【翻譯練習】睡前助眠儀式
How to Spend the Last 10 Minutes of Your Day
作者：Ron Friedman
來源：https://hbr.org/2014/11/how-to-spend-the-last-10-minutes-of-your-day
昨晚有睡飽嗎？如果你回答睡不飽，那你並不孤單。蓋洛普公司的調查顯示，我們今天遇到的所有人當中，估計近半數人都苦惱於某種程度的睡眠不足。
我們往往單純把早上的些微疲倦感當作小問題，不怎麼在意；然而事實是，睡眠不足會讓我們一整天心情低落，記憶力衰退，決策能力降低。睡眠不足造成注意力渙散，令人無法敏捷思考，且更容易陷入焦慮。(同個問題在凌晨 1 點似乎比起在黎明時分覺得棘手得多，有想過為什麼嗎？那是因為，大腦會在我們疲憊的時候增強恐懼感。) 帶著睏意上班，所有事務好像變得更困難，得花更多時間處理。一項研究指出，與酒醉狀態相比，睡眠不足狀態下的工作效率並沒有比較好。
這裡還要強調一下，不管多少分量的咖啡因，都無法完全抵銷睡眠不足的影響。沒錯，雙倍拿鐵確實可以讓腦子清醒一點，但是也會升高壓力等級，令人戰戰兢兢，削弱與他人互動的能力。咖啡也不利於創意思考。
身體需要簡單、平常的休息，才有辦法充分發揮機能。重點提醒：白日的精神飽滿，幾乎都可以歸功於前一夜的好眠。
大多數人早上不能賴床晚起，所以如果想要睡飽，只能提早就寢。可是人們又不想那麼早睡，這有二個原因：第一，我們白天太忙，只剩深夜時分能夠任意運用，於是寧願熬夜也不願錯過這段唯一的自由時間；第二，疲累會令人意志力薄弱，結果又更難督促自己早點睡。
關於如何提早就寢、睡眠更充足，以下提出幾點建議。
首先，定出想要上床睡覺的明確時間。一定要清楚說出幾點幾分。之所以很難達到「早點」睡的目標，原因出在自己並不曉得怎麼樣才算成功的「早點」睡。解決辦法是，先想好隔天早上必須幾點起床，再回推該上床睡覺的時間。盡量預留 8 小時的睡眠，也就是假如你希望早上 6:45 起床，那麼必須要求自己晚上 10:45 前就得躺在床上。
然後，請好好檢查自己到底如何運用下班後的時間。剛開始的一兩天，先不用做任何改變，只要把從你回家到上床睡覺這之間發生的事情記錄下來就好。或許你會發現到，其實大可不必刪掉那些你喜歡的、卻也令你晚睡的活動 (比方說 10:30 到 11:00 看電視)，該刪的反而是占用你較早時間、而且沒有生產力的活動 (例如 8:30 到 9:00 漫不經心地滑臉書)，這樣就可以提早開始做自己喜歡的事。
一旦確立具體的就寢時間目標，並且設法除掉浪費時間的雜事，接下來就把重心轉移到制定一個有助放鬆且讓你期待就寢的睡前儀式。時間來到晚上 11:00，原本預計該躺下睡覺，結果我們卻被其他事情吸引，像是硬要再看一段搞笑短片，或滑個手機瀏覽明天的新聞頭條，這就是阻礙我們準時睡覺的元凶。理性雖然清楚自己真的該睡了，感性卻還想流連忘返在別的東西上。
為了有效對付這種拖延睡覺時間的傾向，我們可以給自己制定一個愉快的睡前例行公事，讓你可以在執行這段儀式的過程中放鬆身心，並且從活動時間轉移到休息時間。安排這樣的過渡階段是很重要的。光有累的感覺，並不保證你能夠很快睡著，首先還是必須放鬆下來。但是，會讓某甲放鬆的事，說不定會讓某乙更有精神，所以底下我列出一些想法，希望可以幫助你找出適合自己的睡前儀式：
專家建議每晚就寢前，應該至少留給自己 30 分鐘的舒緩時間。或許你也可以設定鬧鐘，提醒自己舒緩時間到了，這樣一來就會自然成為生活的一部分。
無論選擇哪種方式運用睡前時間，都必須盡量避免負能量來擾亂。別跟伴侶提起敏感話題，甚至也別在睡前設定早上鬧鐘幾點響，這樣只會讓你想到明天的壓力。(你應該一起床就設好隔天早上的鬧鐘。)
最後，床邊可以放個筆記本和筆，如果想到明天的待辦事項，就草草寫在筆記本上，不要又滑開手機輸入。睡前如果忽然迸出什麼重要的想法，一樣比照辦理。寫下來以後，你會覺得總算可以輕鬆擱下此事了。
How much sleep did you get last night? If the answer is "not enough" you're hardly alone. According to Gallup's estimates, almost half the people you'll run into today are suffering from some level of sleep deprivation.
