TED英語(yǔ)演講稿：我們?yōu)槭裁匆X(jué)

1、TED英語(yǔ)演講稿：我們?yōu)槭裁匆X(jué)簡(jiǎn)介：一生中，我們有三分之一的時(shí)間都在睡眠中度過(guò)。關(guān)于睡眠，你又了解多少?睡眠專家Russell Fster為我們解答為什么要睡覺(jué)，以及睡眠對(duì)健康的影響。What Id like t d tday is talk abut ne f my favrite subjects, and that is the neurscience f sleep.Nw, there is a sund - (Alarm clck) - aah, it wrked - a sund that is desperately, desperately familiar t mst f

2、 us, and f curse its the sund f the alarm clck. And what that truly ghastly, awful sund des is stp the single mst imprtant behaviral eperience that we have, and thats sleep. If yure an average srt f persn, 36 percent f yur life will be spent asleep, which means that if yu live t 90, then 32 years wi

3、ll have been spent entirely asleep.Nw what that 32 years is telling us is that sleep at sme level is imprtant. And yet, fr mst f us, we dnt give sleep a secnd thught. We thrw it away. We really just dnt think abut sleep. And s what Id like t d tday is change yur views, change yur ideas and yur thugh

4、ts abut sleep. And the jurney that I want t take yu n, we need t start by ging back in time.Enjy the hney-heavy dew f slumber. Any ideas wh said that? Shakespeares Julius Caesar. Yes, let me give yu a few mre qutes.gentle sleep, natures sft nurse, hw have I frighted thee? Shakespeare again, frm - I

5、wnt say it - the Scttish play. Crrectin: Henry IV, Part 2 (Laughter) Frm the same time: Sleep is the glden chain that ties health and ur bdies tgether. Etremely prphetic, by Thmas Dekker, anther Elizabethan dramatist.But if we jump frward 400 years, the tne abut sleep changes smewhat. This is frm Th

6、mas Edisn, frm the beginning f the 20th century. Sleep is a criminal waste f time and a heritage frm ur cave days. Bang. (Laughter) And if we als jump int the 1980s, sme f yu may remember that Margaret Thatcher was reprted t have said, Sleep is fr wimps. And f curse the infamus - what was his name?

7、- the infamus Grdn Gekk frm Wall Street said, Mney never sleeps.What d we d in the 20th century abut sleep? Well, f curse, we use Thmas Edisns light bulb t invade the night, and we ccupied the dark, and in the prcess f this ccupatin, weve treated sleep as an illness, almst. Weve treated it as an ene

8、my. At mst nw, I suppse, we tlerate the need fr sleep, and at wrst perhaps many f us think f sleep as an illness that needs sme srt f a cure. And ur ignrance abut sleep is really quite prfund.Why is it? Why d we abandn sleep in ur thughts? Well, its because yu dnt d anything much while yure asleep,

9、it seems. Yu dnt eat. Yu dnt drink. And yu dnt hast f us anyway. And s therefre its - Srry. Its a cmplete waste f time, right? Wrng. Actually, sleep is an incredibly imprtant part f ur bilgy, and neurscientists are beginning t eplain why its s very imprtant. S lets mve t the brain.Nw, here we have a

10、 brain. This is dnated by a scial scientist, and they said they didnt knw what it was, r indeed hw t use it, s - (Laughter) Srry. S I brrwed it. I dnt think they nticed. kay. (Laughter)The pint Im trying t make is that when yure asleep, this thing desnt shut dwn. In fact, sme areas f the brare activ

11、e during the sleep state than during the wake state. The ther thing thats really imprtant abut sleep is that it desnt arise frm a single structure within the brain, but is t sme etent a netwrk prperty, and if we flip the brain n its back - I lve this little bit f spinal crd here - this bit here is t

12、he hypthalamus, and right under there is a whle raft f interesting structures, nt least the bilgical clck. The bilgical clck tells us when its gd t be up, when its gd t be asleep, and what that structure des is interact with a whle raft f ther areas within the hypthalamus, the lateral hypthalamus, t

13、he ventrlateral preptic nuclei. All f thse cmbine, and they send prjectins dwn t the brain stem here. The brain stem then prjects frward and bathes the crte, this wnderfully wrinkly bit ver here, with neurtransmitters that keep us awake and essentially prvide us with ur cnsciusness. S sleep arises f

