【04】失眠睡不着怎么办？

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What to do when you can't sleep
睡不着的时候怎么办？
Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语。我是尼尔。
Rob: And I'm Rob.
我是罗伯。
Neil: You look tired, Rob.
罗伯，你看起来很疲倦啊。
Rob: Well, I didn't sleep well last night. I was tossing and turning all night, but I couldn't get to sleep.
嗯，我昨晚没睡好。我整夜翻来覆去睡不着。
Neil: Well, that's a coincidence, as our topic today is insomnia - the condition some people suffer from when they find it difficult to get to sleep when they go to bed.
嗯，真是太巧了，因为我们今天的话题是失眠症——失眠症是指一些人上床睡觉时发现很难入睡时所经历的症状。
Rob: Thankfully I don't really have insomnia, but every now and again, I find it difficult to get to sleep.
谢天谢地，我还好不是真的患了失眠症，我只是时不时地很难入睡。
Neil: Well, keep listening and we might have some advice to help with that, but first, a question: What is the record for the longest a human has gone without sleep? Is it: A) about seven days? B) about nine days? Or C) about 11 days? What do you think, Rob?
嗯，继续听下去，我们可能会有一些建议来帮助你解决这个问题，但是首先，一个问题：人类不睡觉的最长时间纪录是多少？它是：A)大约7天？ B)大约九天？或 C)大约11天？罗伯，你怎么看？
Rob: All of those seem impossible! So I've got to go with the shortest - about seven days.

所有这些答案看起来都不可能！所以我选择最短的时间——大约7天。

Neil: Well, if you can stay awake long enough, I'll let you know at the end of the programme. Dr Michael Grandner is an expert in all things to do with sleep. He was interviewed recently on the BBC radio programme Business Daily. He was asked what his best tip was to help you get to sleep if you are finding it difficult. What was his suggestion?

嗯，如果你能保持清醒的时间足够长，我会在节目结束时告诉你答案的。迈克尔·格兰德纳博士是睡眠方面的专家。他最近接受了BBC广播节目《商业日报》的采访。有人问他：帮助觉得入睡困难的入睡的最佳建议是什么？他给了什么样的建议呢？

Dr Michael Grandner

迈克尔·格兰德纳博士

And it sounds counter-intuitive, but trust me I've got decades of data behind this statement: If you cannot sleep, get out of bed.

这听起来违反直觉和常理，但相信我，我有几十年的数据支持这个说法：如果你睡不着，那就起床吧。

Neil: So Rob, how does he suggest you help yourself to get to sleep?

罗伯，他建议你如何帮助自己入睡？

Rob: Well actually, he says that the best thing to do is to get out of bed!

呃，实际上他说最好的办法就是起床！

Neil: That sounds exactly the opposite of what you should do, doesn't it?

这听起来和你应该做的正好相反，不是吗？

Rob: Well, he does say that his advice is counter-intuitive, which means exactly that. That it is the opposite of what you might expect.

嗯，他说他的建议是有违直觉的，也就是说他的建议恰好与你的预期相反。

Neil: And he says that this advice is backed up by decades of research. A decade is a period of 10 years and when we say decades,it's a general term for many years, at least 20. Let's hear that advice again from Dr Grandner.

并且他说这个建议有几十年的研究做依据。“A decade”是指10年，当我们说decades（几十年）的时候，这一般是很多年、至少代表20年以上的统称。让我们再来听听格兰德纳博士的建议。

Dr Michael Grandner

迈克尔?格兰德纳博士

And it sounds counter-intuitive, but trust me I've got decades of data behind this statement: If you cannot sleep, get out of bed.

这听起来违反直觉和常理，但相信我，我有几十年的数据支持这个说法：如果你睡不着，那就起床吧。

Neil: So why is getting out of bed good advice? Here's the explanation from Dr Grandner.

那为什么起床是个好建议呢？下面是格兰德纳博士的解释。

Dr Michael Grandner
迈克尔?格兰德纳博士

When you're in bed and you're not asleep and you do that over, and over, and over again for extended periods of time, the ability of the bed to put you to sleep starts getting diluted. Not only that, it starts getting replaced by thinking, and tossing and turning, and worrying, and doing all these things. When you're not asleep, get out of bed. This is probably one of the most effective ways to prevent chronic insomnia. It's also one of the really effective ways to treat it. It won't work 100% of the time, but it will actually work more than most people think.

当你躺在床上睡不着，你一点又一点，一点又一点的延长醒着的时间，床让你入睡的能力开始减弱。不仅如此，仅仅是醒着的状态被思考、辗转反侧、担忧等所有这些状态取代。当你睡不着的时候，从床上起来。这可能是预防慢性失眠最有效的方法之一。这也是一种非常有效的治疗方法，这个方法不会一直100%有效，但实际上会比大多数人想象的更有效。

Neil: We normally sleep in beds. Beds are designed to make it easy to sleep, but if we can't sleep, that makes the bed's impact weaker. As Dr Grandner says, 'it dilutes the power of the bed to help us sleep'.

我们通常在床上睡觉，床就是为了让人更容易入睡而设计的，但如果我们睡不着那就会削弱床对于睡眠的影响。正如格兰德纳博士所说，“它削弱了床帮助我们入睡的力量。”

Rob: When you dilute something, you make it weaker. For example, you can dilute the strength of a strong fruit juice by adding water to it.

当你dilute（稀释、削弱、冲淡）某物时，你让之变得更弱。比如，你可以通过加水来稀释浓果汁的浓度。

Neil: So if we stay in bed, tossing and turning, which is the expression we use to describe moving around in the bed trying to get to sleep, we begin to think of the bed as place where we don't sleep rather than as a place where we do sleep. So, get out of bed to break the connection.

