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It's six o'clock in the morning, pitch black outside.
早上六点，外面一片漆黑，
My 14-year-old son is fast asleep in his bed, sleeping the reckless, deep sleep of a teenager.
我十四岁的儿子正在床上熟睡着，睡意正浓，这是少年特有的沉睡。
I flip on the light and physically shake the poor boy awake, because I know that, like ripping off a Band-Aid,
我打开了灯并摇醒了这可怜的孩子，因为我知道这就如同撕掉创可贴一样
it's better to get it over with quickly.
最好速战速决。
I have a friend who yells "Fire!" just to rouse her sleeping teen.
我有个朋友为了叫醒她处于青少年期的孩子不得不喊"着火了"
And another who got so fed up that she had to dump cold water on her son's head just to get him out of bed.
另一位更是无可奈何， 她直接把冷水浇到儿子的头上， 只为了让他起床
Sound brutal ... but perhaps familiar
听起来很残忍， 但是却如此熟悉
Every morning I ask myself,
每天早上我都会问自己：
"How can I -- knowing what I know and doing what I do for a living -- be doing this to my own son?"
“我怎么能... 无视我所知道的事实、 我赖以为生的技能， 但却如此的对待我自己的儿子？”
You see, I'm a sleep researcher.
你们知道的，我是一名睡眠研究员。
So I know far too much about sleep and the consequences of sleep loss.
我知道太多关于睡眠和睡眠不足的后果
I know that I'm depriving my son of the sleep he desperately needs as a rapidly growing teenager.
我知道我儿子正处于迅速成长的青少年期，而我却在剥夺他极其需要的睡眠。
I also know that by waking him up hours before his natural biological clock tells him he's ready,
我也知道 当他的生物钟叫他自然醒的几小时前，
I'm literally robbing him of his dreams -- the type of sleep most associated with learning, memory consolidation and emotional processing.
我实际上是在夺走他的梦想—— 这种与学习、记忆整合、情绪处理等能力密切相关的睡眠。
But it's not just my kid that's being deprived of sleep.
但不只是我的孩子被剥夺了睡眠
Sleep deprivation among American teenagers is an epidemic.
大多数美国青少年的睡眠都在被剥夺
Only about one in 10 gets the eight to 10 hours of sleep per night recommended by sleep scientists and pediatricians.
只有不到十分之一的孩子 平均每晚能睡八到十小时，这是睡眠科学家和 儿科医生推荐的睡眠时长。
Now, if you're thinking to yourself,
现在，想想你的情况
"Phew, we're doing good, my kid's getting eight hours," remember, eight hours is the minimum recommendation.
“哦，我们做得很好， 我的孩子可以睡八个小时。” 但是请记住， 八小时只是最低标准。
You're barely passing. Eight hours is kind of like getting a C on your report card.
你仅仅是及格， 八小时相当于你的报告得了个 C。
There are many factors contributing to this epidemic,
造成这种情况的因素有很多
but a major factor preventing teens from getting the sleep they need is actually a matter of public policy.
但剥夺青少年所需要的睡眠， 实际上是公共政策问题
Not hormones, social lives or Snapchat.
不是荷尔蒙、社交生活 或者 Snapchat (即时通讯工具)。
Across the country, many schools are starting around 7:30am or earlier,
全国各地，很多学校都在早上7:30 或者更早开始上课
despite the fact that major medical organizations recommend that middle and high school start no earlier than 8:30am.
尽管大型医疗机构建议，中学和高中不应早于上午8:30开课。
These early start policies have a direct effect on how much -- or really how little sleep American teenagers are getting.
学校过早要求上学直接影响了 美国青少年的睡眠时间有多“少”。
They're also pitting teenagers and their parents in a fundamentally unwinnable fight against their own bodies.
这导致青少年和他们的家长 不得不与他们的身体 做一场难以战胜的对抗。
Around the time of puberty, teenagers experience a delay in their biological clock, which determines when we feel most awake and when we feel most sleepy.
正处于青春期的孩子， 他们的生物钟会被扰乱—— 它决定着我们何时清醒、何时困倦。
This is driven in part by a shift in the release of the hormone melatonin.
这一部分是由于褪黑激素的释放 所引起的
Teenagers' bodies wait to start releasing melatonin until around 11pm, which is two hours later than what we see in adults or younger children.
青少年的身体一般在 晚上11点左右开始释放褪黑激素， 这比一个成年人 或是小孩子晚了近两小时。
This means that waking a teenager up at 6am is the biological equivalent of waking an adult up at 4am.
这意味着你在早上六点钟 叫醒一个青少年， 生理上等于说是在凌晨四点 叫醒一个成年人。
On the unfortunate days when I have to wake up at 4am, I'm a zombie. Functionally useless.
