每个人都希望能睡个好觉，但你有没有想过，如果不睡觉，我们的生活又会变成什么样子呢？如果你有失眠、熬夜的问题，这个视频也能给你一些启发——
What would happen
if you didn't sleep
Claudia Aguirre
In 1965, 17-year-old high school student, Randy Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours. That's 11 days to see how he'd cope without sleep. On the second day, his eyes stopped focusing. Next, he lost the ability to identify objects by touch. By day three, Gardner was moody and uncoordinated. At the end of the experiment, he was struggling to concentrate, had trouble with short-term memory, became paranoid①, and started hallucinating②. Although Gardner recovered without long-term psychological or physical damage, for others, losing shuteye③ can result in hormonal imbalance, illness, and, in extreme cases, death. ① paranoid: /ˈpærənɔɪd/ adj. 类似妄想狂的；属于偏执狂的
② hallucinate: /həˈluːsɪneɪt/ vi. 出现幻觉
③ shuteye: /'ʃʌtai/ n. 睡觉；失去知觉
We're only beginning to understand why we sleep to begin with, but we do know it's essential. Adults need seven to eight hours of sleep a night, and adolescents need about ten. We grow sleepy due to signals from our body telling our brain we are tired, and signals from the environment telling us it's dark outside. The rise in sleep-inducing chemicals, like adenosine④ and melatonin⑤, send us into a light doze that grows deeper, making our breathing and heart rate slow down and our muscles relax. This non-REM sleep⑥ is when DNA is repaired and our bodies replenish themselves for the day ahead. ④ denosine: /əˈdenə(ʊ)siːn/ n. 腺苷，腺甘酸⑤ melatonin: /meləˈtəʊnɪ/ n. 褪黑激素；N-乙酰-5-甲氧基色胺⑥ non-REM sleep = sleep non-rapid eye movement sleep 非快速动眼睡眠In the United States, it's estimated that 30% of adults and 66% of adolescents are regularly sleep-deprived. This isn't just a minor inconvenience. Staying awake can cause serious bodily harm. When we lose sleep, learning, memory, mood, and reaction time are affected. Sleeplessness may also cause inflammation⑦, hallucination⑧, high blood pressure, and it's even been linked to diabetes⑨ and obesity. ⑦ inflammation: /ɪnfləˈmeɪʃn/ n. [病理] 炎症；[医] 发炎；燃烧；发火⑧ hallucination: /həˌluːsɪˈneɪʃn/ n. 幻觉，幻想；错觉⑨ diabetes: /daɪəˈbiːtiːz/ n. 糖尿病；多尿症
In 2014, a devoted soccer fan died after staying awake for 48 hours to watch the World Cup. While his untimely death was due to a stroke, studies show that chronically sleeping fewer than six hours a night increases stroke risk by four and half times compared to those getting a consistent seven to eight hours of shuteye. For a handful of⑩ people on the planet who carry a rare inherited genetic mutation, sleeplessness is a daily reality. This condition, known as Fatal Familial Insomniashi⑪, places the body in a nightmarish state of wakefulness, forbidding it from entering the sanctuary of sleep. Within months or years, this progressively worsening condition leads to dementia and death. ⑩ a handful of 一把；少量的；一小部分⑪ Fatal Familial Insomniashi 致命性家族性失眠症How can sleep deprivation cause such immense suffering? Scientists think the answer lies with the accumulation of waste products in the brain. During our waking hours, our cells are busy using up our day's energy sources, which get broken down into various by-products, including adenosine. As adenosine builds up, it increases the urge to sleep, also known as sleep pressure. In fact, caffeine works by blocking adenosine's receptor pathways. Other waste products also build up in the brain, and if they're not cleared away, they collectively overload the brain and are thought to lead to the many negative symptoms of sleep deprivation.
So, what's happening in our brain when we sleep to prevent this? Scientists found something called the glymphatic system⑫, a clean-up mechanism that removes this build up and is much more active when we're asleep. It works by using cerebrospinal fluid⑬ to flush away toxic byproducts that accumulate between cells. Lymphatic vessels⑭, which serve as pathways for immune cells, have recently been discovered in the brain, and they may also play a role in clearing out the brain's daily waste products. ⑫ glymphatic system 类淋巴系统⑬ cerebrospinal fluid 脑脊髓液⑭ lymphatic: /lɪmˈfætɪk/ adj. 淋巴的；含淋巴的【Lymphatic vessels 淋巴管】While scientists continue exploring the restorative mechanisms behind sleep, we can be sure that slipping into slumber is a necessity if we want to maintain our health and our sanity.