第1427期:Can a lie-in make you healthier？

Every morning, my alarm goes off, I wake from my slumber and hit the snooze button. 每天早上，我的闹钟响起，我从睡梦中醒来，按下贪睡按钮。Then I crawl back under the duvet to grab a few more minutes of shut-eye. 然后我爬回羽绒被下，再睡几分钟。“Tonight I’ll go to bed early,” I tell myself.“今晚我要早点睡觉，”我告诉自己。 But, evening comes and I get a second wind, completely forgetting about my early night.但是，晚上来了，我得到了第二次风，完全忘记了我的早晚。Why am I finding it so difficult to get a good night’s sleep? And is it a problem?为什么我发现很难睡个好觉？这是一个问题吗？The amount we sleep has declined over the years and insomnia is on the rise. Modern technology is often blamed. 多年来，我们的睡眠量一直在下降，而失眠症却在增加。现代技术经常受到指责。The light from our smartphone affects levels of melatonin – the sleep-inducing hormone - keeping us wide awake into the early hours.智能手机发出的光会影响褪黑激素（一种诱导睡眠的激素）的水平，让我们在凌晨时分保持清醒。Lack of sleep can badly affect our health and memory.睡眠不足会严重影响我们的健康和记忆力。 We need deep sleep to move our memories from short-term storage into long-term storage. 我们需要深度睡眠才能将我们的记忆从短期存储转移到长期存储。If we don’t get enough sleep, we could lose these memories.如果我们没有得到足够的睡眠，我们可能会失去这些记忆。 This is especially disastrous for people studying for exams.这对准备考试的人来说尤其是灾难性的。So, how can we learn to sleep better? For Professor Till Roenneberg, it's important people recognise they have an internal body clock. 那么，我们怎样才能学会睡得更好呢？对于 Till Roenneberg 教授来说，重要的是人们认识到他们有一个内部生物钟。This determines whether you are a night owl, an early bird or somewhere in the middle. 这决定了你是夜猫子、早起的鸟还是处于中间的某个地方。We don’t have any choice. “It’s like feet,” he said “Some people are born with big feet and some with small feet, but most people are somewhere in the middle.”  我们别无选择。 “这就像脚，”他说，“有些人天生脚大，有些人脚小，但大多数人都处于中间位置。”Our work schedules are out of sync with our natural sleep patterns. He says this leads to “social jetlag” where people feel like they are constantly in the wrong time zone.我们的工作时间表与我们的自然睡眠模式不同步。他说这会导致“社交时差”，让人们感觉自己总是处于错误的时区。Paul Kelley – a sleep expert from the University of Oxford – says that most people are getting up too early. 牛津大学的睡眠专家保罗·凯利（Paul Kelley）说，大多数人都起得太早了。He believes work and school should start a few hours later. 他认为工作和上学应该在几个小时后开始。Many companies are starting to realise more sleep can mean a more productive workforce and are changing work schedules. 许多公司开始意识到更多的睡眠意味着更高的工作效率，并且正在改变工作时间表。While in South Korea, office workers are heading to relaxation parlours at lunchtime to take power naps in hammocks or massage chairs. 在韩国，上班族在午餐时间前往休闲室，在吊床或按摩椅上小睡。This is much healthier than catching forty winks while sitting on the toilet or dropping off at their desks.这比坐在马桶上或在办公桌前下车时眨眼四十次要健康得多。So, if like me you find yourself hitting your snooze button every morning – don't feel bad. It’s just our body clocks!所以，如果你像我一样发现自己每天早上都在按下打盹按钮——不要难过。这只是我们的生物钟！词汇表slumber 睡眠snooze button （催醒闹钟的）延时按钮shut-eye 睡眠get a second wind 恢复的精力或力量early night 早睡insomnia 失眠melatonin 褪黑素wide awake 完全清醒the early hours 凌晨body clock 生物钟night owl 夜猫子early bird 早起者sleep patterns 睡眠规律jetlag 时差反应power nap 打盹，小睡hammock 吊床catch forty winks （白天的）打盹、小睡drop off 睡着了