"Sleep. Those little slices of death. How I loathe them." Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49).
"睡眠。那些小小的死亡之片。我多么厌恶它们。" 埃德加-爱伦-坡（1809-49）。
Is sleep an absence of life, like Edgar suggested, or is it a complex behaviour with specific functions?
The latter seems more likely as humans spend about one third of their lives asleep.
睡眠是一种生命的缺失，就像埃德加所说的，还是一种具有特定功能的复杂行为？
后者似乎更有可能，因为人类一生中大约有三分之一的时间在睡觉。
These theories take the view that sleep is an adaptation that has evolved to fit in with the animal's ecology.
这些理论认为，睡眠是为了适应动物的生态环境而进化出来的一种适应。
Meddis (1979) suggested that sleep patterns depended upon the animals foraging and predator avoidance behaviours Meddis(1979)认为，睡眠模式取决于动物的觅食和躲避捕食者的行为:
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Type of animal 动物的类型: |
Sleep pattern 睡眠模式: |
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Grazing animals - often foraging, also at risk from predators. However, there are problems associated with these explanations for sleep 然而，这些对睡眠的解释也有问题。:
These theories state that sleep is necessary to restore biological processes in the body. 这些理论指出，睡眠对于恢复身体的生物过程是必要的。 The fact that a growth hormone is released during Stage 4 sleep supports this claim. 一种生长激素在第四阶段睡眠中释放的事实支持了这种说法。 Oswald (1980) suggested that the activity involved in REM sleep (paradoxical sleep) is required for brain restoration and Stage 4 sleep for body restoration. Horne's (1988) view partially agrees with Oswald's but he saw both REM and Stage 4 sleep as significant in brain restoration. This view is supported by evidence that heavy exercise (presumably leading to body exhaustion) does not lead to extra time spent asleep. Oswald（1980）提出，快速眼动睡眠（矛盾睡眠）所涉及的活动是大脑恢复所需要的，而第四阶段睡眠是身体恢复所需要的。Horne（1988）的观点部分同意Oswald的观点，但他认为快速眼动睡眠和第四阶段睡眠对大脑恢复都很重要。这一观点得到了证据的支持，即大量的运动（大概会导致身体疲惫）并不会导致额外的睡眠时间。 Sleep deprivation studies have been performed to work out what sleep does for us, although the results are inconclusive. 已经进行了剥夺睡眠的研究，以了解睡眠对我们的作用，尽管结果并不确定。 Problems such as impaired attention, confusion and delusions are associated with a loss of sleep (Hüber-Weidman, 1976), but these are not permanent. 注意力减退、混乱和妄想等问题与睡眠不足有关（Hüber-Weidman，1976），但这些都不是永久性的。 Research into physical harm due to a lack of sleep is limited to animal and case studies (due to ethical constraints of sleep deprivation in humans), which provide fairly weak evidence. 对睡眠不足造成的身体伤害的研究仅限于动物和案例研究（由于人类睡眠剥夺的伦理限制），这些研究提供的证据相当薄弱。
Much sleep deprivation research has focused on the restorative nature of REM sleep. 许多睡眠剥夺的研究都集中在快速眼动睡眠的恢复性上。 Unlike total sleep deprivation, REM sleep deprivation (or REM starvation) causes the sleeper to increase the frequency of REM sleep each night. This REM rebound effect suggests that REM sleep has an important function as sleepers try to catch up on what they have missed (Dement, 1960). 与完全剥夺睡眠不同，快速眼动睡眠剥夺（或快速眼动饥饿）会使睡眠者每晚增加快速眼动睡眠的频率。这种快速眼动睡眠的反弹效应表明，快速眼动睡眠具有重要的功能，因为睡眠者试图追赶他们所错过的东西（Dement, 1960）。 If REM sleep is necessary, what does it do? 如果快速眼动睡眠是必要的，它有什么作用？ Oswald's (1980) theory of brain restoration and growth is supported by the fact that REM sleep drops with age (infant's brains need more REM than adults) and increases with injury. Oswald（1980）的大脑恢复和成长理论得到了以下事实的支持：快速眼动睡眠随着年龄的增长而下降（婴儿的大脑比成人需要更多的快速眼动睡眠），并随着受伤而增加。 There are alternative theories to restoration. It is possible that the high level of brain activity during REM sleep serves to consolidate information learned during the day (Empson & Clarke, 1970). 还有其他的恢复理论。有可能是快速眼动睡眠期间高水平的大脑活动有助于巩固白天学到的信息（Empson & Clarke, 1970）。 ,最新推荐 |
