Guy Meadows used to work as a researcher in sleep labs at the Charing Cross and the Royal Brompton hospitals in London. He would spend his nights observing those with sleep disorders as they tried to get some shut-eye. Eight years ago he decided he had had enough: “I was tired of watching people sleep. I was doing shift work. I know how bad that is for your health.”

盖伊•梅多斯(Guy Meadows)曾在伦敦查令十字(Charing Cross)医院和皇家布朗普顿(Royal Brompton)医院睡眠实验室担任研究员。那时，他每晚观察那些有睡眠障碍、试图闭上眼睡觉的人。8年前，他觉得自己受够了：“我已经疲于观察人们睡觉。我一直在做轮班工作。我知道这对健康非常不利。”

His work, however, had convinced him there was a market among people desperate for a cure to their sleep problems. Now the 36-year-old, who describes himself as a “normal sleeper with disturbances” – he has two children, aged three and one – works as a sleep consultant, running workshops and one-to-one counselling sessions to help people overcome insomnia.

然而，他的工作让他相信，在那些迫切要治好睡眠问题的人群中存在一个市场。现年36岁的他将自己描述为一个“受到一些干扰的正常睡眠者”（他有两个分别是3岁和1岁的孩子），他是一名睡眠咨询师，以讨论会和一对一咨询的方式帮助人们克服失眠。

Mr Meadows is part of a growing profession advising individuals and companies on sleep. As he puts it, long hours, working with markets in different time zones and technologies leaves many people “tired but wired. When man was wandering around the fields with his plough, he wasn’t checking Facebook and Twitter. His brain was much quieter. Today our brains are so stimulated we can’t sleep.”

为个人和公司提供睡眠建议是一个成长中的行业。正如梅多斯所说，长时间工作、对付不同时区的市场以及科技使得很多人“既累又兴奋”。“古人在田间用犁耕地的时候，他不会一会看看Facebook一会看看Twitter。他的大脑更加平静。而现在我们的大脑如此亢奋，以至于睡不着觉。“

His mantra is that “the best sleepers do nothing to get themselves to sleep. Insomniacs do lots.” His clients, he says, end up lying in bed saying to themselves: “I’ve run a half-marathon, haven’t had any caffeine or alcohol and I still can’t sleep.” His approach is to teach people “to let go of the sleep struggles in their heads”.

他的口头禅是 ”睡眠最好的人什么都不需要做就能睡着。而失眠的人事儿最多。“他说他的客户经常躺在床上这么对自己说： ”我都跑了半程马拉松，也没有沾咖啡和酒，但我还是睡不着。“他的方法就是教人们“别让睡觉这件事在脑子里纠结”。

Some companies, including Google and the consumer goods group Procter & Gamble, are investing in sleep, from providing lectures to training human resources managers in how to advise employees to improve their sleep routines and hygiene. Tips include leaving smartphones and other devices to one side and going to bed at regular times. Sleep consultants also offer advice on melatonin-regulating lighting or the best schedules for overseas travel.

包括谷歌(Google)和消费品集团宝洁(Procter & Gamble)在内的一些公司也在投资于睡眠，从提供讲课到培训人力资源经理指导员工改善睡眠习惯和卫生。他们的建议包括将智能手机和其他设备放在一边，按时上床睡觉。睡眠咨询师还就有助调节褪黑激素的灯具或海外旅行的最佳时间安排提供咨询。

“Employers can help working schedules by looking at shifts and making managers aware of the dangers of the long-hours culture, “ says Mr Meadows.

梅多斯说：“雇主可以通过看一看轮班工作安排，并让经理人意识到长时间工作文化的危险，来帮助改进这些安排。”

So appealing is the promise of sleep that Mr Meadows is also working with marketing departments at Estée Lauder, Tui and Thomson to incorporate sleep into their brand message.