14、rm a whle raft f different interactins within the brain, and essentially, sleep is turned n and ff as a result f a range fkay. S where have we gt t? Weve said that sleep is cmplicated and it takes 32 years f ur life. But what I havent eplained is what sleep is abut. S why d we sleep? And it wnt surp

15、rise any f yu that, f curse, the scientists, we dnt have a cnsensus. There are dzens f different ideas abut why we sleep, and Im ging t utline three f thse.The first is srt f the restratin idea, and its smewhat intuitive. Essentially, all the stuff weve burned up during the day, we restre, we replac

16、e, we rebuild during the night. And indeed, as an eplanatin, it ges back t Aristtle, s thats, what, 2,300 years ag. Its gne in and ut f fashin. Its fashinable at the mment because whats been shwn is that within the brain, a whle raft f genes have been shwn t be turned n nly during sleep, and thse ge

17、nes are assciated with restratin and metablic pathways. S theres gd evidence fr the whle restratin hypthesis.What abut energy cnservatin? Again, perhaps intuitive. Yu essentially sleep t save calries. Nw, when yu d the sums, thugh, it desnt really pan ut. If yu cmpare an individual wh has slept at n

18、ight, r stayed awake and hasnt mved very much, the energy saving f sleeping is abut 110 calries a night. Nw, thats the equivalent f a ht dg bun. Nw, I wuld say that a ht dg bun is kind f a meager return fr such a cmplicated and demanding behavir as sleep. S Im less cnvinced by the energy cnservatin

19、idea.But the third idea Im quite attracted t, which is brain prcessing and memry cnslidatin. What we knw is that, if after yuve tried t learn a task, and yu sleep-deprive individuals, the ability t learn that task is smashed. Its really hugely attenuated. S sleep and memry cnslidatin is als very imp

20、rtant. Hwever, its nt just the laying dwn f memry and recalling it. Whats turned ut t be really eciting is that ur ability t cme up with nvel slutins t cmple prblems is hugely enhanced by a night f sleep. In fact, its been estimated t give us a threefld advantage. Sleeping at night enhances ur creat

21、ivity. And what seems t be ging n is that, in the brain, thse neural cnnectins that are imprtant, thse synaptic cnnectins that are imprtant, are linked and strengthened, while thse that are less imprtant tend t fade away and be less imprtant.kay. S weve had three eplanatins fr why we might sleep, an

22、d I think the imprtant thing t realize is that the details will vary, and its prbable we sleep fr multiple different reasns. But sleep is nt an indulgence. Its nt sme srt f thing that we can take n bard rather casually. I think that sleep was nce likened t an upgrade frm ecnmy t business class, yu k

23、nw, the equiavlent f. Its nt even an upgrade frm ecnmy t first class. The critical thing t realize is that if yu dnt sleep, yu dnt fly. Essentially, yu never get there, and whats etrardinary abut much f ur sciety these days is that we are desperately sleep-deprived.S lets nw lk at sleep deprivatin.

24、Huge sectrs f sciety are sleep-deprived, and lets lk at ur sleep-meter. S in the 1950s, gd data suggests that mst f us were getting arund abut eight hurs f sleep a night. Nwadays, we sleep ne and a half t tw hurs less every night, s were in the si-and-a-half-hurs-every-night league. Fr teenagers, it

25、s wrse, much wrse. They need nine hurs fr full brain perfrmance, and many f them, n a schl night, are nly getting five hurs f sleep. Its simply nt enugh. If we think abut ther sectrs f sciety, the aged, if yu are aged, then yur ability t sleep in a single blck is smewhat disrupted, and many sleep, a

26、gain, less than five hurs a night. Shift wrk. Shift wrk is etrardinary, perhaps 20 percent f the wrking ppulatin, and the bdy clck des nt shift t the demands f wrking at night. Its lcked nt the same light-dark cycle as the rest f us. S when the pr ld shift wrker is ging hme t try and sleep during th

