As a sleep scientist, this is the question that has captivated me for the past 10 years.

身為睡眠科學家，在過去的十年間， 我對這個問題很著迷。

Because while the lightbulb and technology have brought about a world of 24-hour work and productivity, it has come at the cost of our naturally occurring circadian rhythm and our body's need for sleep.

雖然電燈泡和科技已經造成了二十四小時工作和生產力的世界， 但這是有代價的， 代價就是我們自然的晝夜節律、 以及我們的身體對睡眠的需求。

The circadian rhythm dictates our energy level throughout the day, and only recently we've been conducting a global experiment on this rhythm, which is putting our sleep health and ultimately our life quality in jeopardy.

晝夜節律支配了我們 一整天中的能量多寡，到最近，我們才針對此節律 進行了一項全球性實驗， 讓我們的睡眠健康， 以及最終，我們的生命品質， 置身危險之中。

Because of this, we aren't getting the sleep we need, with the average American sleeping a whole hour less than they did in the 1940s.

因為這個理由，我們沒有得到我們需要的睡眠， 美國人的平均睡眠時間 比 1940 年代整整少了一小時。

For some reason, we decided to wear it as a badge of honor that we can get by on not enough sleep.

因為某種原因，我們決定把它當榮譽獎章來戴， 以睡眠不足卻仍能過活為榮。

This all adds up to a real health crisis.

這些通通加起來， 就成了真實的健康危機。

Most of us know that poor sleep is linked to diseases like Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.

大部份人知道睡眠不足和疾病相關，比如阿滋海默症、心血管疾病、 中風、糖尿病。

And if you go untreated with a sleep disorder like sleep apnea, you're more likely to get many of these illnesses.

如果你有睡眠失調， 像睡眠窒息，卻沒去治療，你就更可能會得到許多這類疾病。

But did you know about sleep's impact on your mental states?

但你知道睡眠對你的 心理狀態有什麼衝擊嗎？

Poor sleep makes us make risky, rash decisions and is a drain on our capacity for empathy.

睡眠不足會讓我們做出 冒險、魯莽的決策，且它會消耗掉我們同理的能力。

When sleep deprivation literally makes us more sensitive to our own pain, it's not so surprising that we have a hard time relating to others and just generally being a good and healthy person when we're sleep-deprived.

因為缺乏睡眠 真的讓我們對痛苦更敏感，那就不足為怪，當我們睡眠不足時， 會很難和別人和睦相處， 連大體上做個健康的好人都很難。

Scientists are now starting to understand how not only the quantity but also the quality of sleep impacts our health and well-being.

科學家現在開始了解到睡眠的量與品質 都會影響我們的健康和幸福。

My research focuses on what many scientists believe is the most regenerative stage of sleep: deep sleep.

我的研究重點是許多科學家認為最有再生力的睡眠階段： 深度睡眠。

We now know that generally speaking, there are three stages of sleep: light sleep, rapid eye movement or REM and deep sleep.

我們現在知道，一般來說，睡眠有三個階段： 淺睡期、 快速動眼期、 及深度睡眠期。

We measure these stages by connecting electrodes to the scalp, chin and chest.

我們測量這些階段的方式， 是把電擊貼在頭皮、下巴、胸口。

In light sleep and REM, our brain waves are very similar to our brain waves in waking life.

在淺睡期與快速動眼期、我們的腦波和我們醒著時非常相似。

But our brain waves in deep sleep have these long-burst brain waves that are very different from our waking life brain waves.

但深睡時的腦波， 有很多長長的脈衝，和醒著時的腦波很不一樣。

These long-burst brain waves are called delta waves.

這些長的脈衝 被稱為 δ（delta）波。

When we don't get the deep sleep we need, it inhibits our ability to learn and for our cells and bodies to recover.

當我們沒有得到我們需要的深睡時，就會阻礙我們的學習能力、 我們的細胞和身體的恢復能力。

Deep sleep is how we convert all those interactions that we make during the day into our long-term memory and personalities.

深睡讓我們把白天的互動轉換為長期記憶和個性。

As we get older, we're more likely to lose these regenerative delta waves.

當我們漸年長，我們就越有可能會失去 這些有再生力的 δ 波。

So in way, deep sleep and delta waves are actually a marker for biological youth.