如果我们躺在床上辗转反侧（tossing and turning），这个表达是用来形容我们躺在床上翻来覆去设法想要入睡的状态，（当我们在床上辗转难眠时）我们就会开始认为床是我们不睡觉的地方，而不是我们睡觉的地方。所以，从床上起来，断开这种连接。

Rob: This he says is a positive way to approach chronic insomnia. Chronic is an adjective that is used to describe conditions that are long-lasting. So we're not talking here about occasionally not being able to get to sleep, but a condition where it happens every night.

他说这是治疗慢性失眠的积极方法。“Chronic”(慢性的)是一个形容词，用来描述长期持续的情况。所以我们这里说的不是偶尔睡不着，而是每晚都睡不着。
Neil: Let's hear Dr Grandner again.
我们再来听听格兰德纳博士的观点。
Dr Michael Grandner

迈克尔?格兰德纳博士

When you're in bed and you're not asleep and you do that over, and over, and over again for extended periods of time, the ability of the bed to put you to sleep starts getting diluted. Not only that, it starts getting replaced by thinking, and tossing and turning, and worrying, and doing all these things. When you're not asleep, get out of bed. This is probably one of the most effective ways to prevent chronic insomnia. It's also one of the really effective ways to treat it. It won't work 100% of the time, but it will actually work more than most people think.

当你躺在床上睡不着，你一点又一点，一点又一点的延长醒着的时间，床让你入睡的能力开始减弱。不仅如此，仅仅是醒着的状态被思考、辗转反侧、担忧等所有这些状态取代。当你睡不着的时候，从床上起来。这可能是预防慢性失眠最有效的方法之一。这也是一种非常有效的治疗方法，这个方法不会一直100%有效，但实际上会比大多数人想象的更有效。

Neil: Time to review today's vocabulary, but first, let's have the answer to the quiz question. What is the record for the longest a human has gone without sleep? Is it: A) about seven days? B) about nine days? C) about 11 days? What did you think, Rob?

是时候复习今天的词汇了，不过首先让我们来看看今天问题的答案。人类最长的不睡觉时间纪录是多少？它是：A)大约7天？ B) 大约九天？ C)大约11天？你觉得呢，罗伯？

Rob: I thought it must be about seven days.

我觉得答案必须是七天。

Neil: Well, I'm afraid you're not right. The answer, rather amazingly, is actually just over 11 days. Extra bonus points for anyone who knew that that was done in 1964 by someone called Randy Gardner.

恐怕你说得不对。令人惊讶的是，答案竟然是11天多一点。所有知道兰迪·加德纳在1964年做的事的人都可以得到额外的加分。

Rob: That's extraordinary. It's difficult to imagine even going a couple of days without sleep, but 11! I wonder how long he slept for after that!

那真的太不一般了。几天不睡觉就很难想象了，竟然有人有11天不睡觉！不知道他完成这项挑战后睡了多久。

Neil: 14 hours and 40 minutes.
睡了14小时40分钟。
Rob: You've got all the answers, haven't you?
你已经知道所有的答案了，不是吗？
Neil: Well when I can't sleep, I get up and read trivia! And now it's time for the vocabulary. Today our topic has been insomnia.

嗯，要是我睡不着，我可以起床读一些零碎的知识点。现在该回顾今天的词汇了。我们今天的话题是 insomnia（失眠症）。

Rob: This is the word for the condition of not being able to sleep. And something that people do when they are trying to sleep is toss and turn in bed.

这个词用来形容失眠的状态。当大家睡不着时，可能会做的事是在床上辗转反侧（toss and turn）。

Neil: The opposite of what seems logical or obvious is counter-intuitive. It goes against what you might expect. So if you can't sleep, get out of bed.

与看起来合乎逻辑或显而易见的相反的是反直觉的。这可能与你的期望恰恰相反。所以如果你睡不着，就起床。

Rob: Our next word is diluted. This is from the verb to dilute which means 'to make something less strong'.

下一个词是diluted（稀释的、无力的）。这个词来自动词dilute，意思是“使某物变弱”。

Neil: And finally there was the adjective chronic. This is an expression for a medical condition that is long-lasting. So someone who has chronic insomnia regularly has difficulty getting enough sleep. It's not just something that happens now and again.

最后一个是形容词chronic（慢性的；长期的；习惯性的）。这是用来描述长期存在的疾病的表达。因此，长期失眠的人很难获得足够的睡眠。这不只是偶尔发生的事情。

Rob: Well, we hope that 6 Minute English isn't a cure for insomnia, but I do find listening to podcasts and spoken radio helps me get to sleep.

嗯，我们希望六分钟英语不会让你们睡着了（成为治愈失眠症的良药），但是我确实发现听播客和口语广播能帮助我入睡。

Neil: Well, before we all drop off to sleep from the comforting tone of your voice, Rob, it's time for us to say goodbye. That's it for this programme. For more, find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our Youtube pages, and of course our website: bbclearningenglish.com, where you can find all kinds of other programmes and videos and activities to help you improve your English. Thank you for joining us, and goodbye.

罗伯，在我因你抚慰人心的语气入睡之前，我们该说再见了，以上就是本期节目的全部内容。想了解更多，请登录我们的Facebook、Twitter、Instagram和Youtube页面，当然还有我们的网站:bbclearningenglish.com，在那里你可以找到各种各样的节目、视频和活动，帮助你提高英语水平。