We often dismiss a little morning fatigue as an inconvenience, but here's the reality. Missing sleep worsens your mood, weakens your memory, and harms your decision-making all day long. It scatters your focus, prevents you from thinking flexibly, and makes you more susceptible to anxiety. (Ever wonder why problems seem so much more overwhelming at 1:00am than in the first light of day? It's because our brains amplify fear when we're tired.)When we arrive at work sleepy, everything feels harder and takes longer. According to one study, we are no more effective working sleep-deprived than we are when we're legally drunk.
It's worth noting that no amount of caffeine can fully compensate for lack of sleep. While a double latte can make you more alert, it also elevates your stress level and puts you on edge, damaging your ability to connect with others. Coffee can also constrain creative thinking.
To perform at our best, our bodies require rest—plain and simple. Which underscores an important point: on days when we flourish, the seed has almost always been planted the night before.
Since most of us can't sleep later in the morning than we currently do, the only option is to get to bed earlier. And yet we don't. Why? The reason is twofold. First, we're so busy during the day that the only time we have to ourselves is late in the evening – so we stay up late because it's our only downtime. Second, we have less willpower when we're tired, which makes it tougher to force ourselves into bed.
So, how do you get to bed earlier and get more sleep? Here are a few suggestions, based on goal-setting research.
Start by identifying an exact time when you want to be in bed. Be specific. Trying to go to bed "as early as possible" is hard to achieve because it doesn't give you a clear idea of what success looks like. Instead, think about when you need to get up in the morning and work backwards. Try to give yourself 8 hours, meaning that if you'd like to be up by 6:45am, aim to be under the covers no later than 10:45pm.
Next, do a nighttime audit of how you spend your time after work. For one or two evenings, don't try to change anything—simply log everything that happens from the moment you arrive home until you go to bed. What you may discover is that instead of eliminating activities that you enjoy and are keeping you up late (say, watching television between 10:30 and 11:00), you can start doing them earlier by cutting back on something unproductive that's eating up your time earlier on (like mindlessly scanning Facebook between 8:30 and 9:00).
Once you've established a specific bedtime goal and found ways of rooting out time-sinks, turn your attention to creating a pre-sleep ritual that helps you relax and look forward to going to bed. A major impediment to getting to sleep on time is that when 11:00pm rolls around, the prospect of lying in bed is not as appealing as squeezing in a quick sitcom or scanning tomorrow's newspaper headlines on your smartphone. Logically, we know we should be resting, but emotionally we'd prefer to be doing something else.
To counteract this preference, it's useful to create an enjoyable routine; one that both entices you to wind down and enables you to go from a period of activity to a period of rest. The transition is vital. Being tired simply does not guarantee falling asleep quickly. First you need to feel relaxed. But what relaxes one person can exasperate another. So I'll offer a menu of ideas to help you identify a bedtime ritual that's right for you:
Read something that makes you happy. Fiction, poetry, graphic novels. Whatever sustains your attention without much effort and puts you in a good mood. (Warning: Never read anything work-related in bed. Doing so will make it more difficult for you to associate your bed with a state of relaxation.)
Lower the temperature. Cooler temperatures help us fall asleep and make the prospect of lying under the covers more appealing. The National Sleep Foundation recommends keeping your thermostat between 60 and 67 degrees overnight.
