爲什麼睡過頭反而更疲倦?
We’ve all been there: It’s been a long week at work, so Friday night, you reward yourself by going to bed early and sleeping in. But when you wake up the next morning (or afternoon), light scathes your eyes, and your limbs feel like they’re filled with sand. Your brain is still lying down and you even have faint headache. If too little sleep is a problem, then why is extra sleep a terrible solution?
我們都有過這種體驗：辛勞工作了漫長的一週後，爲了好好犒勞自己，週五早早上牀，然後睡個自然醒。但是第二天一大早（或者一覺睡到下午）起牀的時候，只覺得陽光刺眼，四肢像灌了鉛一樣。大腦昏昏沉沉，甚至感覺頭部隱隱作痛。如果睡得太少是個問題的話，那麼爲什麼睡多了也那麼糟糕？
Oversleeping feels so much like a hangover that scientists call it sleep drunkenness. But, unlike the brute force neurological damage caused by alcohol, your misguided attempt to stock up on rest makes you feel sluggish by confusing the part of your brain that controls your body’s daily cycle.
睡過頭的感覺跟宿醉之後的感覺極爲相似，科學家們稱之爲“睡醉”。但是，與酒精對神經系統所造成的強烈損傷不同，睡過頭這種錯誤行徑所導致的身體行動遲緩，是由於控制身體日常循環的那部分大腦神經被混亂的作息混淆所導致的。
Your internal rhythms are set by your circadian pacemaker, a group of cells clustered in the hypothalamus, a primitive little part of the brain that also controls hunger, thirst, and sweat. Primarily triggered by light signals from your eye, the pacemaker figures out when it’s morning and sends out chemical messages keeping the rest of the cells in your body on the same clock.
身體的內部節奏是提前設定好的，會根據人體內在的生理起搏器、下丘腦部的一系列神經簇還有大腦控制飢餓、口渴和出汗的那一小部分基元來共同作出決定。在晝夜節律系統的生物鐘中，生理起搏器主要根據眼部所接收的光線來判斷清晨的時間，然後向身體的其他部分發送化學信號告知該時間。
Scientists believe that the pacemaker evolved to tell the cells in our bodies how to regulate their energy on a daily basis. When you sleep too much, you’re throwing off that biological clock, and it starts telling the cells a different story than what they’re actually experiencing, inducing a sense of fatigue. You might be crawling out of bed at 11am, but your cells started using their energy cycle at seven. This is similar to how jet lag works.
科學家們相信：進化後的生理起搏器會告知身體細胞，每日如何管理調節自身能量。如果你睡得過久，就會脫離正常的生物鐘，導致生理起搏器對身體細胞發出的訊號與以往實際體驗中的不同，包括對疲勞的感覺。你可能在早上11點才從牀上爬起來，但是你的身體細胞從早上7點就開始進行能量循環了。這與時差所導致的情況十分相似。
But oversleep isn’t just going to ruin your Saturday hike. If you’re oversleeping on the regular, you could be putting yourself at risk for diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Harvard’s massive Nurses Health Study found that people who slept 9 to 11 hours a night developed memory problems and were more likely to develop heart disease than people who slept a solid eight. (Undersleepers are at an even bigger risk). Other studies have linked oversleep to diabetes, obesity, and even early death.
但是睡過頭毀掉的可不僅僅是你週末的遠足計劃而已。如果你經常性的睡過頭，就有可能罹患糖尿病、心臟病還有肥胖症。哈佛的護士健康研究有大量數據顯示：一晚上睡9到11個小時的人，比起長期睡夠8小時的人，更有可能出現記憶力的問題和心臟疾病（睡得更少的人則會有更大的問題）。其他研究表明：睡過頭與糖尿病、肥胖症甚至早逝有所關聯。
Oversleep doesn’t just happen as a misguided attempt at rewarding yourself. The Harvard Nurses Study estimated that chronic oversleep affects about 4 percent of the population. These are generally people who work odd hours, have an uncomfortable sleep situation, or a sleeping disorder.
睡過頭可不僅僅是你犒勞自己的錯誤選擇。哈佛護士研究評估：長期睡過頭的人羣，佔到總人口比重的4%，通常出現在工作時間不規律的人羣中，這些人都有睡眠狀態不佳或者睡眠時間不規律的問題。
People who work early morning or overnight shifts might be oversleeping to compensate for waking up before the sun rises or going to sleep when it’s light out. Doctors recommend using dark curtains and artificial lights to straighten things out rather than medication or supplements. Apps like the University of Michigan’s Entrain can also help people reset their circadian clock by logging the amount and type of light they get throughout the day.
一大早就開始工作的人還有上夜班的人，可能會爲了天不亮就起牀或者睡得太遲而補覺。醫生建議：使用深色的窗簾和人造光源來修正該問題，效果會比使用藥物治療或者輔助手段更佳。像是密歇根大學所屬的娛樂公司出品的軟件，可以通過記錄一整天中光線的數量還有類型，幫助人們重置自己的生物鐘。
When you go to bed, your body cycles between different sleep stages. Your muscles, bones, and other tissues do their repair work during deep sleep, before you enter REM. However, if your bed or bedroom is uncomfortable—too hot or cold, messy, or lumpy—your body will spend more time in light, superficial sleep. Craving rest, you’ll sleep longer.
在你上牀睡覺時，你的身體循環會處於兩種不同的睡眠狀態中。肌肉、骨骼還有其他軟組織都會在深度睡眠時進行修復工作，而在快速眼動睡眠階段則不會。但是，如果你的牀鋪或者臥室不夠舒適——太熱、太冷或是凌亂不堪——你的身體會更多地處於輕度淺層睡眠狀態。由於對休息的需求，結果會導致你睡得更久一些。
If everything’s just fine with your sleep zone but you still can’t get under the eight hour mark, you might need to go see a doctor. It could be a symptom of narcolepsy, which makes it hard for your body to regulate fatigue and makes you sleep in more. Sleep apnea is a potentially more serious disorder where you stop breathing while you slumber. It’s typically caused by an obstructed airway, which leads to snoring. However, in a small number of sufferers, the brain simply stops telling the muscles to breathe, starving the brain and eventually forcing a gasping response. In addition to all the other terrifying aspects of this disease, it’s not doing your quality of sleep any favors.
如果你的睡眠區（牀鋪、臥室等）都沒什麼問題，但身體還是無法獲得8小時的睡眠標識，那麼你可能得去看醫生了，因爲這可能是嗜睡症的症狀：你的身體難以調節疲勞度，從而令你更容易睡過頭。睡眠窒息是一種潛在的嚴重失序，即在你睡眠時呼吸暫停。這種情況通常是由於氣管內有阻礙所導致的，並導致打鼾。但是，在一小部分患者中，大腦只是暫停向控制呼吸的肌肉發送信號，令大腦缺氧，並最終造成痙攣喘息的反應。這種疾病除了所有駭人聽聞的方面以外，對睡眠質量也有所損害。
No surprise, drugs and alcohol might also be causing you to sleep too much, as does being depressed (In fact, oversleep can contribute to even more depression). But no matter what’s causing it, too much sleep is not good for your long term health. Rather than kicking the can down the road, try getting some equilibrium between your weekend and weekday sleep.
毫無疑問，毒品和酒精可能也會造成你睡眠過量，就像造成抑鬱一樣（事實上，睡過頭所造成的後果甚至比抑鬱症要嚴重）。但是無論原因爲何，睡過頭對身體的長期健康都是沒什麼好處的。所以別再迴避問題了，趕緊讓你的周內與週末的睡眠時間平衡起來吧。