轻松入睡非常有吸引力，因此梅多斯还与雅诗兰黛(Estée Lauder)、途易(Tui)以及汤姆森(Thomson)的营销部门合作，将睡眠融入他们的品牌信息。

Rebecca Robbins, the co-author of Sleep For Success, is working with the New York Benjamin Hotel as its official sleep consultant. The luxury hotel also offers a pillow menu, slumber-inducing foods and a sleep guarantee.

《有睡眠才会成功》(Sleep For Success)一书合著者丽贝卡•罗宾斯(Rebecca Robbins)正在与纽约本杰明酒店(New York Benjamin Hotel)合作，担任该酒店官方睡眠咨询师。这家豪华酒店还提供枕头“菜单”、催眠食物以及睡眠保证。

Ms Robbins, who is finishing a PhD in sleep research at Cornell University, has given talks to banks and tech companies. She says that while a chief executive evangelising the importance of sleep can help change a company’s culture, it is those lower down the corporate ladder who make the most difference. “Team managers can observe their employees’ tiredness. They can change the focus so it is the quality not quantity of work hours that counts,” she says.

即将拿到康奈尔大学(Cornell University)睡眠研究博士学位的罗宾斯，曾给银行和科技公司做过演讲。她说，虽然首席执行官宣扬睡眠的重要性可以帮助改变一个公司的文化，但带来主要变化的还要靠公司中低层管理人员。她说：“团队主管可以观察到员工的疲劳。他们可以改变焦点，注重上班时间的工作质量，而不是加班打消耗战。”

Nancy Rothstein consults and lectures on sleep wellness to employers. She believes that as the economy has improved, so companies are starting to look at sleep as part of their benefits. “Companies have looked at fitness and diet and left out sleep. But how you work out doesn’t impact as much as sleep.”

南希•罗思坦(Nancy Rothstein)在睡眠健康方面向雇主提供咨询并开展讲座。她认为，随着经济的改善，企业也开始将睡眠看做福利的一部分。“很多企业往往注重健康和饮食，却忽视了睡眠。但是，锻炼的影响其实没有睡眠那么明显。”

Ms Robbins agrees: “The notion is that sleep is for the lazy. Instead we [are encouraged to] increase our productivity by going to the gym. In fact most of us need one more hour’s sleep a night.”

罗宾斯也认同：“人们往往认为睡觉是懒惰的表现。而我们往往被鼓励去健身房来提高生产率。实际上，大部分人每天都需要增加一个小时的睡眠。”

Russell Sanna, executive director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, echoes this view. “Employers are not yet convinced that sleep matters for peak performance. It does matter significantly that the top of organisations most of the time do not value sleep as a performance asset. ‘Sleep is for losers’ is the prevailing cultural norm.”

哈佛医学院(Harvard Medical School)睡眠医学部(Division of Sleep Medicine)执行主任罗素•桑娜(Russell Sanna)也认同这种观点。“现在雇主还不相信睡眠对于最佳表现很重要。大多数时候，企业高层没有将睡眠看作一项绩效资产，这确实具有重大影响。主流的文化观点是‘睡觉是失败者的事’。”

He adds that “sleep is considered private behaviour . . . not something that an employer should be mucking around with. However, bad sleep has public consequences. Many of them end up in the workplace. Sleep deprivation is so pervasive that, from a public health perspective, it is the new smoking.”

他补充说，“睡眠被视为私人行为，雇主不应该干涉。然而，糟糕的睡眠会造成公共后果。其中很多后果发生在工作场所。睡眠不足非常普遍，从公共健康角度来看，这就像是吸烟。”

Not only does poor sleep dent productivity, it also causes impulsivity and poor decision-making, according to sleep researchers. Sleep deprivation has been indicated as a cause in 7.8 per cent of all the US Air Force’s Class A accidents, defined as costing $1m or more). Sleep-deprived US workers cost their employers $63bn in lost productivity, according to a 2011 Harvard Medical School study. A study published in the journal Organizational Dynamics in 2011 found that “sleepy team members may be especially likely to engage in conflict . . . [and] engage in social loafing.” There are also strong links between chronic sleep deficiency and obesity, diabetes and depression.

