Now try doing that for 18 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes straight.

現在試著連續做 18 天 21 小時 40 分鐘。

That is the current world record for the longest amount of time without sleeping.

這是目前最長時間不睡覺的世界紀錄。

And no one should be trying to break that record.

沒有人應該試圖打破這一紀錄。

For one thing, the Guinness Book of World Records removed it as a category back in 1997, so you wouldn't even get a fun title for all your unpleasant efforts.

首先，《金氏世界紀錄大全》早在 1997 年就取消了它的類別，所以你甚至無法為你所有不愉快的努力獲得一個有趣的稱號。

And for another, you could die.

另外，你可能會死。

But you might be surprised to hear how sleep deprivation actually kills you.

但是，你可能會驚訝地發現，睡眠不足實際上會殺死你。

Because research suggests it's not something going on in your brain, but a whole other organ entirely.

因為研究表明，這不是大腦的問題，而完全是另一個器官的問題。

INTRO

導言

Sleep is amazing.

睡眠是神奇的。

Who doesn't love one extra snooze?

誰不喜歡多打個盹呢？

But sleep isn't just enjoyable, it's beneficial for our bodies.

但睡眠不僅僅是一種享受，它還對我們的身體有益。

While we sleep, our brain is doing all sorts of things.

睡眠時，我們的大腦在做各種各樣的事情。

Some we're aware of, like dreaming, but there's also a lot going on behind the scenes.

有些我們知道，比如做夢，但也有很多幕後的事情。

Sleep makes new neural connections, which helps us learn and store our precious memories.

睡眠會產生新的神經連接，幫助我們學習和存儲珍貴的記憶。

It can also help our brains heal after an injury.

它還能幫助我們的大腦在受傷後痊癒。

Plus, our brains have a third-shift cleanup crew.

另外，我們的大腦還有一個三班倒的清理小組。

It's called the glymphatic system, and it takes out the molecular trash that our central nervous system produces over the course of the day.

這就是所謂的 "腎上腺系統"，它能清除中樞神經系統在一天中產生的分子垃圾。

But it's not just our minds that benefit.

但受益的不僅僅是我們的大腦。

Sleep also helps bolster our immune system, regulate hormones, build muscle, and promote healthy skin.

睡眠還有助於增強我們的免疫系統、調節荷爾蒙、鍛鍊肌肉和促進皮膚健康。

They don't call it beauty sleep for nothing, folks.

朋友們，美容覺可不是白叫的。

Now, if you're like me, you've experienced a bit of brain fog, an inability to concentrate, or a tendency to get distracted after a terrible night's sleep.

現在，如果你和我一樣，在一夜糟糕的睡眠之後，你會感到大腦有點迷糊，無法集中注意力，或者容易分心。

So it's no surprise that losing even a bit of sleep, let alone 18 whole nights of sleep, can mess with our cognitive abilities.

失去一點睡眠都會影響我們的認知能力，更不用說整整 18 晚的睡眠了。

In fact, studies have shown that a single sleepless night can impair us so much that we appear drunk.

事實上，研究表明，一個不眠之夜就會使我們的身體受損，以至於出現醉酒的症狀。

But many of us likely experience sleep deprivation in smaller, more frequent doses.

但是，我們中的許多人可能會經歷更小劑量、更頻繁的睡眠不足。

You might not pull a bunch of all-nighters, but you might have a lot of nights where you only get a few hours of sleep.

你可能不會通宵達旦，但你可能會有很多個晚上只睡幾個小時。

And while it's easy to brush this off as the normal rise-and-grind way of life these days, this kind of long-term, chronic sleep deprivation can have serious health effects that go way beyond our brains.

雖然我們很容易將其視為如今正常的起居生活方式，但這種長期、慢性的睡眠不足對健康的影響遠遠超出了我們的大腦。

Poor sleep is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, mental health disorders like depression, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

睡眠不足會增加罹患心血管疾病、肥胖症、抑鬱症等精神疾病以及阿爾茨海默氏症等神經退行性疾病的風險。

And chronic sleep deprivation can kill you.

而長期睡眠不足會要了你的命。

But what exactly causes it?

但究竟是什麼原因導致了這種情況呢？

Well, I certainly have no intention of volunteering for any kind of study that could find out, and I'd wager that most other people feel the same way.

