课文内容

Vocabulary: sleep 词汇 : 睡眠

How much sleep do you need? Do you find that if you don't get enough shut-eye and wake up feeling dopey, you spend the rest of the day in a bad mood? I certainly need my eight hours a night and that's important according to research, because bad sleep isn't good for our health.

We all need a good night's rest to recharge our batteries, but according to the Sleep Council in the UK, the average Briton gets six-and-a-half hours sleep a night, which for most people is not enough. It's tempting to cut back on the sleep we get, after all there are plenty of other more fun or useful things to be doing. Sometimes the pressure of work or a long commute means that ourhead hits the pillow much later than it should. But lots of studies have shown that cutting backon sleep, deliberately or otherwise, can have a serious impact on our bodies.

Studies have proved that sleep deprivation has a negative effect on our bodies but it can also have an effect on our mental health. A BBC programme called Trust Me, I'm a Doctor ran an experiment with the University of Oxford and was surprised to discover how quickly the mood of the people they were testing changed when their sleep was restricted to four hours a night for just three nights. Doctoral student, Sarah Reeve, who ran the experiment, said: "There were increases in anxiety, depression and stress, also increases in paranoia and feelings of mistrust about other people".

This and other research into the mental health of students, has found that the lack of sleepincreases our negative emotions. I know that when I'm sleep deprived, it is harder to feel positive about things or even think straight! Daniel Freeman, professor of clinical psychology at Oxford University, agrees that insomnia is bad for our brain. He says: "We have more negative thoughts when we're sleep-deprived and we get stuck in them".

Bad sleep doesn't automatically mean you'll get mental health issues but other studies have shown that depriving people of enough sleep for only a few nights in a row can be enough to put healthy adults into a pre-diabetic state. So with all this evidence maybe we should concentrate on sleeping well. This means going to bed at a sensible time and creating the right environment in the bedroom to relax and sleep in. There's also the modern distraction of using smartphones and tablets at bedtime, tempting us to stay awake. The blue light emitted by electronic devices makes us feel less sleepy. And using them stimulates our brain when it should be winding down. What helps you get a good night's sleep?

词汇表

shut-eye 闭眼，睡眠

wake up 醒来

dopey 嗜睡的，迷迷糊糊的

recharge our batteries 恢复我们的体力

head hits the pillow 头挨枕头，睡觉

cut back 减少

sleep deprivation 睡眠不足

mental health 心理健康

anxiety 焦虑(症)

paranoia 多疑，妄想症

lack of sleep 缺觉

negative emotions 负面情绪

think straight 清楚地思考，思路清晰

insomnia 失眠(症)

pre-diabetic state 糖尿病前期状态

sleepy 困的，瞌睡的

stimulate 刺激

wind down 平静下来，放松

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