27、e day, desperately tired, the bdy clck is saying, Wake up. This is the time t be awake. S the quality f sleep that yu get as a night shift wrker is usually very pr, again in that srt f five-hur regin. And then, f curse, tens f millins f peple suffer frm jet lag. S wh here has jet lag? Well, my gdnes

28、s gracius. Well, thank yu very much indeed fr nt falling asleep, because thats what yur brain is craving.ne f the things that the brain des is indulge in micr-sleeps, this invluntary falling asleep, and yu have essentially n cntrl ver it. Nw, micr-sleeps can be srt f smewhat embarrassing, but they c

29、an als be deadly. Its been estimated that 31 percent f drivers will fall asleep at the wheel at least nce in their life, and in the U.S., the statistics are pretty gd: 100,000 accidents n the freeway have been assciated with tiredness, lss f vigilance, and falling asleep. A hundred thusand a year. I

30、ts etrardinary. At anther level f terrr, we dip int the tragic accidents at Chernbyl and indeed the space shuttle Challenger, which was s tragically lst. And in the investigatins that fllwed thse disasters, pr judgment as a result f etended shift wrk and lss f vigilance and tiredness was attributed

31、t a big chunk f thse disasters.S when yure tired, and yu lack sleep, yu have pr memry, yu have pr creativity, yu have increased impulsiveness, and yu have verall pr judgment. But my friends, its s much wrse than that.(Laughter)If yu are a tired brain, the brain is craving things t wake it up. S drug

32、s, stimulants. Caffeine represents the stimulant f chice acrss much f the Western wrld. Much f the day is fueled by caffeine, and if yure a really naughty tired brain, nictine. And f curse, yure fueling the waking state with these stimulants, and then f curse it gets t 11 clck at night, and the brai

33、n says t itself, Ah, well actually, I need t be asleep fairly shrtly. What d we d abut that when Im feeling cmpletely wired? Well, f curse, yu then resrt t alchl. Nw alchl, shrt-term, yu knw, nce r twice, t use t mildly sedate yu, can be very useful. It can actually ease the sleep transitin. But wha

34、t yu must be s aware f is that alchl desnt prvide sleep, a bilgical mimic fr sleep. It sedates yu. S it actually harms sme f the neural prccessing thats ging n during memry cnslidatin and memry recall. S its a shrt-term acute measure, but fr gdness sake, dnt becme addicted t alchl as a way f getting

35、 t sleep every night.Anther cnnectin between lss f sleep is weight gain. If yu sleep arund abut five hurs r less every night, then yu have a 50 percent likelihd f being bese. Whats the cnnectin here? Well, sleep lss seems t give rise t the release f the hrmne ghrelin, the hunger hrmne. Ghrelin is re

36、leased. It gets t the brain. The brain says, I need carbhydrates, and what it des is seek ut carbhydrates and particularly sugars. S theres a link between tiredness and the metablic predispsitin fr weight gain.Stress. Tired peple are massively stressed. And ne f the things f stress, f curse, is lss

37、f memry, which is what I srt f just then had a little lapse f. But stress is s much mre. S if yure acutely stressed, nt a great prblem, but its sustained stress assciated with sleep lss thats the prblem. S sustained stress leads t suppressed immunity, and s tired peple tend t have higher rates f ver

38、all infectin, and theres sme very gd studies shwing that shift wrkers, fr eample, have higher rates f cancer. Increased levels f stress thrw glucse int the circulatin. Glucse becmes a dminant part f the vasculature and essentially yu becme glucse intlerant. Therefre, diabetes 2. Stress increases car

39、divascular disease as a result f raising bld pressure. S theres a whle raft f things assciated with sleep lss that are mre than just a mildly impaired brain, which is where I think mst peple think that sleep lss resides.S at this pint in the talk, this is a nice time t think, well, d yu think n the

40、whle Im getting enugh sleep? S a quick shw f hands. Wh feels that theyre getting enugh sleep here? h. Well, thats pretty impressive. Gd. Well talk mre abut that later, abut what are yust f us, f curse, ask the questin, Well, hw d I knw whether Im getting enugh sleep? Well, its nt rcket science. If y

41、u need an alarm clck t get yu ut f bed in the mrning, if yu are taking a lng time t get up, if yu need lts f stimulants, if yure grumpy, if yure irritable, if yure tld by yur wrk clleagues that yure lking tired and irritable, chances are yu are sleep-deprived. Listen t them. Listen t yurself.What d

