tired. Being tired during the day will likely rob you of that feeling later at night when you need it the most.

晒晒太阳——尤其是刚醒来的时候——能够让我们的昼夜节律自我重置。最好的晒太阳时机是上午6:00至8:30之间。为了获取最大的好处，你至少应该每天晒半小时太阳。日光抑制了褪黑素的合成，而褪黑素会让你感到疲倦。白天的疲倦会让你在夜晚丧失这种感受，而在夜晚，我们才最需要疲倦的感觉。

5. Visualize yourself asleep

5.形象化你的睡眠

You are a leaf on the wind, watch how you soar off to sleep land. Visualizations draw focus away from thoughts which have emotional content. Experts say it is important to associate positivity with sleeping. This can help remove some of the anxiety we have built up around falling asleep each night. Researchers at Colorado College recently found that the simple act of believing that you received more sleep than you did is enough to give your brain some of the positive effects of sleep.

你是风中的一片叶，观察一下你是如何飞舞到睡眠大陆上的。形象化能将我们的注意力从带有情绪内容的想法中转移出来。专家说，将睡眠同实在的事物联系起来是非常重要的。这可以帮助你消除一些在每晚入睡过程中产生的焦虑。科罗拉多大学的研究者近来发现，一种简单的行为，即相信自己的睡眠时间比实际睡眠时间多,足够给予你的大脑一些积极的睡眠效果。

There are a lot of really useful sleeping tips out there, but they are all variations on the same theme. Preparing the mind and body for sleep is all about reducing the emotional content in our thoughts and eliminating as much external stimuli as possible. You should absolutely explore a variety of sleep routines and practices. Doing so can help you understand the barriers that prevent you from achieving a quiet mind.

除此之外，还有许多非常实用的睡眠小妙招，但是它们都是基于同一个原理变化而来。让思维和身体为睡眠做准备，就要减少我们思维中的情绪内容，尽可能多地消除外部刺激。你绝对有必要发掘各种各样的睡眠方法，进行各种各样的睡眠练习。这么做能帮助你理解那些妨碍你拥有一个平静思维的桎梏。

Sleep is a process. It doesn’t just happen the moment you get into bed. The body is preparing itself for sleep all day. It actually helped me to think of sleep something ongoing as opposed to something that was just supposed to happen. It took some of the pressure off of me. My body was actually made to do this. Trusting and listening to my body’s natural process really helped me find a better way to fall asleep.

睡眠是一个过程。它不仅仅发生于你躺在床上的时刻。我们的身体一天到晚都在为睡眠做准备。它实际上有助于我将睡眠想象成为一个不间断发生的过程，而不是一件应该会发生的事情。这让我减轻了一些压力。我的身体其实就是这样构造的。相信并倾听我们身体的自然过程，的确有助于我找到一种更好的入睡方法。