Relax, Turn Off Your Phone, and Go to Sleep

• 分类: Clippings
• 创建: 2025-01-23
• 标签: clippings

摘要

本文讨论了睡眠问题及其与技术和焦虑的关系。作者从小时候的睡眠问题谈起，成年后认为每晚4-5小时的睡眠足够。作者及其团队在加州州立大学多明格斯山分校的研究发现，执行功能不佳和焦虑（尤其是FOMO，即害怕错过）是导致睡眠问题的主要原因。焦虑的人更频繁地使用手机，夜间醒来查看手机，导致睡眠质量下降。蓝光设备会抑制褪黑激素的分泌，增加皮质醇水平，进一步影响睡眠。文章还提到睡眠对健康的重要性，尤其是对大脑突触恢复和清除有害物质的作用。最后，作者建议减少夜间焦虑的方法，如减少设备使用、调暗灯光、选择放松活动等。

要点

• 焦虑（FOMO）和执行功能不佳是导致睡眠问题的主要原因。\
• 蓝光设备抑制褪黑激素分泌，增加皮质醇水平，影响睡眠。\
• 焦虑的人更频繁使用手机，夜间醒来查看手机，导致睡眠质量下降。\
• 睡眠对大脑突触恢复和清除有害物质（如β淀粉样蛋白）至关重要。\
• 建议减少设备使用、调暗灯光、选择放松活动来改善睡眠。

正文

As a child, I was a terrible sleeper. My parents would often find me awake at 3 AM with a flashlight under the covers reading a Hardy Boy, Nancy Drew, or Tom Swift book. When I was 9-years-old, my pediatrician prescribed an awful tasting medicine to be taken at night, mixed with pineapple juice to mask the flavor. Years later, I found out that the medicine was actually a heavy duty narcotic, sometimes called a “Mickey Finn.” Needless to say, I was just never a good sleeper. In my adult years, I often explained away my sleeping habits by swearing that 4-5 hours of sleep a night was all I needed.
小时候，我睡得很糟糕。我的父母经常发现我在凌晨 3 点醒来，手电筒在被子下阅读 Hardy Boy、Nancy Drew 或 Tom Swift 的书。当我 9 岁时，我的儿科医生开了一种味道很差的药，晚上服用，与菠萝汁混合以掩盖味道。多年后，我发现这种药实际上是一种重型麻醉剂，有时被称为“米奇费恩”。不用说，我从来都不是一个好的睡眠者。在我成年后，我经常通过发誓每晚 4-5 小时的睡眠来解释我的睡眠习惯。

My colleagues and I at California State University, Dominguez Hills, conducted sleep research that stems from my lab’s work on the “psychology of technology,” where we have discovered two important variables that encourage us to use (and misuse) technology, thereby losing sleep: (1) poor executive functioning, which includes our (in)ability to pay attention, problem solve, control our impulses, and make decisions, and (2) anxiety. In our work, anxiety is sometimes referred to as FOMO, or the fear of missing out. We see this anxiety in the majority of smartphone users who feel uncomfortable if they are not in direct contact with their phones — and their many electronic connections — 24/7/365. A dead battery and no charger can bring upon a panic attack.
我和我在加州州立大学多明格斯山分校的同事们进行了睡眠研究，该研究源于我实验室的“技术心理学”工作，在那里我们发现了两个重要的变量，这些变量会鼓励我们使用（和滥用）技术，从而失去睡眠：（1） 执行功能不佳，包括我们（无法）集中注意力、解决问题、控制冲动和做出决定，以及 （2） 焦虑。在我们的工作中，焦虑有时被称为 FOMO，或害怕错过。我们在大多数智能手机用户身上看到了这种焦虑，如果他们没有 24/7/365 全天候与手机及其许多电子连接直接接触，他们会感到不舒服。没电的电池和没有充电器会导致惊恐发作。

In our study of more than 700 college students, we found that while poor executive functioning did predict sleep problems, the stronger effect was actually due to anxiety. The students who were more anxious about being apart from their phones used their phones more during a typical day, and woke up to check their phones more often at night. The latter two results — more daily smartphone use and more nighttime awakenings — led directly to sleep problems.
在我们对 700 多名大学生的研究中，我们发现，虽然执行功能不佳确实可以预测睡眠问题，但更强的影响实际上是由于焦虑。对离开手机更焦虑的学生在典型的一天中更多地使用手机，并且在晚上醒来时更频繁地查看手机。后两个结果——更多的日常智能手机使用和更多的夜间醒来——直接导致了睡眠问题。