好吧，我當然不打算自願參加任何可能發現問題的研究，而且我敢打賭，大多數其他人也是這麼想的。

So naturally, scientists turned to animal models.

於是，科學家們自然而然地轉向了動物模型。

The first formal studies to show the fatal effects of sleep deprivation were done back in the 1890s, and their methods were a bit questionable by today's standards of animal research ethics.

早在 19 世紀 90 年代，就有研究表明睡眠不足會產生致命影響，而按照今天的動物研究倫理標準，這些研究的方法有些值得商榷。

And by questionable, I mean one trio of studies prevented puppies from sleeping.

我說的 "有問題 "是指有三項研究讓小狗無法入睡。

And a sleeping puppy is one of the most adorable things you could ever see.

熟睡的小狗是你能看到的最可愛的東西之一。

Not cool, scientists!

這可不好，科學家們！

These puppies started to die within just a few days, but not before they developed some significant brain abnormalities.

這些小狗在短短几天內就開始死亡，但在此之前，它們的大腦出現了一些明顯的異常。

To add insult to injury, these studies weren't even super useful to science, because it was impossible to tease apart whether it was the lack of sleep that caused their deaths, or the fact that the puppies were constantly being stressed out in order to be kept awake.

雪上加霜的是，這些研究對科學甚至沒有什麼用處，因為根本無法釐清是睡眠不足導致了它們的死亡，還是小狗們為了保持清醒而不斷承受壓力。

But these studies did cement two ideas.

但這些研究確實鞏固了兩個觀點。

One, that sleep deprivation can kill you, and two, that sleep deprivation primarily damages the brain.

第一，睡眠不足會致命；第二，睡眠不足主要損害大腦。

But it turns out only one of those has stood the test of time.

但事實證明，其中只有一個經受住了時間的考驗。

It just took almost a whole century for more scientists to come along and tease apart stress and lack of sleep.

只是幾乎過了整整一個世紀，才有更多的科學家將壓力和睡眠不足區分開來。

In 1989, researchers at the University of Chicago turned to rats.

1989 年，芝加哥大學的研究人員開始研究老鼠。

In the team's experiments, they paired up rats.

在研究小組的實驗中，他們將老鼠配對。

One rat wouldn't be allowed to sleep, and the other was the control.

一隻老鼠不能睡覺，另一隻老鼠是對照組。

The two rats were placed together on a turntable over a container of water.

兩隻大鼠被一起放在水容器上方的轉盤上。

Any time the sleep-deprived rat dozed off, the table would spin and the rats had to move, or else be scooted into the water.

只要睡眠不足的老鼠一打瞌睡，桌子就會旋轉起來，老鼠就必須移動，否則就會被推入水中。

A surefire way to wake up, whichever happened.

無論發生了什麼事，都能讓人一覺醒來。

Meanwhile, the control rat could sleep whenever it wanted, so long as its partner was awake.

與此同時，對照組大鼠想睡就睡，只要它的夥伴醒著。

This meant that both rats experienced an equal number of stressful events, but the control rat was able to get way more sleep.

這意味著兩隻大鼠經歷的壓力事件數量相同，但對照組大鼠的睡眠時間要長得多。

In fact, it got about 70% of the sleep that it normally would, which I would still count as sleep deprivation.

事實上，它的睡眠時間只有正常情況下的 70%，但我仍然認為這屬於睡眠不足。

But it is way more than what the other rat got, about 9% of its normal sleep.

但它比另一隻老鼠的睡眠時間多得多，大約是正常睡眠時間的 9%。

So the big pro of this study was that the researchers could separate out the sources of stress that produced the sleep deprivation from the actual effects of the sleep deprivation itself.

這項研究的最大優勢在於，研究人員可以將導致睡眠不足的壓力來源與睡眠不足本身的實際影響區分開來。

Yeah, many of their rats definitely died of sleep deprivation.

是的，他們的許多老鼠肯定是死於睡眠不足。

But the researchers didn't really notice any major physiological differences between the rats of each pair that could explain why.

但是，研究人員並沒有注意到每對大鼠之間存在任何重大的生理差異，這也無法解釋為什麼會出現這種情況。

They didn't even check their brains, because none of their previous studies had shown any effect of this sleep deprivation protocol on the brain.

他們甚至沒有檢查他們的大腦，因為之前的研究都沒有顯示這種剝奪睡眠的方案對大腦有任何影響。

Thanks to Skillshare for supporting this SciShow video.

