It's six o'clock in the morning, pitch black outside. My 14-year-old son is fast asleep in his bed, sleeping the reckless, deep sleep of a teenager. 早上六點，外面一片漆黑，我十四歲的兒子正在床上熟睡著，睡意正濃，這是少年特有的沉睡。 I flip on the light and physically shake the poor boy awake, because I know that, like ripping off a Band-Aid, it's better to get it over with quickly. 我打開了燈并搖醒了這可憐的孩子，因為我知道這就如同撕掉創(chuàng)口貼一樣，最好速戰(zhàn)速決。 I have a friend who yells 'Fire!' just to rouse her sleeping teen. And another who got so fed up that she had to dump cold water on her son's head just to get him out of bed. Sound brutal ... but perhaps familiar? 我有個朋友為了叫醒她處于青少年期的孩子不得不喊'著火了' ，另一位更是無可奈何，她直接把冷水澆到兒子的頭上，只為了讓他起床，聽起來很殘忍，但是卻如此熟悉? Every morning I ask myself, 'How can I -- knowing what I know and doing what I do for a living -- be doing this to my own son?' You see, I'm a sleep researcher. 每天早上我都會問自己： “我怎么能...無視我所知道的事實、我賴以為生的技能，但卻如此對待我自己的兒子？” 你瞧，我是一名睡眠研究員。 So I know far too much about sleep and the consequences of sleep loss. I know that I'm depriving my son of the sleep he desperately needs as a rapidly growing teenager. 我知道太多關(guān)于睡眠和睡眠不足的后果，我知道我正在剝奪我兒子急切需要的睡眠，做為一名迅速成長的青少年。 I also know that by waking him up hours before his natural biological clock tells him he's ready, I'm literally robbing him of his dreams -- the type of sleep most associated with learning, memory consolidation and emotional processing. 我也知道當他生物鐘叫他自然醒的幾小時前，我實際上是在奪走他的夢想——這種與學習、記憶整合、情緒處理等能力密切相關(guān)的睡眠。 But it's not just my kid that's being deprived of sleep. Sleep deprivation among American teenagers is an epidemic. Only about one in 10 gets the eight to 10 hours of sleep per night recommended by sleep scientists and pediatricians. 但不只是我的孩子被剝奪了睡眠，大多美國青少年的睡眠都在被剝奪，只有不到十分之一的孩子平均每晚能睡八到十小時，這是睡眠科學家和兒科醫(yī)生推薦的睡眠時長。Now, if you're thinking to yourself, 'Phew, we're doing good, my kid's getting eight hours,' remember, eight hours is the minimum recommendation. You're barely passing. Eight hours is kind of like getting a C on your report card. 現(xiàn)在，想想你的情況，“呼，我們做得很好，我的孩子可以睡八個小時?！庇涀。诵r只是最低標準。你僅僅及格，八小時相當于你的報告得了個C。 There are many factors contributing to this epidemic, but a major factor preventing teens from getting the sleep they need is actually a matter of public policy. Not hormones, social lives or Snapchat. 造成這種情況的因素有很多，但剝奪青少年所需要的睡眠，實際上是公共政策問題。不是荷爾蒙、社交生活或者Snapchat (即時通訊工具)。 Across the country, many schools are starting around 7:30am or earlier, despite the fact that major medical organizations recommend that middle and high school start no earlier than 8:30am. These early start policies have a direct effect on how much -- or really how little sleep American teenagers are getting. 全國各地，很多學校都在早上7:30開始或者更早，盡管大型醫(yī)療機構(gòu)建議，中學和高中不應早于上午8:30開課。學校過早要求上學直接影響了美國青少年的睡眠時間有多“少”。They're also pitting teenagers and their parents in a fundamentally unwinnable fight against their own bodies. Around the time of puberty, teenagers experience a delay in their biological clock, which determines when we feel most awake and when we feel most sleepy. 這導致青少年和他們的家長不得不與他們的身體做一場難以戰(zhàn)勝的對抗。正處于青春期的孩子，他們的生物鐘會被擾亂——它決定著我們何時清醒、何時困倦。 This is driven in part by a shift in the release of the hormone melatonin. Teenagers' bodies wait to start releasing melatonin until around 11pm, which is two hours later than what we see in adults or younger children. This means that waking a teenager up at 6am is the biological equivalent of waking an adult up at 4am. 這一部分是由于褪黑激素的釋放所引起的，青少年的身體一般在晚上11點左右開始釋放褪黑激素，這比一個成年人或是小孩子晚了近兩小時。這意味著你在早上六點鐘叫醒一個青少年，生理上等于說是在凌晨四點叫醒一個成年人。 On the unfortunate days when I have to wake up at 4am, I'm a zombie. Functionally useless. I can't think straight, I'm irritable, and I probably shouldn't be driving a car. But this is how many American teenagers feel every single school day. 