特别是在某些悲惨的时候， 我还不得不凌晨四点起床。 那我简直就像是个僵尸了。整个身体都是麻木的
I can't think straight, I'm irritable, and I probably shouldn't be driving a car.
我简直无法思考， 我会烦躁， 我可能连车都开不好。
But this is how many American teenagers feel every single school day.
但这就是每天上学的无数 美国青少年所要面对的
In fact, many of the, shall we say, unpleasant characteristics that we chalk up to being a teenager -- moodiness, irritability, laziness, depression -- could be a product of chronic sleep deprivation.
事实上，我们很多人都认为 青少年有很多不好的特质—— 像是情绪低落，烦躁， 慵懒，抑郁—— 这都是由于睡眠被长期剥夺 所造成的。
For many teens battling chronic sleep loss, their go-to strategy to compensate is consuming large quantities of caffeine in the form of venti frappuccinos, or energy drinks and shots.
对于很多青少年来说，为了对抗缺失的睡眠时间， 他们通过摄入大量的咖啡因， 比如说是大杯的星冰乐， 或者功能饮料。
So essentially, we've got an entire population of tired but wired youth.
所以基本上来说， 我们所有的年轻人都很疲惫， 但同时却又极度兴奋。
Advocates of sleep-friendly start times know that adolescence is a period of dramatic brain development,
支持需要更多睡眠时间的人们明白，青春期是大脑发育极其重要的一个时期，
particularly in the parts of the brain that are responsible for those higher order thinking processes, including reasoning, problem-solving and good judgment.
特别是大脑中那些负责更高层次思考的部分，包括推理能力，解决问题能力和良好的判断能力。
In other words, the very type of brain activity that's responsible for reining in those impulsive and often risky behaviors that are so characteristic of adolescence and that are so terrifying to us parents of teenagers.
换句话说，就是这些负责大脑活动的部分，它们能够抑制冲动及危险行为，这也是青春期的某些不良特征， 也是那些造成父母无比困扰的行为。
They know that like the rest of us, when teenagers don't get the sleep they need, their brains, their bodies and behaviors suffer with both immediate and lasting effects.
像我们一样，他们明白如果青少年得不到充足的睡眠， 他们的大脑、身体和行为都会受到立竿见影的影响。
They can't concentrate, their attention plummets and many will even show behavioral signs that mimic ADHD.
他们不能集中精力，注意力直线下降， 甚至一部分青少年出现了 注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD）
But the consequences of teen sleep loss go well beyond the classroom, sadly contributing to many of the mental health problems that skyrocket during adolescence, including substance use, depression and suicide.
而且青少年缺乏睡眠的不良后果 还远远不只是局限于学习上， 还可悲地促成了许多心理健康问题， 这些在青春期显得极为严重， 包括滥用药物， 抑郁和自杀。
In our work with teens from LA Unified School District, we found that teens with sleep problems were 55 percent more likely to have used alcohol in the past month.
根据我们对来自洛杉矶联合学区的 青少年做的研究显示， 那些睡眠不足的青少年中， 百分之五十五在过去一个月中 酗酒的现象更严重。
In another study with over 30,000 high school students, they found that for each hour of lost sleep, there was a 38 percent increase in feeling sad or hopeless, and a 58 percent increase in teen suicide attempts.
另一项对三万名高中生的研究显示， 每缺少一个小时的睡眠， 沮丧和忧伤的情绪 就会增长百分之三十八， 同时自杀倾向也增长百分之五十八。
And if that's not enough, teens who skip out on sleep are at increased risk for a host of physical health problems that plague our country, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
而这还没完， 那些缺乏睡眠的青少年 更有可能患上身体上的健康疾病， 这些疾病困扰着我们的国家，包括肥胖、心血管疾病和糖尿病。
Then there's the risk of putting a sleep-deprived teen, with a newly minted driver's license, behind the wheel.
这些所带来的威胁就像是 一个昏昏欲睡的青少年 拿着刚刚考出的驾照，开车上路一样。
Studies have shown that getting five hours or less of sleep per night is the equivalent of driving with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit.
研究显示每晚少于五小时的睡眠时间， 就和非法酒驾没什么区别。
Advocates of sleep-friendly start times, and researchers in this area, have produced tremendous science showing the tremendous benefits of later start times.
提倡更多睡眠时间的人， 以及这个领域的研究者们， 用大量的科学数据证明 学生应该晚点上课的巨大好处，
The findings are unequivocal, and as a sleep scientist, I rarely get to speak with that kind of certainty.