Why does anxiety about needing to stay in contact negatively impact sleep? First, those who are anxious about staying connected are more likely to use their technology right up until bedtime. We now know that the blue wavelength light from LED-based devices (phones, tablets, computers) increases the release of cortisol in the brain, which makes us more alert, and inhibits the production of melatonin, which is needed to fall asleep. That’s why The National Sleep Foundation recommends turning off all devices an hour prior to bedtime. The Mayo Clinic says that if you do choose to use technology during the hour before bedtime, keep it 14 inches from your face and dim the brightness, which helps reduce the blue light and increases the natural melatonin release. A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School found that compared to reading a paper book, people who read from an e-book needed an additional 10 minutes to fall asleep. They experienced 90 minutes of delayed melatonin onset — and had half the amount of melatonin released. They also had diminished rapid eye movement sleep. To compound these effects, anxious people have more cortisol in their system, which further stymies sleep. Anxious people also tend to have shorter attention spans — our own research has shown that they switch tasks every 3-5 minutes. This frenetic task switching increases stress — and cortisol — creating a vicious cycle. Finally, anxious people are more likely to sleep with their phone close by and check it when they awaken at night, which then further disrupts sleep.
为什么对需要保持联系的焦虑会对睡眠产生负面影响？首先，那些对保持联系感到焦虑的人更有可能在睡前使用他们的技术。我们现在知道，基于 LED 的设备（手机、平板电脑、电脑）发出的蓝色波长光会增加大脑中皮质醇的释放，这使我们更加警觉，并抑制褪黑激素的产生，而褪黑激素是入睡所需的。这就是为什么美国国家睡眠基金会建议在睡前一小时关闭所有设备。梅奥诊所表示，如果您确实选择在睡前一小时使用技术，请将其与脸保持 14 英寸的距离并调暗亮度，这有助于减少蓝光并增加褪黑激素的自然释放。哈佛医学院研究人员的一项研究发现，与阅读纸质书相比，阅读电子书的人需要额外 10 分钟才能入睡。他们经历了 90 分钟的褪黑激素延迟发作——并且释放的褪黑激素量只有一半。他们的快速眼动睡眠也减少了。为了加剧这些影响，焦虑的人体内有更多的皮质醇，这进一步阻碍了睡眠。焦虑的人也往往注意力持续时间较短——我们自己的研究表明，他们每 3-5 分钟更换一次任务。这种疯狂的任务切换会增加压力和皮质醇，从而形成恶性循环。最后，焦虑的人更有可能在睡觉时将手机放在身边，并在夜间醒来时查看手机，从而进一步扰乱睡眠。

Consider how vitally important sleep is to our health. In the 1950s and 1960s, William Dement and Nathaniel Kleitman illuminated the process of sleep. Basically, for normally well-rested people, sleep happens in a series of 90-minute bursts, each ending with a dream. Leading up to the dream are four critical phases responsible for synaptic rejuvenation, or the process of pruning away unneeded mental connections and consolidating or reinforcing needed ones. In addition, various molecular byproducts of thinking are left in the brain throughout the day, which are then washed away during normal sleep. Included among these are beta amyloids, which have been found in abundance in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. (For more on the relationship between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease, see this brief.) When you are not well rested, these phases — and the brain’s housekeeping chores — are disrupted. Further, if you awaken someone every time they start dreaming, they will soon skip the four phases and go straight into REM dream sleep, reducing synaptic rejuvenation.
想想睡眠对我们的健康有多么重要。在 1950 年代和 1960 年代，威廉·德门特 （William Dement） 和纳撒尼尔·克莱特曼 （Nathaniel Kleitman） 阐明了睡眠的过程。基本上，对于正常休息的人来说，睡眠是一系列 90 分钟的爆发，每次都以梦结束。导致梦想的是负责突触恢复的四个关键阶段，即修剪掉不需要的心理联系并巩固或加强所需心理联系的过程。此外，思考的各种分子副产品全天留在大脑中，然后在正常睡眠中被冲走。其中包括 β 淀粉样蛋白，已在阿尔茨海默病患者的大脑中大量发现。（有关睡眠与阿尔茨海默病之间关系的更多信息，请参阅此简报。当你没有得到很好的休息时，这些阶段——以及大脑的杂务活——就会被打乱。此外，如果你每次在某人开始做梦时都叫醒他们，他们很快就会跳过这四个阶段，直接进入 REM 梦境睡眠，减少突触年轻化。