特別是在某些悲慘的時候，我還不得不凌晨四點起床。那我簡直就像是個僵尸了。整個身體都是麻木的。我簡直無法思考，我會煩躁，我可能連車都開不好。但這就是每天上學的無數(shù)美國青少年所要面對的。 In fact, many of the, shall we say, unpleasant characteristics that we chalk up to being a teenager -- moodiness, irritability, laziness, depression -- could be a product of chronic sleep deprivation. For many teens battling chronic sleep loss, 事實上，我們很多人都認為青少年有很多不好的特質(zhì)——像是情緒低落，煩躁， 慵懶，抑郁——這都是由于睡眠被長期剝奪所造成的。對于很多青少年來說，為了對抗缺失的睡眠時間， their go-to strategy to compensate is consuming large quantities of caffeine in the form of venti frappuccinos, or energy drinks and shots. So essentially, we've got an entire population of tired but wired youth. 他們通過攝入大量的咖啡因，比如說是大杯的星冰樂，或者功能飲料。所以基本上來說，我們所有的年輕人都很疲憊，但同時卻又極度興奮。 Advocates of sleep-friendly start times know that adolescence is a period of dramatic brain development, particularly in the parts of the brain that are responsible for those higher order thinking processes, including reasoning, problem-solving and good judgment. 支持需要更多睡眠時間的人們明白，青春期是大腦發(fā)育極其重要的一個時期，特別是大腦的某些部分，那些負責更高層次思考的部分，包括推理能力，解決問題能力和良好的判斷能力。 In other words, the very type of brain activity that's responsible for reining in those impulsive and often risky behaviors that are so characteristic of adolescence and that are so terrifying to us parents of teenagers. 換句話說，就是這些負責大腦活動的部分，它們能夠抑制沖動及危險行為，這也是青春期的某些不良特征，也是那些造成父母無比困擾的行為。 They know that like the rest of us, when teenagers don't get the sleep they need, their brains, their bodies and behaviors suffer with both immediate and lasting effects. They can't concentrate, their attention plummets and many will even show behavioral signs that mimic ADHD. 他們明白就像我們一樣，如果青少年得不到充足的睡眠，他們的大腦、身體和行為都會受到立竿見影的影響。他們不能集中精力，注意力直線下降，甚至一部分青少年出現(xiàn)了注意缺陷多動障礙(ADHD）， But the consequences of teen sleep loss go well beyond the classroom, sadly contributing to many of the mental health problems that skyrocket during adolescence, including substance use, depression and suicide. In our work with teens from LA Unified School District, we found that teens with sleep problems were 55 percent more likely to have used alcohol in the past month. 而且青少年缺乏睡眠的不良后果還遠遠不只是局限于學習上，還可悲地促成了許多心理健康問題，這些在青春期顯得極為嚴重，包括濫用藥物，抑郁和自殺。對來自洛杉磯聯(lián)合學區(qū)的青少年做的研究顯示，那些睡眠不足的青少年中，百分之五十五在過去一個月中酗酒的現(xiàn)象更嚴重。 In another study with over 30,000 high school students, they found that for each hour of lost sleep, there was a 38 percent increase in feeling sad or hopeless, and a 58 percent increase in teen suicide attempts. 另一項對三萬名高中生的研究顯示，每缺少一個小時的睡眠，沮喪和憂傷的情緒就會增長百分之三十八，同時自殺傾向也增長百分之五十八。 And if that's not enough, teens who skip out on sleep are at increased risk for a host of physical health problems that plague our country, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes. 而這還沒完，那些缺乏睡眠的青少年更有可能患上身體上的健康疾病，這些疾病困擾著我們的國家，包括肥胖、心血管疾病和糖尿病。 Then there's the risk of putting a sleep-deprived teen, with a newly minted driver's license, behind the wheel. Studies have shown that getting five hours or less of sleep per night is the equivalent of driving with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit. 這些所帶來的威脅就像是一個昏昏欲睡的青少年拿著剛剛考出的駕照，開車上路一樣。研究顯示每晚少于五小時的睡眠時間，就和非法酒駕沒什么區(qū)別。Advocates of sleep-friendly start times, and researchers in this area, have produced tremendous science showing the tremendous benefits of later start times. The findings are unequivocal, and as a sleep scientist, I rarely get to speak with that kind of certainty. 提倡更多睡眠時間的人，以及這塊地區(qū)的研究者們，用大量的科學數(shù)據(jù)證明學生應該晚點上課的巨大好處，調(diào)查結(jié)果非常明確。作為一位睡眠研究人員，我很少用如此肯定的態(tài)度發(fā)表演說。 