42、yu d? Well - and this is slightly ffensive - sleep fr dummies: Make yur bedrm a haven fr sleep. The first critical thing is make it as dark as yu pssibly can, and als make l. Very imprtant. Actually, reduce yur amunt f light epsure at least half an hur befre yu g t bed. Light increases levels f aler

43、tness and will delay sleep. Whats the last thing that mst f us d befre we g t bed? We stand in a massively lit bathrm lking int the mirrr cleaning ur teeth. Its the wrst thing we can pssibly d befre we went t sleep. Turn ff thse mbile phnes. Turn ff thse cmputers. Turn ff all f thse things that are

44、als ging t ecite the brain. Try nt t drink caffeine t late in the day, ideally nt after lunch. Nw, weve set abut reducing light epsure befre yu g t bed, but light epsure in the mrning is very gd at setting the bilgical clck t the light-dark cycle. S seek ut mrning light. Basically, listen t yurself.

45、 Wind dwn. D thse srts f things that yu knw are ging t ease yu ff int the hney-heavy dew f slumber.kay. Thats sme facts. What abut sme myths?Teenagers are lazy. N. Pr things. They have a bilgical predispsitin t g t bed late and get up late, s give them a break.We need eight hurs f sleep a night. Tha

46、ts an average. Sme peple need mre. Sme peple need less. And what yu need t d is listen t yur bdy. D yu need that much r d yu need mre? Simple as that.ld peple need less sleep. Nt true. The sleep demands f the aged d nt g dwn. Essentially, sleep fragments and becmes less rbust, but sleep requirements

47、 d nt g dwn.And the furth myth is, early t bed, early t rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Well thats wrng at s many different levels. (Laughter) There is n, n evidence that getting up early and ging t bed early gives yu mre wealth at all. Theres n difference in sciecnmic status. In my eper

48、ience, the nly difference between mrning peple and evening peple is that thse peple that get up in the mrning early are just hrribly smug.(Laughter) (Applause)kay. S fr the last part, the last few minutes, what I want t d is change gears and talk abut sme really new, breaking areas f neurscience, wh

49、ich is the assciatin between mental health, mental illness and sleep disruptin. Weve knwn fr 130 years that in severe mental illness, there is always, always sleep disruptin, but its been largely ignred. In the 1970s, when peple started t think abut this again, they said, Yes, well, f curse yu have

50、sleep disruptin in schizphrenia because theyre n anti-psychtics. Its the anti-psychtics causing the sleep prblems, ignring the fact that fr a hundred years previusly, sleep disruptin had been reprted befre anti-psychtics.S whats ging n? Lts f grups, several grups are studying cnditins like depressin

51、, schizphrenia and biplar, and whats ging n in terms f sleep disruptin. We have a big study which we published last year n schizphrenia, and the data were quite etrardinary. In thse individuals with schizphrenia, much f the time, they were awake during the night phase and then they were asleep durin

52、g the day. ther grups shwed n 24-hur patterns whatsever. Their sleep was abslutely smashed. And sme had n ability t regulate their sleep by the light-dark cycle. They were getting up later and later and later and later each night. It was smashed.S whats ging n? And the really eciting news is that me

53、ntal illness and sleep are nt simply assciated but they are physically linked within the brain. The neural netwrks that predispse yu t nrmal sleep, give yu nrmal sleep, and thse that give yu nrmal mental health are verlapping. And whats the evidence fr that? Well, genes that have been shwn t be very

54、 imprtant in the generatin f nrmal sleep, when mutated, when changed, als predispse individuals t mental health prblems. And last year, we published a study which shwed that a gene thats been linked t schizphrenia, which, when mutated, als smashes the sleep. S we have evidence f a genuine mechanisti

55、c verlap between these tw imprtant systems.ther wrk flwed frm these studies. The first was that sleep disruptin actually precedes certain types f mental illness, and weve shwn that in thse yung individuals wh are at high risk f develping biplar disrder, they already have a sleep abnrmality prir t any clinical diagnsis f biplar. The ther bit f data was that sleep disruptin may actually eacerbate, make wrse the mental illness state. My clleagu