所以從某個角度來看，深睡與 δ 波其實算是生理年輕的標記。

So naturally, I wanted to get more deep sleep for myself and I literally tried almost every gadget, gizmo, device and hack out there -- consumer-grade, clinical-grade, what have you.

當然我要自己多深睡點，而我真的幾乎試過每一種 找得到的小玩意兒、小發明、裝置， 消費者等級或臨床實驗等級的。

I learned a lot, and I found I really do need, like most people, eight hours of sleep.

我學了很多，並且發現我和大部份人一樣，真的需要睡足八小時。

I even shifted my circadian component by changing my meals, exercise and light exposure, but I still couldn't find a way to get a deeper night of sleep ... that is until I met Dr. Dmitry Gerashchenko from Harvard Medical School.

我甚至改變了我的生理節奏，方法是改變我的進餐、運動、 和曝露在光線下的時間， 但仍然找不到睡得更深沈的方式， 直到我遇到了狄米崔蓋瑞山柯博士， 他是哈佛教授。

Dmitry told me about a new finding in the literature, where a lab out of Germany showed that if you could play certain sounds at the right time in people's sleep, you could actually make sleep deeper and more efficient.

狄米崔告訴我文獻中的一項新發現，一間德國的實驗室發現， 如果能夠在人們睡眠的 正確時間播放某些聲音， 就能讓睡眠更深、更有效。

And what's more, is that this lab showed that you actually could improve next-day memory performance with this sound.

還有，這間實驗室也發現，可用這種聲音來改善隔天的記憶表現。

Dmitry and I teamed up, and we began working on a way to build this technology.

我和狄米崔合作，我們開始想辦法建立這種技術。

With our research lab collaborators at Penn State, we designed experiments in order to validate our system.

我們和在賓州州大實驗室的合作者一起設計實驗來驗證我們的系統。

And we've since received grant funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health to develop this deep-sleep stimulating technology.

我們從國家科學基金會和國立衛生研究院得到補助金資助， 來開發這種深度睡眠刺激技術。

Here's how it works.

它是這樣運作的。

People came into the lab and we hooked them up to a number of devices, two of which I have on right here -- not a fashion statement.

人們來到實驗室，我們把他們和幾個裝置連結， 我這裡戴著其中兩個裝置， 可不是時尚宣言。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

When we detected that people were in deep sleep, we played the deep-sleep stimulating sounds that were shown to make them have deeper sleep.

當我們偵測到人們在深睡時，就播放能刺激他們睡得更深的聲音。

I'm going to demo this sound for you right now.

我現在就來展示一下這個聲音。

(Repeating sound waves)

（重覆聲波）

Pretty weird, right?

很怪異，是吧？

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So that sound is actually at the same burst frequency as your brain waves when your brain is in deep sleep.

這聲音的脈衝頻率其實和你的深睡腦波相同。

That sound pattern actually primes your mind to have more of these regenerative delta waves.

那種聲音模式事實上能使你的大腦準備好，產生更多這些有再生力的 δ 波。

When we asked participants the next day about the sounds, they were completely unaware that we played the sounds, yet their brains responded with more of these delta waves.

當我們隔天問受試者這些聲音，他們完全沒意識到我們曾播放聲音， 而他們的腦卻產生更多的 δ 波以呼應這種聲音。

Here's an image of someone's brain waves from the study that we conducted.

這張圖是某個人的腦波，在我們的研究中記錄的。

See the bottom panel?

看到下面的區塊嗎？

This shows the sound being played at that burst frequency.

它呈現出這聲音是用那種脈衝頻率來播放的。

Now look at the brain waves in the upper part of the graph.

看看圖中的上面區塊，那些是腦波。

You can see from the graph that the sound is actually producing more of these regenerative delta waves.

從圖可以看出，播放這聲音就能產生更多有再生力的 δ 波。

We learned that we could accurately track sleep without hooking people up to electrodes and make people sleep deeper.

我們學到能夠準確地追蹤睡眠，而不用把電極貼在人身上， 並且能讓人睡得更深。

We're continuing to develop the right sound environment and sleep habitat to improve people's sleep health.

我們還在持續發展對的聲音環境和睡眠地點， 來改善人們的睡眠健康。

Our sleep isn't as regenerative as it could be, but maybe one day soon, we could wear a small device and get more out of our sleep.

我們的睡眠還可以更有再生力，但也許，不久之後， 我們就可戴著一個小裝置， 讓我們從睡眠中獲益良多。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

(掌聲)