The National Sleep Foundation has shown that we are in the midst of a 50-year decline in sleep duration, and one study found that 90% of Americans use their gadgets within the last hour before bedtime at least a few nights a week. They also found that the average college student loses 46 minutes of sleep each night due to answering phone calls or checking for messages. Add it all up, and we are all running the risk of a massive sleep debt that is not going to allow our sleeping brain to do its job. Sleep deprivation is leading to less efficient learning, higher emotionality, increased anxiety, and a less efficient brain.
美国国家睡眠基金会 （National Sleep Foundation） 表明，我们正处于睡眠时间下降 50 年的时期，一项研究发现，90% 的美国人每周至少有几个晚上在睡前的最后一小时内使用他们的小工具。他们还发现，由于接听电话或查看消息，大学生平均每晚会失去 46 分钟的睡眠时间。加起来，我们都面临着巨大的睡眠债务风险，这不会让我们沉睡的大脑发挥作用。睡眠不足会导致学习效率降低、情绪化程度提高、焦虑增加和大脑效率降低。

So how do you reduce your nighttime anxiety and permit your brain to sleep effectively? Here are some suggestions:
那么，如何减少夜间焦虑并让大脑有效睡眠呢？以下是一些建议：

• During the day, practice not reacting to incoming alerts or notifications like one of Pavlov’s dogs. Don’t check your phone every time it beeps. In fact, turn off notifications and check on a schedule to retrain your brain’s neurotransmitters (particularly cortisol). Start by checking every 15 minutes, and gradually increase that to 30 minutes or more. Tell your family, friends, and colleagues that you may not respond immediately, but you will within a specified amount of time, such as 30 minutes to an hour later.
  白天，练习不要像巴甫洛夫的一只狗那样对收到的警报或通知做出反应。不要每次手机发出哔哔声时都检查它。事实上，关闭通知并按计划检查以重新训练大脑的神经递质（尤其是皮质醇）。从每 15 分钟检查一次开始，然后逐渐增加到 30 分钟或更长时间。告诉您的家人、朋友和同事，您可能不会立即回复，但您会在规定的时间内回复，例如 30 分钟到一个小时后。
• Stop using all devices one hour prior to sleep.
  在睡眠前 1 小时停止使用所有设备。
• Put all devices away in another room rather than keep them in the bedroom to discourage you from checking them during the night. (If you must keep a phone nearby in case of emergency, set it so that it only rings when certain people are calling, but still place it across the room and away from your bedside.)
  将所有设备放在另一个房间，而不是放在卧室里，以阻止您在夜间查看它们。（如果您必须在紧急情况下将电话放在身边，请将其设置为仅在某些人打电话时响铃，但仍将其放在房间对面并远离您的床边。
• An hour before bedtime, start dimming the room lights slowly to release melatonin.
  睡前一小时，开始慢慢调暗房间的灯光以释放褪黑激素。
• During the last hour before bedtime, choose an activity that your brain will find predictable and, thus, not anxiety-provoking. Consider any of the following:
  在睡前的最后一个小时，选择一项您的大脑会觉得可以预测并且不会引起焦虑的活动。考虑以下任何一项：
• Watch a television show that you love, maybe even a repeat.
  观看你喜欢的电视节目，甚至可能重复一遍。
• Read a paper book (or use a Kindle which doesn’t emit blue light) by a familiar author.
  阅读熟悉作者的纸质书（或使用不发出蓝光的 Kindle）。
• Listen to music that is very familiar like a playlist of your favorite songs. If you need a device to do this, burn CDs and get a CD player. (The key is to use a device that doesn’t have internet access, email, or a phone.) Keep the volume low.
  聆听非常熟悉的音乐，例如您最喜欢的歌曲的播放列表。如果您需要设备来执行此操作，请刻录 CD 并获得 CD 播放器。（关键是使用无法访问 Internet、电子邮件或电话的设备。保持低音量。
• If you awaken in the middle of the night, try this trick: have a song lyric in mind (not the whole song) that you plan to sing in your mind over and over to block the anxiety and allow you to fall back to sleep. Another option is to learn one of many meditation techniques and practice and use those skills to calm your mind.
  如果你在半夜醒来，试试这个技巧：在脑海中记住一首歌的歌词（不是整首歌），你打算在脑海中一遍又一遍地唱，以阻止焦虑并让你重新入睡。另一种选择是学习众多冥想技巧中的一种，并练习并使用这些技巧来平静你的心灵。

Our devices are a gift that connect us to so many people and so much information, but they do not have to raise our anxiety and harm our all-important sleep. We need to control our devices, rather than letting them control us.
我们的设备是一份礼物，将我们与这么多人和这么多信息联系起来，但它们不必增加我们的焦虑并损害我们最重要的睡眠。我们需要控制我们的设备，而不是让它们控制我们。