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Sleep is so important.
睡眠是如此重要。
We need it to live.
我们没有它就无法生存。
And when we can't sleep, we're desperate for help.
我们睡不着的时候，就会绝望地寻求帮助。
But lately, our fascination with sleep feels as if it's taken on an urgency.
但最近，我们对睡眠的迷恋似乎伴随着一种紧迫感。
Do a quick internet search for sleep and you'll find a slew of articles about how to make your sleep perfect.
在互联网上快速搜索睡眠，你会找到一大堆如何提高睡眠质量的文章。
New gadgets, fancy alarm clocks, stay away from blue light.
新的科技设备，花哨的闹钟，远离蓝光。
There are lots of services, products and advice columns that tell us we're sleeping wrong.
很多服务、产品和问答小贴士告诉我们，我们睡觉的方式是错的。
Not enough, not quality sleep, wrong position.
我们睡得不够，睡眠质量不高，睡觉姿势不对。
Even worse, you might find scary messaging claiming that if you're not sleeping right your life is going to be shorter, you're going to get all kinds of diseases.
更糟糕的是，你可能会看到一些可怕的信息，声称如果你睡不好，你的寿命会缩短，你会患上各种疾病。
One of the biggest worries we have about our sleep is that we're not getting enough and that anything less than seven hours a night means that we’re doomed to bad health, everything from high blood pressure to Alzheimer’s disease.
我们对睡眠最大的担忧之一是睡眠不足，每晚睡眠不足七小时就意味着我们无法逃脱健康不佳的状况，可能患上高血压或阿尔茨海默氏症等等疾病。
But there are two flaws with this kind of messaging.
但此类信息有两个漏洞。
The first flaw is that it's not completely accurate.
第一，它并不完全准确。
Seven to eight hours of sleep, while recommended for adults, is just an average.
虽然成年人的推荐睡眠时长是每天七到八小时，但这只是一个平均值。
And while messages have to be simplified for health communication to the public, sometimes important nuances get lost.
为了向公众传播健康方面的知识，信息需要被简化，但有时重要的细节也会因此丢失。
So yes, it's true that not getting enough sleep in the long term is associated with health problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression.
的确，长期睡眠不足与心血管疾病、糖尿病和抑郁症等健康问题有关。
But fixating solely on seven to eight hours ignores the fact that there's a range of sleep that people need.
但是，只专注于七到八个小时的睡眠时间会忽视一个事实，即人们的睡眠时长是因人而异。
The duration of a good night's sleep can be different for different people.
对于不同的人来说，良好睡眠的持续时间可能不同。
Some adults need eight, but some are just fine on six.
有些成年人需要8小时，但有些人6小时就够了。
The second flaw with this kind of doomsday messaging is that it can be counterproductive, especially for people who do have trouble sleeping.
这种耸人听闻的信息第二个漏洞是，它可能会适得其反，特别是对于那些确实有睡眠困难的人来说。
For instance, in 2019, it was estimated that 21 percent of adults in the US were wearing sleep tracking devices.
举个例子，据估计，2019年美国有21%的成年人使用睡眠跟踪设备。
And that number is probably growing.
而且这个数字可能还在增长。
And I get it.
我理解。
It's fascinating to see how much sleep you've gotten each night and to know what part of your night was spent in deep sleep or dreaming.
知道自己每晚睡了多久，晚上哪段时间处于深度睡眠或在做梦，这是很有趣的。
But having all of that sleep data is causing some people to become obsessed with it, so much so that it’s leading to a condition some call orthosomnia: a preoccupation with the constant need to achieve perfect sleep.
但是，一些人极其痴迷于这些睡眠数据，以至于出现被称为“睡眠强迫”的情况：时刻执着于追求完美睡眠。
And this condition, ironically, is causing more sleep problems.
讽刺的是，正是这导致人们出现更多的睡眠问题。
Now orthosomnia might be an extreme example, but the anxiety of not getting enough sleep is keeping some of us up at night.
“睡眠强迫”的例子可能比较极端，但对于睡眠不足的焦虑会让我们中的一些人晚上睡不着觉。
So here's what some experts are saying.
以下是一些专家的说法。
Stop fixating on the number because that can lead to unrealistic expectations of sleep.
不要纠结于数值，这会让你对睡眠产生不切实际的期望。
According to Dr.Colleen Carney, a psychologist and the head of the Ryerson University Sleep Lab, the basic questions you should ask yourself are: Do I feel reasonably well-rested during the day?
根据科琳·卡尼博士，心理学家以及莱尔森大学睡眠实验室的负责人的观点，你应该问自己几个基本的问题：我白天感觉精神充沛吗？
Do I generally sleep through the night without disturbances?
我通常整夜都睡得很安稳吗？
Or, if I wake, do I fall back asleep easily?
或者，如果我半夜醒来，能够再次轻易入睡吗？
Can I stay awake through the day without involuntarily falling asleep?
我可以整天保持清醒，不会不由自主地睡着吗？
If your answers are yes to all three, you probably don't need to worry about your sleep.
如果你对这三个问题的答案都是肯定的，那么你大概不用担心自己的睡眠问题。
And if you're struggling with your sleep, instead of buying expensive blue light filters or fancy sleep trackers, try talking with your doctor to make sure there aren't any medical conditions that need to be explored first.
如果你正在为睡眠问题苦苦挣扎，与其购买昂贵的蓝色滤片或花哨的睡眠追踪设备，不如试着和你的医生谈谈，确认是否需要进行其它方面的检查。
Then try evidence-based recommendations laid out by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
然后试试美国睡眠医学学会给出的有科学依据的建议。
What's really cool is that there's a highly effective therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, It doesn’t have any medications involved.
真正酷炫的是有一种非常有效的疗法，名为失眠认知行为疗法，即CBT-I，它不需要任何药物。
And it has a really low failure rate.
而且失败率非常低。