感謝 Skillshare 支持本 SciShow 影片。

Skillshare is the largest online learning community for creatives, with thousands of classes led by industry experts in crafts, baking, business, film, or productivity.

Skillshare 是最大的創意人士在線學習社區，由手工藝、烘焙、商業、電影或生產力方面的行業專家主持數千門課程。

Skillshare can help you take your career and passions to the next level.

Skillshare 可以幫助您將自己的事業和激情提升到一個新的水準。

Since you're here on YouTube, you might check out Lilly Singh's Skillshare class on Social Media Success, Video Storytelling on YouTube and beyond.

既然你在 YouTube 上，不妨看看 Lilly Singh 的 Skillshare 課程：社交媒體的成功、YouTube 上的影片故事及其他。

You can learn how she generates ideas and set your own goals for success on the platform.

您可以瞭解她是如何產生創意的，並在平臺上設定自己的成功目標。

She also shows you how to take those ideas and goals and turn them into reality through quick lessons on shooting, editing, and channel growth.

她還會通過拍攝、剪輯和管道發展方面的快速課程，告訴你如何將這些想法和目標變為現實。

Skillshare is curated specifically for learning, meaning there are no ads, and they're always launching new premium classes.

Skillshare 是專門為學習而策劃的，這意味著沒有廣告，而且他們一直在推出新的高級課程。

With Skillshare, you can join classes and communities with support from fellow creatives to accomplish real growth.

有了 Skillshare，你可以參加各種課程和社區，並得到其他創作者的支持，從而實現真正的成長。

And the first 500 people to click the link in the description will get a one-month free trial of Skillshare.

點擊描述中鏈接的前 500 名用戶將獲得一個月的 Skillshare 免費試用期。

By the end of this wave of animal experiments, a lot of sleep had been lost.

在這一波動物實驗結束時，人們已經失去了很多睡眠。

But scientists weren't much closer to figuring out how a lack of sleep can kill you.

但是，科學家們並沒有更接近於弄清睡眠不足是如何導致死亡的。

But eventually, a hot new research organism entered the scene.

但最終，一種炙手可熱的新研究生物出現了。

You know them, and you probably don't love them.

你認識他們，但你可能並不愛他們。

The fruit fly.

果蠅

Now, in case you didn't know, fruit flies are the workhorses of a lot of scientific research.

如果你不知道，果蠅是很多科學研究的主力軍。

They're super useful because you can grow so many of them so quickly.

它們非常有用，因為你可以很快種出這麼多。

They reach reproductive age in under two weeks, and can lay hundreds of eggs each time they reproduce, making it easy to have thousands of flies in a relatively short time.

它們在兩週內就能達到繁殖年齡，每次繁殖都能產下數百顆卵，所以很容易在相對較短的時間內繁殖出數千只蒼蠅。

In your house, that's a terrible situation.

在你家，這種情況很糟糕。

But in your research lab, it's awesome.

但在你的研究實驗室裡，這就太棒了。

But that's not all.

但這還不是全部。

As different as fruit flies seem from us, we actually have a lot in common, at least genetically speaking.

雖然果蠅看起來與我們不同，但實際上我們有很多共同點，至少在基因上是如此。

Around 60% of human genes have a corresponding gene, called an ortholog, in fruit flies.

大約 60% 的人類基因在果蠅中都有相應的基因，稱為同源基因。

You can think of orthologs a bit like Microsoft Word versus Apple Pages.

你可以把同源物想象成微軟 Word 和蘋果 Pages 的對比。

The apps use different code to work on two different operating systems, but the functions are pretty similar.

這些應用程序使用不同的代碼在兩個不同的作業系統上運行，但功能非常相似。

And over the years, scientists have gotten really good at playing programmer and modifying these fruit fly orthologs to observe what happens, and then infer how human genes work.

多年來，科學家們已經非常擅長扮演程序員，修改這些果蠅同源物來觀察發生了什麼，然後推斷人類基因是如何工作的。

In this case, scientists at Harvard Medical School were able to use gene editing to keep flies awake forever.

在這種情況下，哈佛大學醫學院的科學家能夠利用基因編輯技術讓蒼蠅永遠保持清醒。

The flies in question had modifications to their neurons, so they'd respond differently depending on the temperature.