调查结果非常明确。 作为一位睡眠研究人员，我很少用如此肯定的态度发表演说。
Teens from districts with later start times get more sleep.
青少年应该晚些上课， 因为他们需要更多的睡眠时间。
To the naysayers who may think that if schools start later, teens will just stay up later, the truth is, their bedtimes stay the same, but their wake-up times get extended, resulting in more sleep.
对于那些反对者，也许他们会想 如果学校推迟上课时间， 青少年就会熬夜到更晚。 可事实告诉我们却是，他们睡觉时间并没有改变， 但是他们的起床时间晚了， 也就拥有了更多睡眠时间。
They're more likely to show up for school; school absences dropped by 25 percent in one district.
他们也更有可能去学校而非逃课； 缺席率至少降低了百分之二十五
And they're less likely to drop out.
他们退学率也降低了。
Not surprisingly, they do better academically.
不出意外，他们的成绩也提高了。
So this has real implications for reducing the achievement gap.
所以这对提高成绩也有好处。
Standardized test scores in math and reading go up by two to three percentage points.
数学及阅读的标准化测验显示，他们的得分提高了两到三个百分点
That's as powerful as reducing class sizes by one-third fewer students, or replacing a so-so teacher in the classroom with a truly outstanding one.
这简直比小班化教育或者换一个更优秀的老师带来的成果 还要显著。
Their mental and physical health improves, and even their families are happier.
他们不管是在心理 还是身体上都得到了提升， 甚至家庭都变得更和睦了。
I mean, who wouldn't enjoy a little more pleasantness from our teens, and a little less crankiness?
我的的意思是，谁不会喜欢 我们的孩子多一些健康快乐， 少一些偏执狂妄呢？
Even their communities are safer because car crash rates go down -- a 70 percent reduction in one district.
甚至他们的生活都变得更安全， 因为至少撞车率可以低一些—— 至少一个街区可以少百分之七十。
Given these tremendous benefits, you might think, well, this is a no-brainer, right?
有如此诸多的益处， 你或许会想， 这简直百利而无一害，不是吗？
So why have we as a society failed to heed this call?
那为什么我们的社会 没有响应这样的号召？
Often the argument against later start times goes something like this: "Why should we delay start times for teenagers?
往往那些反对推迟上课的声音会说: “为什么我们要推迟 青少年的上课时间呢？
We need to toughen them up so they're ready for the real world!"
我们应该好好锻炼他们，让他们 早点适应这个真实残酷的世界!”
But that's like saying to the parent of a two-year-old,
但这就等于一个两岁孩子的父母说
"Don't let Johnny nap, or he won't be ready for kindergarten."
“别让约翰尼午睡， 否则他怎么能适应幼儿园生活呢。”
Delaying start times also presents many logistical challenges.
推迟上课时间也要 面对很多后勤方面的挑战
Not just for students and their families, but for communities as a whole.
不只是学生和他们的家庭，也是涉及整个社会
Updating bus routes, increased transportation costs, impact on sports, care before or after school.
更新校车路线， 提高交通开销， 影响课余时间的 体育培训和托管。
These are the same concerns that come up in district after district, time and again around the country as school start times are debated.
这些需要考虑的因素 在全国各地讨论“推迟上课时间” 的时候 都会被提到。
And they're legitimate concerns, but these are problems we have to work through.
这在法律上也存在问题。但是这些是我们需要面对的问题
They are not valid excuses for failing to do the right thing for our children, which is to start middle and high schools no earlier than 8:30am.
它们不是 放弃为我们的孩子 做正确的事情的借口， 是要让初中和高中的 上课时间不早于八点半。
And in districts around the country, big and small, who have made this change,
每一个学区，到全国都是如此，不管大小城市，我们必须做出改变
they found that these fears are often unfounded and far outweighed by the tremendous benefits for student health and performance, and our collective public safety.
因为我们对于改革的恐惧，常常是没有道理的，远远没有学生的健康、 他们的表现， 和整个社会的公共安全来的重要。
So tomorrow morning, when coincidentally we get to set our clocks back by an hour and you get that delicious extra hour of sleep, and the day seems a little longer, and a little more full of hope, think about the tremendous power of sleep.
所以我多希望从明天早上起， 我们碰巧一不小心都把 自己的闹钟推迟了一小时， 我们多了一个小时甜美的睡眠， 我们的日子似乎长了一点， 多了一些希望， 想想睡眠能赐予我们的力量
And think about what a gift it would be for our children to be able to wake up naturally, in harmony with their own biology.
想想这会是一个我们能送给孩子的多好的礼物 ：让他们能被自己的生物钟 温柔地从睡梦中唤醒。
Thank you, and pleasant dreams.
谢谢大家， 祝大家好梦。
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