理查德·惠特利说“早上少一个钟头的睡眠，你就要花一整天的时间去找回来。”小时候我们的睡眠时间被父母严加管控，长大后，开始挣脱过去的束缚和规矩，享受对生活的十足掌控，把睡觉时间定在十点、十一点 甚至凌晨一点。然而睡眠不足不仅会使我们喜怒无常，还会损害大脑功能，比如记忆力和决策能力。Part of the reason why many of us have a tangled and unhelpful relationship to sleep can be traced back to the way we first learnt about the subject many years ago. Parents of small children tend to be very careful about bedtimes. 很多人，夜夜难眠，因而身心受损。在一定程度上，这与我们小时候的睡眠方式有关，孩子很小的时候，父母通常很在意睡觉时间。They favour early nights, they give their babies plenty of naps throughout the day, they think a lot about black-out curtains, they are quick to diagnose many instances of bad temper as stemming from a background deficit of rest and while they may be indulgent in some areas, they are likely to be entirely implacable in any negotiation over routines: seven p.m. lights out, no ifs ands or buts. 晚上他们让小孩子早点上床，白天也会让孩子多睡觉，他们很看重黑色窗帘。对于孩子的坏脾气 ，他们极其敏感，认为这是由于缺觉导致的。虽然在某些方面，父母很溺爱孩子，但是在睡觉这件事上，毫无商量余地，晚上七点熄灯睡觉，不要废话。None of this is remotely altruistic: tired small children are a nightmare to look after. Every reversal becomes a drama, every disappointment turns into a catastrophe and every excitement shifts into mania. A half-way decent adult existence is impossible alongside a tired child. Self-interest necessitates totalitarianism. 父母其实也是有私心的，照顾疲倦的小孩子 简直就是一场噩梦。每次翻脸，都像一出戏；每次失望，都是一场浩劫；每次兴奋，都以狂躁收尾。如果走到半路，孩子困了，那么大人就不可能保持体面，利己主义必然会带来绝对的权威。But while a draconian philosophy is useful in the early years, it can set up an awkward dynamic in an off-spring’s mind as adolescence sets in. Growing up and asserting one’s independence and individuality can then become associated with a newly defiant and cavalier approach to bedtimes. Not for a newly empowered young adult the strictures and denying rules of the past. 严格控制睡觉时间，虽然对小孩子很管用，但也会让青春期的孩子，思想发生一定变化，很难对付。随着青少年长大追求独立和个性，他们会变得蔑视睡眠时间，出现违抗行为。成年初期 逐渐有权掌控自己的生活，便会更想要挣脱过去的束缚和规矩。Why bother to put the light out by ten or even midnight or one in the morning, given that one is so obviously no longer a toddler? What is thereby missed is how much every adult shares in a young child’s sensitivity to a shortfall of sleep. Just like our younger selves, we do not have an impregnable command over a reasonable view of our own prospects or condition. 既然已经不是三岁小孩了，又何必要把睡觉时间定在十点，或着十一点 甚至凌晨一点呢。因而，大人低估了，孩子对自己缺觉的敏感程度。就像我们年轻的时候，对于未来和当下，我们并没有坚不可摧的控制力。There are many different ways of telling the story of our lives, ranging from an optimistic tale of progress mixed with noble defeats to a tragic narrative of thorough-going stupidity and unforgivable errors. What can determine the difference between madness and sanity may be nothing grander, but then again nothing more critical, than how long our minds have been allowed to lie on a pillow in the preceding hours. 我们可以用多种方式，讲述自己的故事，可以用积极的口吻，讲述我们的进步。再提几句壮烈的失败，也可以用消极的口吻，讲述我们十足的无知和不可原谅的错误。疯狂和理智的不同之处，可能很微小，相比于我们的大脑能够在睡梦中游荡多久，二者的区别更是不值一提。It’s especially unfortunate that this connection is so easy to miss. No bells go off in our minds warning us that we are running low on nocturnal nectar. As a result, we start to believe many dark things with doomful ease: that our relationship is over, that everyone hates us, that our lives are meaningless and that human existence is a cosmic joke ‘When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago,’ knew Friedrich Nietzsche. 