Anthony Carboni here for DNews and I had the worst insomnia from junior high almost all

我是DNews 的Anthony Carboni，我從國中開始幾乎一直到大學

the way up through college. It's awful. You're always drained, you can't think straight,

都有嚴重的失眠。真的非常的糟糕！你會總是精疲力盡，你沒辦法清楚的思考

you're depressed. While insomnia can be a symptom of a lot of things, we've never really

你很抑鬱。雖然失眠可以是很多事情的徵兆，可是我們從來沒有真正地

pinpointed what the physiological change is in the body that makes it happen specifically.

探究是生理上怎樣的改變而造成了失眠

Now, I never saw a specialist about it, but I'm pretty sure I had Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder-

雖然我沒聽說過失眠方面的專家，但我很確定我屬於睡眠相位後移症後群 -

it's common in teenagers and it basically means your circadian rhythm is all off-balance-

這在青少年之間很普遍，基本上就是你的二十四小時生理節奏完全失去平衡 -

your biological clock doesn't match up with the day and night cycle. It can get less severe

你的生理時鐘跟日夜週期無法配合，隨著年齡的增長

as you get older- mine only happens for a couple weeks a time now, then goes away for

症狀會趨緩 - 我的話現在只會幾個禮拜失眠一次，然後就停頓

a bit.

一陣子

Insomnia can also be caused by psychological things like stress or physical issues like

失眠也可能是因心理因素像是壓力，或是像睡眠呼吸中止症那樣

sleep apnea. But researchers looking to start treating insomnia at the biological root of

身體方面的因素引起的，但是想從生物根源開始探究失眠的研究員

the problem found a potential culprit: plasticity in the brain's motor cortex.

找到了一個潛在的罪魁禍首：腦部運動皮質的可塑性

We've talked about neuroplasticity before: its your brain's ability to adapt and change

我們之前有提過神經可塑性：意思就是你的大腦在面對不同刺激和狀況時

to different stimuli and situations. It means if you want to change your habits or get better

適應或改變的能力，也就是說如果你想要改變習慣或是在某方面

at something, you can because your brain will adapt to it eventually. The going theory was

變得更好，你是有辦法做到的因為你的腦袋最終會適應這樣的狀況，現有的理論顯示

that since people who suffer from insomnia have decreased memory and a hard time concentrating

因為受失眠所苦的人記憶力變差而且很難集中注意力

and retaining information, their brains would be less plastic. Maybe being unable to process

並且記住資訊，他們的腦部可能比較沒有可塑性，也許是因為沒辦法消化

all that daytime info leads to sleeping problems.

一整天的資訊因此導致睡眠問題

But a new study out of Johns Hopkins university says no- an insomniac's motor cortex is more

但來自約翰．霍普金斯大學的新研究持反面意見 - 一個失眠患者的運動皮質

adaptable than someone who can sleep easily. They hooked up some healthy sleepers and insomniacs

比一個容易入睡的人更有彈性。他們將一些健康的睡眠者以及失眠的人

to electrodes and tried some transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS on them. Basically,

連接電極並將穿顱磁刺激療法(TMS)運用在他們身上。基本上，

it delivers precise levels of electrical currents to parts of the brain- but not in a weird,

這個療法會傳輸精準的電流到部分腦袋 - 而不是像電影裡看到的那種

shock therapy, seen it in the movies way. In a more controlled, FDA approved, let's study

奇怪又嚇人的療法。美國食品藥品管理局也贊成將此療法加以控制的話，可以用來研究

the brain and try to help people sort of way.

腦袋並試著幫人們解決問題

So, they basically trained the sleeping subjects, using TMS, to move their thumbs in a certain

所以，基本上，他們利用穿顱磁刺激療法訓練睡眠中的實驗對象移動他們的拇指到特定的方向

way in reaction to stimulation. I feel like the more I explain this, the less safe TMS

以反應腦中的刺激。我覺得如果我多解釋這個的話，就會讓穿顱磁刺激療法

is actually going to sound. AAAAANYWAY. Then they tried to retrain the subjects to have

聽起來更不安全，反正就是這樣，然後他們試著再訓練實驗對象的拇指

their thumbs move in the OTHER direction. And the insomniacs adapted to the change much

往另外一個方向移動，然後發現失眠者更容易的適應這個

more easily.

改變

So- what does that mean? Is neuroplasticity bad? Is it causing insomnia or is it from the brain

所以- 這是什麼意思呢？ 神經可塑性是不好的嗎？ 是它造成失眠，還是是因為失眠者的

of an insomniac trying help the body cope with all the other physical and emotional

腦袋試著幫身體處理所有身理和心理

stresses that come with a lack of sleep?

的壓力所以導致睡眠不足呢？

This is where I go "The researchers aren't sure," and you all groan, thumbs down and throw rotten

這就是我說的〝研究員們不確定〞，然後你們就會抱怨然後丟腐爛的

vegetables at me. But here's what's good and exciting about the research: if the overly

蔬菜給我。可是有個關於這個研究不錯又刺激的地方是：如果過度

changeable motor cortex is connected to releasing all the stress hormones and causing all the

變化的運動皮質是跟釋放所有壓力的賀爾蒙有關，因此造成所有其他

other emotional issues of insomnia, TMS could be used to calm the brain down and help people

失眠的情緒問題的話，穿顱磁刺激療法可以用來平靜腦袋並幫助失眠者

get into the habit of healthy sleep. It'll also make diagnosing legitimate insomnia much

習慣健康的睡眠，這也讓診斷真正的失眠變得

easier- right now there's no way to objectively test for it, so a lot of people think they're

更簡單 - 現在沒有方法可以客觀的檢測失眠，所以很多人認為自己是失眠者

insomniacs when they have other, more easily treatable issues- and vice versa.

但其實並沒有那麼嚴重，比較容易治療 。 反之亦然

In the meantime, if you're up, you can always tweet at me. There's a good chance I am up, too

同時，如果你睡不著，你可以隨時用推特跟我聯繫，因為我也可能是醒著的

You know, also thumb up the video. You're just sitting up in the dark. Just thumb up the video.

你知道的，替影片按個讚吧，反正你睡不著在黑暗中也沒事啊！