睡眠研究人员表示，睡眠不足不仅会降低生产率，还会导致冲动和糟糕的决策。研究表明，美国空军A类事故（损失超过100万美元的事故）中7.8%是睡眠不足引起的。2011年哈佛医学院的一项研究显示，睡眠不足的美国工人会让雇主的生产率损失达到630亿美元。2011年《组织动态学》(Organizational Dynamics)杂志发布的一项研究发现，“困倦的团队成员特别容易卷入冲突中，并且在团队中偷懒。”长期睡眠不足和肥胖、糖尿病以及抑郁症之间也有密切联系。

The Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine is planning to launch a campaign to address this issue. ReCharge America aims to engage global companies and consumers, for example, by working with Walmart to provide shoppers with the opportunity to assess their sleep health and receive guidance.

哈佛医学院睡眠医学部正计划针对这个问题发起一项宣传活动。ReCharge America希望调动跨国公司和消费者，比如说与沃尔玛(Walmart)合作，为购物者提供评估睡眠健康、并获得指导的机会。

No discussion of sleep consultants, however, is complete without those helping parents cope with waking infants. Louise Moxon set up Cocoon, an agency in London that provides parents desperate for their infants to sleep through the night with consultants. She believes that societal change has meant that parents want to buy in help that would previously come from families. “In our parents’ generation . . . often the grandmother of the child would move in to help and give advice. Now, it seems that it is not the done thing,” she says. Moreover, there is so much advice on the internet and in books that “it becomes difficult to know what to believe”.

然而，如果不能帮助父母们应对不时醒来的婴儿，睡眠咨询师的讨论就是不完整的。路易斯•莫克森(Louise Moxon)在伦敦建立了Cocoon，为那些迫切希望孩子夜里能够安睡的父母们提供咨询师。她认为，社会变化意味着父母们希望能够买到一些援助，而这样的援助以前是来自家庭的。她说：“在我们父母那个时代，一般都是孩子的祖母搬过来帮助他们并提供指导。如今这种安排不一定可行。”此外，互联网和书本中有很多建议，“很难判断应该相信哪个”。

Kim West and Deborah Pedrick, co-founders of the International Association of Child Sleep Consultants, add another factor: “The growing awareness of the effects from chronic sleep loss . . . and its connection with childhood obesity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning deficiencies in school-age children.”

儿童睡眠顾问国际协会(International Association of Child Sleep Consultants)的联合创始人金•维斯特(Kim West)和德博拉•佩德里克(Deborah Pedrick)补充了另一个因素：“人们对长期睡眠不足的影响……及其与儿童肥胖、注意力缺陷、多动症、学龄儿童学习困难的关系有着越来越深刻的意识。”

A good sleep consultant must be sympathetic to the needs of the child and parents, Ms Moxon insists. “A lot of parents find the ‘leave to cry’ technique very upsetting. However, a good sleep consultant will understand your needs and requirements and therefore choose a method that works for you.”

莫克森认为，一个好的睡眠咨询师必须对孩子和父母们的需求感同身受。“很多父母发现‘任孩子去哭’的方法难以承受。然而，一个好的睡眠咨询师将了解你的需求和要求，进而为你选择一个管用的方法。”

Mr Meadows does not work with children but says that understanding the client is key. “Sleep is an individual thing. Seven to eight hours is the much-trumpeted time we’re meant to sleep. In fact the range is four to 10 hours. Some can wake up at 5am, run around the park, read the papers and be in the office by 7.30am. They are predetermined to be like that,” he adds.

梅多斯没有研究过儿童，但他认为了解客户是关键。他补充说：“睡眠是个人的事。我们都倡导睡七八个小时，但实际上睡眠时间范围是四到十个小时。一些人早晨五点就能醒，然后在公园里跑步、看报纸，七点半到办公室。他们生来就是这样。”