极其不幸的是，这种联系很容易断掉，美梦不足时，大脑中不会响起警报。这就导致，我们开始相信，黑暗象征着厄运，比如关系破裂、被人人讨厌、生活无望，人生就是一场笑话。弗里德里希·尼采说：在我们疲倦时，那些早已被征服的想法，会趁机攻击我们，疲倦夺走了我们的理智。We go mad from tiredness long before we notice the role of exhaustion in stealing our sanity. The thinking we do when tired is vindictive and sloppy. It misses important details, it gives the advantage over to our enemies, it hands victory to the evangelists of sadness. Being careful doesn’t just apply to the night. 但早在我们注意到这一点之前，我们就因疲劳而发疯。疲倦时，我们所进行的思考，带有报复性，草率而凌乱，毫无重点，把优势拱手让于敌人，把胜利拱手赠于悲伤。认真对待睡眠，不只适用于夜晚。At varied points in the day, when possible and we are overwhelmed, we should know to stop, hoist the white flag and have a nap. When we lie in bed, it makes sense to think of ourselves as akin to a smaller, furry mammal, a rabbit or perhaps a squirrel. We should lift our knees up very close to our chests and pull the duvet over our heads. We might soak a whole patch of the pillow with our tears. 在白天的很多时刻，只要有时间，或者感到压力太大，我们就应该停止工作。举手投降，小睡一会，躺在床上。可以想象一下，自己是一个毛绒绒的小动物，小兔子或是小松鼠，我们应该报紧膝盖，蜷缩成一团，用被子蒙住头，或许我们的泪水打湿了枕头。We should - metaphorically - stroke our own weary foreheads as a loving adult might once have done. Grown-up life is intolerably hard and we should be allowed to know and lament this. We shouldn’t feel weird in our weepy squirrel position. Other people go to immense lengths to hide that they do, or would like to do, the very same sort of thing. 那我们应该摸摸自己的头，它很累了，就像以前 慈爱的爸爸妈妈做的那样，成年人的生活里，没有容易二字，我们理应清楚这一点，也可以为之痛惜，哭泣难过时，我们不应感到自己奇怪。有些人倾其所有，隐藏自己的行为和欲望，行为和欲望的本质相同。当他人用自己的绝望和焦虑，引诱我们进入其安全舒适的庇护所，We need to know someone extremely well - better than we know 99% of humanity - before they will let us in on the scale of their despair and anxiety and their longings for a cosy, safe nook. It looks child-like but it is in fact the essence of adulthood to recognise, and give space for, one’s regressive tendencies. What the curled squirrel position indicates is that not all mental problems can be solved by active reasoning. 在进入之前，我们需要对这些人了如指掌，应超乎对99%的人的了解。看起来有点幼稚，但其实这是成年人世界的本质，认识到自己退步的趋势，并放过自己。睡觉时蜷成一团，这种体态说明，并非所有的心理问题都能通过积极的推理来解决。Not thinking consciously should also be deemed a part of the mind’s work. Being curled up in bed allows our minds to do a different sort of thinking, the sort that can take place when we are no longer impatiently looking for results, when the usual hectoring conscious self takes a break and lets the mind do what it will for a time.无意识的思考，也应该被视为大脑工作的一部分。睡觉时蜷成一团，让我们的大脑可以进行一种不同的思考。当我们在追寻目标的途中，失去耐心，当那个常常盛气凌人的意识自我，想要喘口气，让思维暂时接替它的工作，这种不同的思考就开始了。It is then, paradoxically, that certain richer, more creative ideas can have the peace and freedom to coalesce - as they may do when we are out for a walk in the countryside or idling while having a drink in a cafe. Thinking isn’t what we do best when it’s all we’re meant to do. There remain plenty of reasons to live. We simply may not be able to see them until we have allowed ourselves the privilege of a weepy nap or a long night’s sleep.矛盾的是，那些更富创造力的想法，可以自由自在地建立联系。当我们在乡下散步，或在咖啡馆里小酌，他们也可以建立联系。并不是只有全神贯注去思索的时候，才能达到最好的效果。活着的理由数不胜数，但除非我们允许自己，小睡时放纵情绪，长夜里酣然入梦。否则我们可能永远看不到它们。By The School of Life译：嘉嘉