I like a good eight hours myself, ten at the weekend. How about you?
我自己喜欢 8 小时，周末 10 小时。你怎么样？
Alice(爱丽丝)
Six is enough for me. But did you know this? Humans sleep around three hours less than other primates like chimps, who sleep for about ten hours. So you're a chimp, Neil, at the weekends, at least! Are you ready for the quiz question?
I will go for b) restless legs syndrome, since there's a connection there with the legs.
我会选择 b） 不宁腿综合症，因为这与腿部有关。
Alice(爱丽丝)
Well we'll find out whether you're right or wrong later on in the show. So what keeps you awake at night, Neil?
好吧，我们会在节目后面知道你是对还是错。那么，是什么让你夜不能寐呢，尼尔呢？
Neil(尼尔)
Not much, to be honest. I usually sleep like a log, and that means very heavily indeed! But sometimes my own snoring wakes me up, and then I can find it hard to get back to sleep. Snoring, for those of you who don't know, means breathing in a noisy way through your mouth or nose while you're asleep. [snores] … like that… How about you, Alice?
Very good, yes. Well, that's quite ridiculous! Anyway, for me, it's drinking too much coffee during the day. It's the caffeine in coffee, a chemical that makes you feel more awake – which can stop you from sleeping at night. But there are so many things that can keep us awake these days.
Well, let's hear what Professor Jerome Siegel, from the University of California, found when he studied the sleep habits of three different hunter-gatherer communities who have very little contact with modern society. They don't have artificial light, electricity, batteries, or any of the gadgets that we rely on today.
Professor Jerome Siegel, from the University of California, US(美国加州大学的JeromeSiegel教授)
Their sleep was not that different from ours. The range of sleep period was about 6.9 to 8.5 hours. If you actually measure sleep in current populations in the United States or in Europe they're definitely at the low end of what's been reported. They certainly don't sleep a lot less than we do but they clearly don't sleep more.
Professor Jerome Siegel found that people in these communities don't go to bed until several hours after sundown, just like us! But one big difference is that very few of them suffer from insomnia, which means having difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.
Now, I don't have a problem with insomnia. And hunter-gatherers, people who live by hunting animals and gathering plants to eat, don't either, probably because they take a lot of physical exercise during the day.
Yes, that's right. Taking exercise is an important factor in sleeping soundly, or well, at night. But these days our minds can be so active that it becomes very difficult to fall asleep. Let's listen to Professor Kevin Morgan, from Loughborough University here in England, talking about how cognitive behavioural therapy can be used to help people with insomnia.
是的，没错。锻炼是晚上睡得香或睡得好的一个重要因素。但是现在我们的头脑可能非常活跃，以至于很难入睡。让我们听听来自英国拉夫堡大学的 Kevin Morgan 教授谈论如何使用认知行为疗法来帮助失眠患者。
Professor Kevin Morgan, Loughborough University, England(KevinMorgan教授，英国拉夫堡大学)
If you have a train of thoughts which would otherwise keep you awake one way of dealing with this is to block those thoughts. What I'd like you to do is repeat the word 'the' in your mind at irregular intervals, the the the the the the the the the, what you'll find (is) that the mind space required to do this blocks out almost everything else.
So Professor Kevin Morgan suggests saying one word over and over again at irregular intervals, irregular in this context means not spaced out evenly. Doing it can help to block out the thoughts that are stopping you from getting to sleep. It sounds like a very simple solution. I wonder if it works?
因此，Kevin Morgan 教授建议以不规则的间隔一遍又一遍地说一个词，在这种情况下，不规则意味着间距不均匀。这样做可以帮助屏蔽阻止您入睡的想法。这听起来像是一个非常简单的解决方案。我想知道它是否有效？
Alice(爱丽丝)
There's one way to find out, Neil. Try it yourself!
有一种方法可以找出答案，尼尔。自己试试吧！
Neil(尼尔)
I will.
我会的。
Alice(爱丽丝)
OK. And cognitive behavioural therapy by the way is a treatment for mental health problems that tries to change the way you think.
还行。顺便说一句，认知行为疗法是一种治疗心理健康问题的疗法，它试图改变你的思维方式。
Neil(尼尔)
Well, I usually count sheep if I can't get to sleep. Do you do that, Alice?
嗯，如果我睡不着，我通常会数羊。你这样做吗，爱丽丝？
Alice(爱丽丝)
No, not usually. No. OK, I think it's time for the answer to our quiz question. I asked: What's another word for sleepwalking? Is it… a) narcolepsy? b) restless legs syndrome? or c) somnambulism?
Sorry, Neil, it's actually c) somnambulism, the roots of this word come from Latin. Somnus means 'sleep' and and ambulare means 'walk'. Narcolepsy is a condition where you can't stop yourself falling asleep, especially during the day.
And restless legs syndrome is a condition that makes you desperate to move your legs around, especially when you're sitting quietly or trying to get to sleep.
不宁腿综合征是一种让您不顾一切地活动双腿的疾病，尤其是当您安静地坐着或试图入睡时。
Neil(尼尔)
… get to sleep…
…睡着吧......
Alice(爱丽丝)
Neil! Wake up!
尼尔！醒来！
Neil(尼尔)
Oh, hello Alice! Sorry.
哦，你好爱丽丝！不好意思。
Alice(爱丽丝)
Hello! Can we hear today's words again, please?
你好！我们能不能再听一遍今天的歌词呢？
Neil(尼尔)
OK, yeah: sleep like a log snoring caffeine insomnia hunter-gatherers soundly irregular cognitive behavioural therapy
好的，是的：睡得像木头 打鼾 咖啡因 失眠 狩猎采集者 健全 不规则的认知行为疗法
Alice(爱丽丝)
Well, that just about brings us to the end of this edition of 6 Minute English. We hope you've enjoyed this programme. Please do join us again soon.
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