Avoid blue light. Exposure to blue light – the kind emanating from our smartphones and computer screens – suppresses the body's production of melatonin, a hormone that makes us to feel sleepy. Studies show that reducing exposure to blue light, either by banishing screens before bedtime or by using blue light-blocking glasses, improves sleep quality.
Create a spa-like environment. Create a tranquil environment with minimal stimulation. Dim the lights, play soothing music, light a candle.
Handwrite a note. One of the most effective ways of boosting happiness is expressing gratitude. You can experience gratitude while writing a thank-you note to someone you care about, or privately, by listing a few of your day's highlights in a diary.
Meditate. Studies show that practicing mindfulness lowers stress and elevates mood.
Take a quiet walk. If the weather's right, an evening walk can be deeply relaxing.
Experts recommend giving yourself at least 30 minutes each night to wind down before attempting to sleep. You might also try setting an alarm on your smartphone letting you know when it's time to begin, so that the process becomes automatic.
However you choose to use the time before bed, do your best to keep this time free of negative energy. Avoid raising delicate topics with your spouse, and don't even set your morning alarm right before going to bed – it will just get your mind thinking about the stresses of the next day. (Instead, re-set your alarm for the following morning right when you wake up.)
And finally, keep a notepad and a light-up pen nearby. If you think of something you need to do the next day, jot it down instead of reaching for your smartphone. Do the same for any important thought that pops into your head as you are trying to fall asleep. Once you've written it down, you'll find it's a lot easier to let go.
作者：Ron Friedman
來源：https://hbr.org/2014/11/how-to-spend-the-last-10-minutes-of-your-day
昨晚有睡飽嗎？如果你回答睡不飽，那你並不孤單。蓋洛普公司的調查顯示，我們今天遇到的所有人當中，估計近半數人都苦惱於某種程度的睡眠不足。
我們往往單純把早上的些微疲倦感當作小問題，不怎麼在意；然而事實是，睡眠不足會讓我們一整天心情低落，記憶力衰退，決策能力降低。睡眠不足造成注意力渙散，令人無法敏捷思考，且更容易陷入焦慮。(同個問題在凌晨 1 點似乎比起在黎明時分覺得棘手得多，有想過為什麼嗎？那是因為，大腦會在我們疲憊的時候增強恐懼感。) 帶著睏意上班，所有事務好像變得更困難，得花更多時間處理。一項研究指出，與酒醉狀態相比，睡眠不足狀態下的工作效率並沒有比較好。
這裡還要強調一下，不管多少分量的咖啡因，都無法完全抵銷睡眠不足的影響。沒錯，雙倍拿鐵確實可以讓腦子清醒一點，但是也會升高壓力等級，令人戰戰兢兢，削弱與他人互動的能力。咖啡也不利於創意思考。
身體需要簡單、平常的休息，才有辦法充分發揮機能。重點提醒：白日的精神飽滿，幾乎都可以歸功於前一夜的好眠。
大多數人早上不能賴床晚起，所以如果想要睡飽，只能提早就寢。可是人們又不想那麼早睡，這有二個原因：第一，我們白天太忙，只剩深夜時分能夠任意運用，於是寧願熬夜也不願錯過這段唯一的自由時間；第二，疲累會令人意志力薄弱，結果又更難督促自己早點睡。
關於如何提早就寢、睡眠更充足，以下提出幾點建議。