這些蒼蠅的神經元發生了改變，它們會根據溫度的不同做出不同的反應。

If it was at least 29 degrees Celsius, some neurons that suppress sleep would stay active, meaning the flies couldn't fall asleep.

如果溫度至少達到 29 攝氏度，一些抑制睡眠的神經元就會保持活躍，這意味著蒼蠅無法入睡。

Now, for anyone thinking, I couldn't sleep at that temperature either, it's worth noting that the temperature itself was not a stressor here.

現在，有人會想，我在那樣的溫度下也睡不著，但值得注意的是，溫度本身並不是壓力因素。

It's a bit warm for what the flies are normally grown at, but not drastically high.

對於蒼蠅的正常生長來說，溫度有點高，但也不是很高。

And of course, they also raised control flies at the same temperature, to show that what was killing the flies was the sleep deprivation, and not the thing causing the sleep deprivation.

當然，他們還在相同的溫度下飼養了對照組蒼蠅，以證明殺死蒼蠅的是睡眠不足，而不是導致睡眠不足的原因。

So what happened with all these sleepless flies?

這些不眠不休的蒼蠅是怎麼回事？

Well, as you may have guessed, they didn't fare so well.

也許你已經猜到了，他們的表現並不理想。

A normal fly survives at 29 degrees for about 40 days.

正常蒼蠅在 29 度的環境中能存活 40 天左右。

Without the ability to sleep, these genetically modified dudes started dying at 10 days.

由於無法入睡，這些轉基因帥哥在 10 天后就開始死亡。

And none survived past 20 days.

沒有一個人活過 20 天。

But if the researchers let the temperature drop below 29 degrees, and the flies were finally allowed to start sleeping on day 10, they could basically make a full recovery.

但是，如果研究人員讓溫度降到 29 度以下，最終讓蒼蠅在第 10 天開始睡覺，它們基本上就能完全恢復。

That recovery took another 15 days, which is a very significant proportion of a 40-day lifespan, but it was absolutely necessary.

恢復又花了 15 天，這在 40 天的壽命中佔了很大比例，但這是絕對必要的。

If the sleep-deprived flies were allowed only a few days of sleep, and then were sleep-deprived again, they'd quickly start dying.

如果只讓睡眠不足的蒼蠅睡幾天，然後再讓它們睡眠不足，它們很快就會開始死亡。

So something was being seriously damaged in a way that required a lot of time to recover.

有些東西受到了嚴重破壞，需要大量時間來恢復。

And that brings us back to the question of the day.

這又回到了今天的問題。

If it's not the brain that causes sleep-deprived death, what organ is it?

如果導致睡眠不足死亡的不是大腦，那是什麼器官？

It turns out, at least for fruit flies, it's the gut.

事實證明，至少對果蠅來說，是腸道。

More specifically, it's the buildup of something in the gut called reactive oxygen species, or ROS.

更具體地說，它是腸道中一種叫做活性氧（ROS）的物質的積累。

And as the name suggests, ROS are oxygen-containing molecules that are highly reactive.

顧名思義，ROS 是具有高度活性的含氧分子。

In other words, they cause damage to other molecules, and you really don't want them to get too carried away with that.

換句話說，它們會對其他分子造成損害，你真的不希望它們在這方面太得意忘形。

But as scary as that might sound, it's perfectly normal to have them inside of you.

雖然聽起來很可怕，但它們在你體內是非常正常的。

ROS are created by our body all the time, as our cells and the bits inside them do what they need to do to keep us alive.

當我們的細胞和細胞內的物質在做它們需要做的事情以維持我們的生命時，我們的身體會一直產生 ROS。

Our cells typically have a way of taking out the proverbial trash so that these molecules can't cause too much damage.

我們的細胞通常有辦法清除眾所周知的垃圾，這樣這些分子就不會造成太大傷害。

But an overproduction of ROS can wreak havoc on cells, causing damage to DNA, proteins, lipids, all the important stuff.

但過量產生的 ROS 會對細胞造成嚴重破壞，導致 DNA、蛋白質、脂質等所有重要物質受損。

And when this research team was searching the tissues of their sleep-deprived fruit flies for biological side effects, they found a huge buildup of ROS in the gut.

當研究小組在睡眠不足的果蠅組織中尋找生物副作用時，他們發現腸道中的 ROS 大量積聚。

Not the brain, and not the muscles, just the gut.

