午睡會讓你變得更堅強 Naps May Improve Our Frustration Tolerance

A short nap could reduce impulsive behavior and improve the ability to withstand frustration, a small study suggests.

一項小型研究表明，午睡片刻可以減少衝動行爲，改善人承受挫折的能力。

Researchers studied 40 people aged 18 to 50. After three nights of normal sleep, the participants took computer-based tests of frustration tolerance — which consisted of trying to complete an impossible task — and completed questionnaires on sleepiness, mood and impulsivity. Then they were randomly assigned to take an hour’s nap, or to watch a nature video. At the end of the process, they were tested again. The study appears in Personality and Individual Differences.

研究人員招募了40名年齡在18歲至50歲之間的參與者，並讓他們在正常睡眠三個晚上後，接受通過計算機進行的挫折承受力測試（包括試圖完成一個不可能完成的任務），並回答有關睡意、情緒和衝動性的調查問卷。然後，參與者們被隨機分爲兩組，一組午睡一個小時，另一組觀看自然題材的紀錄片。待上述程序都結束後，他們又再度接受了測試。該研究發表在《個性與個體差異》雜誌(Personality and Individual Differences)上。

Before the nap period, everyone spent about the same amount of time on the unsolvable task, but afterward nappers, who all reported having slept at least part of the time, spent significantly more time working at it than they had before their nap, while non-nappers gave up sooner. Nappers also rated their behavior as less impulsive than non-nappers.

在午睡之前，每名參與者面對無法解決的任務時花的時間大致相同；但在午睡之後，報告在那一小時期間至少睡着了一會兒的所有參與者在任務上花的時間都比之前顯著增加，而沒有午睡的參與者則更快地選擇了放棄。與沒有午睡的人相比，午睡組在評定自己的行爲時普遍認爲自己的衝動程度較低。

The lead author, Jennifer R. Goldschmied, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan, acknowledged that the sample is small, involved mainly college students and may not be applicable to other populations. The sleep calculations also did not use electronic devices to precisely measure sleep and wakefulness.

該研究的主要作者，密歇根大學(University of Michigan)的博士生珍妮弗·R·戈德施米德(Jennifer R. Goldschmied)承認他們的樣本較少，而且大部分都是在校大學生，因此可能並不適用於其他人羣。在計算睡眠時也沒有使用電子設備來精確測定參與者的睡眠和清醒狀況。

Still, she said, “These results are valuable and have put us on the route to understanding how we can utilize naps. Now people are starting to understand how powerful short bursts of sleep can be.”

不過她還是認爲“這些結果很有價值，它指引我們走上研究如何充分利用午睡的道路。現在人們已經開始認識到睡眠時的短脈衝有多麼強大了”。