Sleep – we all need it – some more than others. I can usually get by with around seven hours a night but I do like to have a nap – a short sleep – in the afternoon, when I’m not working of course. How about you, Neil?
I’m always tired and as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out like a light – meaning I go to sleep very quickly.
我总是很累，一旦我的头碰到枕头，我就会像一盏灯一样熄灭 —— 这意味着我很快就睡着了。
Sam(山姆)
Well, Neil, you might not survive in South Korea then. Apparently, it’s one of the most stressed and tired nations on earth - a place where people work and study longer hours and get less sleep than anywhere else. We’ll find out more later and teach some sleep-related vocabulary.
But before we do, you need to give me a question to keep me awake and alert!
但在我们这样做之前，你需要给我一个问题，让我保持清醒和警觉！
Sam(山姆)
Of course I do, and here it is. In the 1960s, American man, Randy Gardner, set the world record for staying awake for the longest period. Do you know what that time was? Was it: a) 64 hours; b) 164 hours, or c) 264 hours?
All sound impossible but I’ll guess a) 64 hours – that’s nearly 3 days!
这听起来是不可能的，但我猜 a） 64 小时 —— 这几乎是 3 天！
Sam(山姆)
Oh, well. I’ll give you the answer later in the programme – assuming you don’t doze off! But let’s talk more about sleep now. As I mentioned, we all need it to help our mind and body rest and relax. And going without sleep – or sleeplessness - is bad for our health.
Many things can stop us sleeping and some of them are pressure, anxiety and stress caused by your job. And in South Korea research has shown it’s become increasingly difficult to switch off – stop thinking about work and relax. South Koreans sleep fewer hours and have higher rates of depression and suicide than almost anywhere else.
Se-Woong Koo has been reporting on this for the BBC World Service Documentary podcast. He met one worker who explained why she never got time to relax.
Separating work and rest time has been a recurring issue for Ji-an – in her last job her office hours were long. Like most Korean firms, her employer didn’t think about any boundaries. They encroached on almost all her time.
They told me ‘you need to be contactable 24/7’ – there will always be someone from work reaching out to me, like needing to get something done right now. Even just thinking about it, I get really agitated.
So, that stressed out worker got agitated just thinking about the situation – she got worried or upset. That’s because office hours in South Korea are long and some employers expect their workers to be contactable all the time.
Yes, there are no boundaries – so no limits or rules about when employers can contact their employees. Therefore, as this employee said, work encroached – it gradually took over - her leisure time. Stress like this can lead to insomnia – a condition where you are unable to sleep.
The BBC Discovery podcast goes on to explain that offering a cure for this sleeplessness has become big business. There are sleep clinics where doctors assess people overnight, and sleep cafes that offer places to nap in the middle of the working day.
BBC Discovery播客继续解释说，为这种失眠提供治疗已经成为一门大生意。有睡眠诊所，医生可以通宵评估患者，也有睡眠咖啡馆，在工作日中间提供小睡的地方。
Neil(尼尔)
One other issue in South Korea that’s affecting sleep is the ‘bali bali’ culture, meaning ‘quickly, quickly’ or ‘hurry, hurry’. People are constantly in a rush.
Doctor Lee spoke to the World Service’s Discovery podcast about the effects of this and how even trying to take medication to help sleep, has its problems.
People take like, ten or twenty pills per one night, and because they cannot fall asleep even with the medication, they drink alcohol on top of that, and they experience side-effects of the medication. People can sleepwalk, and go to the refrigerator, eat a lot of things unconsciously - uncooked food, and they don’t remember next day. There were cases of car accidents in the centre of Seoul which has been sleepwalking patients.
So, some people are taking lots of pills to help them sleep but they’re not working so they’re drinking alcohol as well. This leads to side-effects – unpleasant and unexpected results from the medication.
Well, before you nod off Neil, let’s recap some of the vocabulary we’ve been discussing, including go out like a light, which means you go to sleep very quickly.
/1 
