睡不着?也許是因為你太累了

We're used to seeing toddlers who can't switch off at bedtime. But some experts think that our 'always on' lifestyles mean that many adults have the same problem
兩三歲的小孩在臨睡前總是不停地講話，我們對此已習以為常。但一些專家認為，我們'總是清醒'的生活方式意味着很多成年人也有着相同的問題。

Nerina Ramlakhan remembers when her daughter was a toddler, and how if she got too tired she would be unable to switch off. "There was a healthy level of tiredness," she says. "But if she went beyond that, she would be running on a kind of false energy. And then she wouldn't be able to switch off when she went to bed."
奈麗娜·拉姆拉罕猶記得女兒蹣跚學步那會兒很累但卻無法停下來休息的場景。"疲憊也是有健康程度的，"她説道。"如果越過這一程度，她就會消耗某種虛假能量。所以當她上牀睡覺時，根本無法入睡。"

Overtiredness is recognised the world over in young children - but it is seemingly more and more common in adults. Dr Ramlakhan should know: she is a sleep psychologist and is increasingly seeing people who remind her of her little girl when she was younger.
全世界都承認幼兒過勞這一情況--但似乎過度勞累在成年人羣中也越來越普遍。拉姆拉罕博士應該知道：她是一位睡眠心理學家，越來越多的人讓她想起自己年輕時女兒的樣子。

Overtiredness, sleep experts agree, is down to our always-on existence. In the past, says Ramlakhan, the author of The Little Book of Sleep, our days had naturally built-in downtime that gave us short snatches of rest. Today, that has disappeared for many of us.
專家認為，過度勞累是由於我們總是保持清醒所致。《睡覺這件小事》（The Little Book of Sleep）一書的作者拉姆拉罕説道，過去，我們日出而作日落而息，但現在，很多人卻做不到這一點。

"We have become restless as a society - and that places more demands on us when we get into bed at night," she says. "We have lost the rituals and practices that gave us little respites during the day. In the past, you would go to the supermarket and, while you were waiting in the queue, you'd daydream, be a bit bored, look around. Now, any window like that will be filled by looking at your phone, answering some emails, sorting out your Amazon account."
"作為社會的一份子，我們變得難以入睡--夜晚當我們上牀睡覺時，社會對我們提出了更多要求，"她説道。"我們遺失了白天短暫休息的儀式和習慣。過去，在超市排隊結賬的時候，你可能會做會兒白日夢，可能會有點無聊的環顧四周。但現在，任何一個結算窗口的隊列裏都是玩着手機、回覆郵件、清理亞馬遜賬號的客人。"

You may think you are putting the time to good use - but that's not how your brain interprets it. There's a complex neurophysiology that requires breaks in tasks and concentration; if it's constantly bombarded, the brain becomes overloaded. The result, says Ramlakhan, is that it goes into what we might call survival mode: it assumes that something bad is about to happen, it ups the adrenaline and it puts out an urgent call for sugary snacks to provide quick-release energy.
也許你覺得自己在充分利用時間--但你的大腦卻沒有如此解讀。複雜的神經心理學需要我們在做任務、集中注意力的空檔找機會休息；持續被各種信息轟炸會導致大腦過載。拉姆拉罕説，結果導致生存模式開啟：大腦以為一些不好的事情即將發生，從而刺激腎上腺素，並緊急利用含糖零食快速釋放能量。