Teens from districts with later start times get more sleep. To the naysayers who may think that if schools start later, teens will just stay up later, the truth is, their bedtimes stay the same, but their wake-up times get extended, resulting in more sleep. 青少年應該晚些上課，因為他們需要更多的睡眠時間。對于那些反對者，也許他們會想如果學習推遲上課時間，青少年就會熬夜到更晚?？墒聦嵏嬖V我們卻是，他們睡覺時間并沒有改變，但是他們的起床時間晚了，也就擁有了更多睡眠時間。 They're more likely to show up for school; school absences dropped by 25 percent in one district. And they're less likely to drop out. Not surprisingly, they do better academically. 他們也更有可能去學校而非逃課；缺席率至少降低了百分之二十五，他們退學率也降低了。不出意外，他們的成績也提高了。 So this has real implications for reducing the achievement gap. Standardized test scores in math and reading go up by two to three percentage points. That's as powerful as reducing class sizes by one-third fewer students, or replacing a so-so teacher in the classroom with a truly outstanding one. 所以這對減少“成就落差”也有好處。數(shù)學及閱讀的標準化測驗顯示，他們的得分提高了兩到三個百分點。這簡直比小班化教育帶來的成果還要顯著，或是給一個班換一個更優(yōu)秀的老師。 Their mental and physical health improves, and even their families are happier. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy a little more pleasantness from our teens, and a little less crankiness? Even their communities are safer because car crash rates go down -- a 70 percent reduction in one district. 他們不管是在心理還是身體上都得到了提升，甚至家庭都變得更和睦了。我的的意思是，誰不會喜歡我們的孩子多一些健康快樂，少一些偏執(zhí)狂妄呢？甚至他們的生活都變得更安全，因為至少撞車率可以低一些——至少一個街區(qū)可以少百分之七十。 Given these tremendous benefits, you might think, well, this is a no-brainer, right? So why have we as a society failed to heed this call? Often the argument against later start times goes something like this: 有如此諸多的益處，你或許會想，這簡直百利而無一害，不是嗎？那為什么我們的社會沒有響應這樣的號召？往往那些反對推遲上課的聲音會說: 'Why should we delay start times for teenagers? We need to toughen them up so they're ready for the real world!' But that's like saying to the parent of a two-year-old, 'Don't let Johnny nap, or he won't be ready for kindergarten.' “為什么我們要推遲青少年的上課時間呢？我們應該好好鍛煉他們，讓他們早點適應這個真實殘酷的世界!” 但這就等于一個兩歲孩子的父母說，“別讓約翰尼午睡，否則他怎么能適應幼兒園生活呢?！?nbsp;Delaying start times also presents many logistical challenges. Not just for students and their families, but for communities as a whole. Updating bus routes, increased transportation costs, impact on sports, care before or after school. 推遲上課時間也要面對很多后勤方面的挑戰(zhàn)，不只是學生和他們的家庭，也是對于整個社會來說。更新校車路線，提高交通開銷，影響課余時間的體育培訓和托管。 These are the same concerns that come up in district after district, time and again around the country as school start times are debated. 這些需要考慮的因素在全國各地討論“推遲上課時間” 的時候都會被提到。 And they're legitimate concerns, but these are problems we have to work through. They are not valid excuses for failing to do the right thing for our children, which is to start middle and high schools no earlier than 8:30am. 這在法律上也存在問題。但是這些是我們需要面對的問題它們不是放棄為我們的孩子做正確的事情的借口，那就是要讓初中和高中的上課時間不早于八點半。 And in districts around the country, big and small, who have made this change, they found that these fears are often unfounded and far outweighed by the tremendous benefits for student health and performance, and our collective public safety. 每一個學區(qū)，到全國都是如此，不管大小城市，我們必須做出改變，因為我們對于改革的恐懼，常常是沒有道理的，遠遠沒有學生的健康、他們的表現(xiàn)，和整個社會的公共安全來的重要。 So tomorrow morning, when coincidentally we get to set our clocks back by an hour and you get that delicious extra hour of sleep, and the day seems a little longer, and a little more full of hope, think about the tremendous power of sleep. 所以我多希望從明天早上起，我們碰巧一不小心都把自己的鬧鐘推遲了一小時，我們多了一個小時甜美的睡眠，我們的日子似乎長了一點，多了一些希望，想想睡眠能賜予我們的力量。 And think about what a gift it would be for our children to be able to wake up naturally, in harmony with their own biology. Thank you, and pleasant dreams. 想想這會是一個多好的禮物我們能送給孩子的：讓他們能被自己的生物鐘溫柔地從睡夢中喚醒。謝謝大家，祝大家好夢。
