白天打盹能让大脑更聪明(上)

Hi, this is Your Health, Quickly, a Scientific American podcast series!

大家好，欢迎来到《科学美国人》播客系列节目《健康快讯》!

We bring you the latest vital health news: discoveries that affect your body and your mind.

我们将为大家带来最新健康要闻：影响人们身心健康的发现。

And we break down the medical research to help you stay healthy.

我们将分析医学研究，帮助大家保持健康。

I’m Tanya Lewis. I’m Josh Fischman. We’re Scientific American’s senior health editors.

我是谭雅·刘易斯。我是乔希·费什曼。我们是《科学美国人》的高级健康编辑。

Today’s show is about power naps.

今天的节目要讲的是有效打盹(浅度睡眠)。

Turns out a short daytime snooze can sharpen your mind—if you do it for the right amount of time.

研究证明，如果时间长短合适的话，白天打一会儿盹可以让你的思维更敏捷。

Did you know that in the U.S. it is against the rules to nap in a federal government building?

你知道在美国联邦政府大楼里打盹是违反规定的吗?

No, I didn’t! There are actually rules about that?

我不知道! 居然有这样的规定吗?

Yeah. In 2019 the federal agency in charge of buildings said there would be no sleeping on the premises.

是的。2019年，掌管政府大楼的联邦机构表示，禁止在办公场所睡觉。

Wow, that’s harsh. Then again, I think most people, at least most adults, look down on naps somewhat. Naps are things that babies do.

哇，太严苛了。而且，我认为大多数人，至少大多数成年人，都有点看不起打盹。打盹是婴儿的行为。

But what if I told you that short daytime naps for adults can sharpen the mind, help you solve problems and make you more productive? They improve your mood, too.

但是，如果我告诉你，成年人白天打一会儿盹可以让思维变得敏捷，有助于解决问题，变得更有效率，你会怎么想? 而且小睡也能改善心情。

That makes sense—power naps are definitely a thing. But it still seems kind of taboo at work, at least in the U.S.

这是有道理的——有效打盹绝对很普遍。但在工作中打盹似乎仍然是一种禁忌，至少在美国是这样。

Does it really boost your brain, though? You’re not just saying that because you like naps, right?

打盹真的能增强大脑吗? 你这么说不是因为你喜欢打盹吧?

I would like a quick snooze sometimes. But actually I’m saying that because scientists are learning these are real effects.

有时我确实想打一会儿盹。但实际上，我这么说是因为科学家们正在研究这些真实的效果。

And you and I have a colleague who looked into this.

我们有一个同事对此进行过调查。

That’s right—Lydia Denworth, Scientific American’s Science of Health columnist.

没错，她就是莉迪亚·登沃斯，她是《科学美国人》健康科学专栏的作家。

Yep, Lydia. Her upcoming column is about naps. She got interested in this because she finds quick daytime naps really helpful.

是的, 莉迪亚。她即将推出的专栏是关于打盹的。她对打盹颇有兴趣，因为她发现白天打会儿盹真的很有帮助。

And I asked her about that.

我问了她这样的问题。

Hi Lydia, thanks for waking up and joining us.

嗨，莉迪亚，谢谢你睡醒后参加我们的节目。

I'm glad to be here, Josh.

很高兴能参加节目，乔什。

Now you've told me that you take a nap, right?

你跟我说过你会打盹，对吧?

I do, just about every day.

是的，几乎每天都会。

And you're not ashamed!

你不觉得羞耻!

Not anymore. I'm opening up about my nap habit.

再也不羞耻了。我要坦白我的打盹习惯。

Why aren’t you ashamed anymore?

为什么你不再感到羞耻了?

Well, because the science shows that my napping is virtuous. There is real power to napping.

因为科学证明打盹是有益的。而且打盹真正有效。

And though it does depend how long you do it and when you do it and a bunch of things, my napping turns out to fit right in the sweet spot.

虽然这确实取决于你睡了多长时间，什么时候睡，以及其他多个因素，但最终发现我的打盹正好与最佳时间相符。

And so now I feel quite pleased that I have the ability to nap and that it refreshes me in the way that I always felt that it did.

现在我很高兴我有打盹的能力，这会让我恢复精神，就像我一直觉得和体验的那样。