Eight hours a night is the recommended amount of sleep for the average person. That's a third of your life spent sleeping. Maybe you have nice dreams, so you're happy with the situation. But imagine all the things you could do, and how time-rich you would be if that didn't happen. In other words, wouldn't it be great if you could take a magic medicine which allows you to skip sleep and have more time for other things you want to do? However, this wouldn't happen.
一晚睡八小時是一般人的建議睡眠量。也就是你三分之一的人生是花在睡覺上。或許你會做美好的夢，所以你對這狀況感到滿意。但想像一下如果不用睡那麼久，所有你本來可以做的事，還有你會擁有多麼充裕的時間。換句話說，要是你可以服用一種神奇的藥讓你能跳過睡眠並擁有更多時間做其他你想做的事，那豈不是太棒了？然而，這不會發生。
Just take a look at what happens to people who go without sleep for a long time. One 16-year-old American boy spent eleven days sleepless as part of a high-school experiment. By the third day he was mistaking objects for people on the streets. In the following days, he began to lose short-term memory and muscle control. He even became convinced he was a professional athlete and lost his temper when people disbelieved him. The boy was an extreme example, and not everyone reacts the same way to sleep deprivation. But it is clear that, like most other animals, humans have a biological need for sleep.
就去看看長時間不睡覺的人會發生什麼事。一名 16 歲的美國男孩在一項高中實驗中度過 11 天不睡覺的日子。到第三天時他把街上的物體誤認為人。在接下來的幾天裡，他開始喪失短期記憶和肌肉控制。他甚至相信自己是職業運動員，並在人們不相信他時發脾氣。這個男孩是個極端的例子，而且不是每個人對睡眠不足都會有同樣的反應。但很清楚的是，就像大多數的其他動物一樣，人類也有睡眠的生理需求。
In the early years of human history, when we were on the menu for larger and more dangerous animals, falling asleep at the wrong time could be a fatal mistake. It still is, because many road accidents are caused by drivers losing consciousness for a short while. In April 2018, for instance, a crash in Taiwan that killed two police officers and a truck driver resulted from driver fatigue. According to Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications, 2675 people were killed or hurt in accidents caused by tired drivers in 2016. Often, due to tiredness from a lack of proper sleep, the brain shuts down for a few seconds. This phenomenon, known as "microsleep," can obviously be disastrous when someone is driving or operating dangerous machinery.
在早年的人類歷史中，當時我們是較大型、危險動物的食物，在錯誤的時間睡著會是致命的錯誤。現在仍是如此，因為許多道路交通事故就是因為駕駛一個閃神而造成的。例如，2018 年的春天，台灣有一場因疲勞駕駛所導致的車禍奪走了兩名警察和一名卡車司機的性命。根據台灣交通部的數據，2016 年就有 2675 人因疲勞駕駛所造成的事故而喪生或受傷。大腦常常會因為缺乏適當睡眠所造成的疲累，而停機幾秒鐘。這種現象被稱為「微睡眠」，顯然會在某人正在駕車或操作危險機器時釀成大災難。
Preventing fatigue is not the only function of sleep. It also works as a kind of washing machine for the brain. During our waking hours, our brains produce toxic proteins that can harm the brain if they stay there too long. Fortunately, we have something called cerebrospinal fluid that flushes out these toxins from our brain cells. However, this fluid only flows during sleep. That's why our brains are refreshed after a good night's sleep. It's also why people with long-term insomnia develop mental problems as well as all the physical difficulties associated with sleep deprivation.
預防疲倦並不是睡眠的唯一功能。它還具有一種大腦洗衣機的作用。在我們醒著的時間中，我們的大腦會產生有毒的蛋白質，要是留在大腦時間太長，會對大腦造成傷害。幸好，我們有一種叫腦脊液的物質，可以把這些毒素從大腦細胞中沖刷掉。然而，這種液體只在睡眠期間流出。那就是為什麼我們的大腦在一夜好眠後能恢復精神。這也是為什麼長期失眠的人會罹患心理疾病以及與睡眠不足有關的身體問題。
So, if you think that sleeping away a third of your life is a huge waste of time, think again. It is a human need even stronger than those for food and water. After all, our ancestors carried on doing it even with all those horrible predators sniffing around. Unless you actually want to mistake traffic lights for your friends or believe you are Stephen Curry, don't neglect your sleep. You really do need it!
因此，要是你認為睡掉三分之一的人生是大大浪費時間，再思考一下吧。睡眠是甚至比食物和水還重要的人類需求。畢竟，我們的祖先即使在各種恐怖掠食者的環伺下仍不改此習。除非你真的想把紅綠燈誤認成你的朋友，或自以為是史蒂芬．柯瑞，否則不要忽略睡眠。你真的很需要它!