首先，定出想要上床睡覺的明確時間。一定要清楚說出幾點幾分。之所以很難達到「早點」睡的目標，原因出在自己並不曉得怎麼樣才算成功的「早點」睡。解決辦法是，先想好隔天早上必須幾點起床，再回推該上床睡覺的時間。盡量預留 8 小時的睡眠，也就是假如你希望早上 6:45 起床，那麼必須要求自己晚上 10:45 前就得躺在床上。
然後，請好好檢查自己到底如何運用下班後的時間。剛開始的一兩天，先不用做任何改變，只要把從你回家到上床睡覺這之間發生的事情記錄下來就好。或許你會發現到，其實大可不必刪掉那些你喜歡的、卻也令你晚睡的活動 (比方說 10:30 到 11:00 看電視)，該刪的反而是占用你較早時間、而且沒有生產力的活動 (例如 8:30 到 9:00 漫不經心地滑臉書)，這樣就可以提早開始做自己喜歡的事。
一旦確立具體的就寢時間目標，並且設法除掉浪費時間的雜事，接下來就把重心轉移到制定一個有助放鬆且讓你期待就寢的睡前儀式。時間來到晚上 11:00，原本預計該躺下睡覺，結果我們卻被其他事情吸引，像是硬要再看一段搞笑短片，或滑個手機瀏覽明天的新聞頭條，這就是阻礙我們準時睡覺的元凶。理性雖然清楚自己真的該睡了，感性卻還想流連忘返在別的東西上。
為了有效對付這種拖延睡覺時間的傾向，我們可以給自己制定一個愉快的睡前例行公事，讓你可以在執行這段儀式的過程中放鬆身心，並且從活動時間轉移到休息時間。安排這樣的過渡階段是很重要的。光有累的感覺，並不保證你能夠很快睡著，首先還是必須放鬆下來。但是，會讓某甲放鬆的事，說不定會讓某乙更有精神，所以底下我列出一些想法，希望可以幫助你找出適合自己的睡前儀式：
- 閱讀可以帶來愉悅感的讀物：小說、詩集、漫畫等，只要是可以讓你專心閱讀，又不必花太多腦力，而且讀起來心情愉快的文本都行。(注意：千萬別在床上讀工作相關的東西，否則你會更難把床跟放鬆狀態聯想在一起。)
- 調降室溫：涼快的溫度可以助眠，也更引誘我們鑽進被窩裡。美國國家睡眠基金會 (National Sleep Foundations) 建議夜間溫度可調整為華氏 60 至 67 度 (約攝氏 16 至 19 度)。
- 拒絕藍光：智慧型手機和電腦螢幕會發出藍光，暴露於藍光將抑制人體生成可幫助睡眠的褪黑激素。研究顯示，透過睡前不看螢幕或者配戴濾藍光眼鏡兩種方式來減少藍光暴露，皆能改善睡眠品質。
- 營造宛如 SPA 的環境：打造一個寧靜的環境，把外界干擾降到最低。光線調暗，播放輕柔音樂，點支蠟燭。
- 感恩日記：表達感激，是增加幸福感最有效的方法之一，你可以寫下感恩小語給關心你的人，或是在個人日記裡列出幾則一天當中的喜樂片段。
- 靜坐：研究指出正念修行可減少壓力，提升心靈層次。
- 安靜散步：在天氣許可的情況下，不妨來個夜間散步，非常有助放鬆身心。
專家建議每晚就寢前，應該至少留給自己 30 分鐘的舒緩時間。或許你也可以設定鬧鐘，提醒自己舒緩時間到了，這樣一來就會自然成為生活的一部分。
無論選擇哪種方式運用睡前時間，都必須盡量避免負能量來擾亂。別跟伴侶提起敏感話題，甚至也別在睡前設定早上鬧鐘幾點響，這樣只會讓你想到明天的壓力。(你應該一起床就設好隔天早上的鬧鐘。)
最後，床邊可以放個筆記本和筆，如果想到明天的待辦事項，就草草寫在筆記本上，不要又滑開手機輸入。睡前如果忽然迸出什麼重要的想法，一樣比照辦理。寫下來以後，你會覺得總算可以輕鬆擱下此事了。
How much sleep did you get last night? If the answer is "not enough" you're hardly alone. According to Gallup's estimates, almost half the people you'll run into today are suffering from some level of sleep deprivation.
We often dismiss a little morning fatigue as an inconvenience, but here's the reality. Missing sleep worsens your mood, weakens your memory, and harms your decision-making all day long. It scatters your focus, prevents you from thinking flexibly, and makes you more susceptible to anxiety. (Ever wonder why problems seem so much more overwhelming at 1:00am than in the first light of day? It's because our brains amplify fear when we're tired.)When we arrive at work sleepy, everything feels harder and takes longer. According to one study, we are no more effective working sleep-deprived than we are when we're legally drunk.
It's worth noting that no amount of caffeine can fully compensate for lack of sleep. While a double latte can make you more alert, it also elevates your stress level and puts you on edge, damaging your ability to connect with others. Coffee can also constrain creative thinking.
