We need it to live.

我們需要睡眠才能生存。

And when we can't sleep, we're desperate for help.

而如果我們無法入睡，就會著急尋求協助。

But lately, our fascination with sleep feels as if it's taken on an urgency.

但最近，我們癡迷地想了解睡眠，好像這是一件很緊急的事。

Do a quick internet search for sleep and you'll find a slew of articles about how to make your sleep perfect.

去網路搜索一下睡眠，會有一堆關於如何睡得更好的文章。

New gadgets, fancy alarm clocks, stay away from blue light.

新的小裝置、花俏的鬧鐘、遠離藍光。

There are lots of services, products and advice columns that tell us we're sleeping wrong.

還有很多的服務、產品和建議專欄告訴我們睡錯了。

Not enough, not quality sleep, wrong position.

睡不夠、睡不好、姿勢錯誤。

Even worse, you might find scary messaging claiming that if you're not sleeping right your life is gonna be shorter, you're going to get all kinds of diseases.

更糟的是，你可能會發現一些很可怕的資訊說如果你沒睡好，你的壽命會減短、你會生一堆病。

One of the biggest worries we have about our sleep is that we're not getting enough,

我們對睡眠擔心對多的就是我們睡不夠，

and that anything less than seven hours a night means that we're doomed to bad health, everything from high blood pressure to Alzheimer's disease.

睡不夠七小時就代表我們身體不健康，會有從高血壓到阿茲海默症的病。

But there are two flaws with this kind of messaging.

但這種資訊有兩個缺陷。

The first flaw is that it's not completely accurate.

第一個是它不完全準確。

Seven to eight hours of sleep, while recommended for adults, is just an average.

建議成人的七到八小時睡眠只是一個平均。

And while messages have to be simplified for health communication to the public, sometimes important nuances get lost.

而且當這些健康資訊要簡化給大眾閱讀時，有些重要細節會因此不見。

So yes, it's true that not getting enough sleep in the long term, is associated with health problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression.

沒錯，如果長時間睡眠不足，那的確會導致一些健康問題，像心血管疾病、糖尿病、憂鬱症。

But fixating solely on seven to eight hours ignores the fact that there's a range of sleep that people need.

但固定七到八小時的睡眠忽略了一件事實，也就是人們需要的睡眠有一個範圍。

The duration of a good night's sleep can be different for different people.

不同人對於一夜好眠的所需時間不同。

Some adults need eight, but some are just fine on six.

有些成人需要八小時，但有些六小時就夠了。

The second flaw with this kind of doomsday messaging is that it can be counterproductive, especially for people who do have trouble sleeping.

第二個缺陷是這種讓人惶恐不安的資訊會帶來適得其反的效果，特別是對於那些真正有睡眠問題的人。

For instance, in 2019, it was estimated that 21 percent of adults in the US were wearing sleep tracking devices, and that number is probably growing.

舉例來說，在2019年，據估計在美國有21%的成年人會佩戴睡眠追蹤裝置，而該數字還在增長。

And I get it.

然後我懂了。

It's fascinating to see how much sleep you've gotten each night and to know what part of your night was spent in deep sleep or dreaming.

知道自己每晚睡多少和每晚各花多少時間在深層睡眠和做夢上很有意思。

But having all of that sleep data is causing some people to become obsessed with it,

但某些人會被那些數據纏住，

so much so that it's leading to a condition some call orthosomnia: a preoccupation with the constant need to achieve perfect sleep.

當過於糾結這件事就會導致完美睡眠主義症，一心想達到完美睡眠。

And this condition, ironically, is causing more sleep problems.

而諷刺的是，這導致了更多睡眠問題。

Now, orthosomnia might be an extreme example, but the anxiety of not getting enough sleep is keeping some of us up at night.

也許完美睡眠主義症是個極端的例子，但沒有睡夠的焦慮讓我們在夜晚無法入睡。

So here's what some experts are saying.

以下是一些專家的說法。

Stop fixating on the number, because that can lead to unrealistic expectations of sleep.

停止關注在數字上，因為那會導致對睡眠不切實際的期望。

According to Dr. Colleen Carney, a psychologist and the head of the Ryerson University Sleep Lab, the basic questions you should ask yourself are:

根據卡尼博士（Colleen Carney），一名心理學家和多倫多都會大學睡眠實驗室的主任，你應該問自己這些基本問題：

Do I feel reasonably well-rested during the day?

一天中覺得自己有好好休息到嗎？

Do I generally sleep through the night without disturbances?

我通常能在不受干擾的情況下睡整夜嗎？

Or, if I wake, do I fall back asleep easily?

或者如果醒來的話，能再次輕易入眠嗎？

Can I stay awake through the day without involuntarily falling asleep?

我能一整天保持清醒而不會不由自主睡著嗎？

If your answers are yes to all three, you probably don't need to worry about your sleep.

如果對以上三個的問題都是「是」的話，你就不需要擔心你的睡眠。

And if you're struggling with your sleep, instead of buying expensive blue light filters or fancy sleep trackers, try talking with your doctor to make sure there aren't any medical conditions that need to be explored first.

如果你在為睡眠苦苦掙扎，與其購買昂貴的藍光過濾器或花哨的睡眠追踪器，試著和你的醫生談談，確保沒有任何需要先被檢查的狀況。

Then try evidence-based recommendations laid out by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

然後試試美國睡眠醫學學會提出的有證據支持的建議。

What's really cool is that there's a highly effective therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I.

不過最酷的是有一個很有效的療法，叫做失眠認知行為治療，或 CBT-I。

It doesn't have any medications involved, and it has a really low failure rate.

沒有任何藥物介入，而且失敗率很低。