不是大腦，也不是肌肉，只是內臟。

But at this point, that finding was just correlational.

但目前來看，這一發現只是相關性的。

So they wanted to see if the ROS was actually the cause of death.

他們想看看 ROS 是否真的是死亡的原因。

The team needed to find a way to reduce the amount of ROS, while maintaining the lack of sleep.

研究小組需要找到一種既能減少 ROS 數量，又能保持睡眠不足的方法。

So they turned to a class of compounds famous for their ability to tame them, antioxidants.

於是，他們轉向了一類因能夠馴服它們而聞名的化合物--抗氧化劑。

You've probably heard about antioxidants as a nutrition buzzword, because some research has tied them to various benefits that marketing teams can really blow out of proportion, from anti-aging to anti-cancer.

您可能聽說過抗氧化劑這個營養學流行詞，因為一些研究已經把抗氧化劑與各種好處聯繫在一起，而這些好處被營銷團隊吹得天花亂墜，從抗衰老到抗癌，不一而足。

But all the hype aside, antioxidants do bind to and neutralize ROS to protect cells from the otherwise damaging effects that can lead to problems down the road.

不過，撇開所有的炒作不談，抗氧化劑確實能與 ROS 結合並中和 ROS，從而保護細胞免受破壞性影響，否則就會導致問題的出現。

And in this fruit fly study, the researchers found that a diet of certain antioxidants could restore a sleep-deprived fly's full lifespan, even if it never slept again.

而在這項果蠅研究中，研究人員發現，攝入某些抗氧化劑可以讓睡眠不足的果蠅恢復全部壽命，即使它再也不睡覺也是如此。

Some of these antioxidants worked by directly binding to the ROS and neutralizing them, while others prompted the flies to produce more of their own antioxidants.

其中一些抗氧化劑直接與 ROS 結合並中和它們，而另一些則促使蒼蠅產生更多的自身抗氧化劑。

Either way, a set of antioxidants worked to reduce the levels of ROS, and the flies could live to the ripe old age of 40 days, if not a teensy bit longer.

無論如何，一組抗氧化劑能降低 ROS 的水準，蒼蠅能活到 40 天的成熟年齡，甚至更長一點。

But most importantly, this demonstrated that the death from lack of sleep was not only correlated with the production of ROS, but caused by it.

但最重要的是，這表明睡眠不足導致的死亡不僅與 ROS 的產生有關，而且是由 ROS 引起的。

That said, the exact mechanism that takes us from sleep deprivation to excess gut ROS to death still isn't clear.

儘管如此，從睡眠不足到腸道 ROS 過多再到死亡的確切機制仍不清楚。

Previous studies have linked sleep deprivation and higher levels of ROS, but until now, none had connected it to death by sleep deprivation.

以前的研究已將睡眠不足與較高水平的 ROS 聯繫起來，但直到現在，還沒有一項研究將其與睡眠不足導致的死亡聯繫起來。

This means there are plenty of questions left to answer, like what's the cause of all these excess ROS, how do they actually lead to death, and why is ROS production linked to sleep anyways?

這就意味著還有很多問題有待解答，比如這些過量的 ROS 是什麼原因造成的，它們究竟是如何導致死亡的，以及為什麼 ROS 的產生與睡眠有關？

But of course, the most pressing question you might be asking yourself right now is this.

當然，你現在最迫切想問的問題可能就是這個。

Does this mean that I never have to sleep again as long as I eat a ton of antioxidant-rich superfoods?

這是否意味著，只要我吃大量富含抗氧化劑的超級食品，就再也不用睡覺了？

And… probably not.

而且......可能不會。

After all, you're not a fruit fly, I assume.

畢竟，我猜你不是果蠅。

And you're also probably hoping to live for longer than the next 40 days.

你也可能希望能活得比接下來的 40 天更長。

But it can't hurt to add some berries to your breakfast the morning after an all-nighter.

不過，在熬夜後的早晨，在早餐中加一些漿果也無妨。

Just make sure you find some time to get back into a healthy sleep routine, because you really can stay awake for the rest of your life, it's just that the rest of your life will be a whole lot shorter than you'd like.

只要確保你能抽出時間恢復健康的睡眠習慣，因為你真的可以在餘生保持清醒，只是餘生會比你希望的短得多。

[♪ OUTRO ♪, thanks for watching!]

[OUTRO，感謝您的收看！]