To perform at our best, our bodies require rest—plain and simple. Which underscores an important point: on days when we flourish, the seed has almost always been planted the night before.
Since most of us can't sleep later in the morning than we currently do, the only option is to get to bed earlier. And yet we don't. Why? The reason is twofold. First, we're so busy during the day that the only time we have to ourselves is late in the evening – so we stay up late because it's our only downtime. Second, we have less willpower when we're tired, which makes it tougher to force ourselves into bed.
So, how do you get to bed earlier and get more sleep? Here are a few suggestions, based on goal-setting research.
Start by identifying an exact time when you want to be in bed. Be specific. Trying to go to bed "as early as possible" is hard to achieve because it doesn't give you a clear idea of what success looks like. Instead, think about when you need to get up in the morning and work backwards. Try to give yourself 8 hours, meaning that if you'd like to be up by 6:45am, aim to be under the covers no later than 10:45pm.
Next, do a nighttime audit of how you spend your time after work. For one or two evenings, don't try to change anything—simply log everything that happens from the moment you arrive home until you go to bed. What you may discover is that instead of eliminating activities that you enjoy and are keeping you up late (say, watching television between 10:30 and 11:00), you can start doing them earlier by cutting back on something unproductive that's eating up your time earlier on (like mindlessly scanning Facebook between 8:30 and 9:00).
Once you've established a specific bedtime goal and found ways of rooting out time-sinks, turn your attention to creating a pre-sleep ritual that helps you relax and look forward to going to bed. A major impediment to getting to sleep on time is that when 11:00pm rolls around, the prospect of lying in bed is not as appealing as squeezing in a quick sitcom or scanning tomorrow's newspaper headlines on your smartphone. Logically, we know we should be resting, but emotionally we'd prefer to be doing something else.
To counteract this preference, it's useful to create an enjoyable routine; one that both entices you to wind down and enables you to go from a period of activity to a period of rest. The transition is vital. Being tired simply does not guarantee falling asleep quickly. First you need to feel relaxed. But what relaxes one person can exasperate another. So I'll offer a menu of ideas to help you identify a bedtime ritual that's right for you:
Read something that makes you happy. Fiction, poetry, graphic novels. Whatever sustains your attention without much effort and puts you in a good mood. (Warning: Never read anything work-related in bed. Doing so will make it more difficult for you to associate your bed with a state of relaxation.)
Lower the temperature. Cooler temperatures help us fall asleep and make the prospect of lying under the covers more appealing. The National Sleep Foundation recommends keeping your thermostat between 60 and 67 degrees overnight.
Avoid blue light. Exposure to blue light – the kind emanating from our smartphones and computer screens – suppresses the body's production of melatonin, a hormone that makes us to feel sleepy. Studies show that reducing exposure to blue light, either by banishing screens before bedtime or by using blue light-blocking glasses, improves sleep quality.
Create a spa-like environment. Create a tranquil environment with minimal stimulation. Dim the lights, play soothing music, light a candle.
Handwrite a note. One of the most effective ways of boosting happiness is expressing gratitude. You can experience gratitude while writing a thank-you note to someone you care about, or privately, by listing a few of your day's highlights in a diary.
Meditate. Studies show that practicing mindfulness lowers stress and elevates mood.
Take a quiet walk. If the weather's right, an evening walk can be deeply relaxing.
Experts recommend giving yourself at least 30 minutes each night to wind down before attempting to sleep. You might also try setting an alarm on your smartphone letting you know when it's time to begin, so that the process becomes automatic.
However you choose to use the time before bed, do your best to keep this time free of negative energy. Avoid raising delicate topics with your spouse, and don't even set your morning alarm right before going to bed – it will just get your mind thinking about the stresses of the next day. (Instead, re-set your alarm for the following morning right when you wake up.)
And finally, keep a notepad and a light-up pen nearby. If you think of something you need to do the next day, jot it down instead of reaching for your smartphone. Do the same for any important thought that pops into your head as you are trying to fall asleep. Once you've written it down, you'll find it's a lot easier to let go.
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