The occasional all-nighter is a necessary evil for many professionals and students trying to meet a tight deadline. Are there any strategies to make that all-night session and recovery easier? One expert, Eric Olson, co-director of the Mayo Clinic's Center for Sleep Medicine in Rochester, Minn., weighs in on the most effective ways to stay alert until dawn, and why Monday nights are best.

对于许多试图赶上紧迫的最终期限的职场人士和学生族而言，偶尔熬个通宵是不可避免的罪过。那么，有什么策略能使熬通宵和精力的恢复变得更容易吗？明尼苏达州罗彻斯特市梅奥诊所睡眠医学中心(Mayo Clinic's Center for Sleep Medicine)的联席主任埃里克・奥尔森(Eric Olson)谈论了通宵达旦保持清醒的最有效方法，以及周一晚间为何是最佳熬通宵时间的原因。

Never say never

没有绝对

The party line from the sleep community is that it is never a good idea to pull an all-nighter, Dr. Olson says. 'But it does occasionally need to be done.' Ideally, an all-night session should come after a restful period -- on a Monday, for instance, after a weekend of rest. Of course, the reason most people pull late nights is because they already lead overtaxed, busy lives.

奥尔森博士说，睡眠党的信条是熬通宵绝对不行，“但是偶尔你还是会需要熬通宵的”。理想情况下，人们应在休息一段时间后再熬通宵――比如休息了一个周末后的周一。当然，大多数人熬夜的原因是他们先前就已过着超负荷、忙碌的生活。

Strategic dining

巧妙饮食

Caffeine, most readily in the form of coffee, can give sleep-deprived night owls a much-needed boost. But don't hit the java too soon. 'Most people will start to feel pressure to sleep between midnight and 7 a.m., when their circadian rhythm is telling them to shut down,' Dr. Olson says. 'Caffeine may help you get through that and through the subsequent day.'

主要存在于咖啡中的咖啡因可给没法享受睡眠的夜猫子们提供他们急需的提神之物。不过，不要过早就用上这一招。奥尔森博士说：“大多数人会在午夜至早晨七点之间感觉到困乏想睡，因为这期间人体的昼夜节律告诉他们得停下来了。咖啡因或许能帮助你熬过这段时间，并一直熬过第二天。”

Time-crunched workers also tend to grab unhealthy snacks. But high sugar intake, which can be followed by a sugar crash, isn't a great strategy. Dr. Olson cites a 2004 University of Chicago study in which healthy young people forcibly restricted their sleep. 'The researchers could clearly show that cravings tend to be more carb-based late at night, when the hormone ghrelin, which affects your appetite, goes up and leptin, a hormone of satiety, shuts off,' he says. Dr. Olson recommends keeping some protein bars lying around instead of candy to boost energy and wakefulness.

时间紧迫的职场人士往往还会匆忙吃些不健康的零食充 。但是，人在摄入高糖分后会出现困倦感，所以这并不是一个很好的方法。奥尔森博士引述了芝加哥大学(University of Chicago)2004年的一项研究，在该研究中身体健康的年轻受试者的睡眠受到了限制。他说：“研究人员能够清楚地表明，深夜时分对食物的渴求更倾向于以碳水化合物为主，这时候调节你食欲的胃饥饿素上升，而与饱腹感相关的瘦素却停滞了。”他建议身边可备些蛋白棒，用它们来替代糖果以提高精力、保持清醒。

Stimulating situations

令人兴奋的环境

Circumstances affect wakefulness. The noise and relative busyness of a hospital may keep someone working in an emergency room awake, for instance. But other activities, like driving, are often less engaging. 'If you're on an uninhabited stretch of highway and there is no stimulus, the pressure to sleep is strong,' says Dr. Olson. In that situation, he suggests pulling over and taking a nap for 20 minutes to increase performance and concentration.

环境会影响人的清醒状态。例如，医院人声嘈杂、较为繁忙，这种环境或许会让在急诊室中工作的人保持清醒。不过，其他诸如开车之类的活动通常就没法那么让人保持专注了。奥尔森博士说：“如果你在一段两旁无人居住的公路上开车，而且也没有神秘刺激因素，那么想睡觉的感觉是很强烈的。”他建议，在这种情况下驾驶员可将车停在路边小睡20分钟以提升驾车表现和专注度。

At home, a well-lit space might encourage higher productivity. 'I don't know if you're tricking your circadian rhythm, but a stimulating, light-filled environment is more likely to promote wakefulness,' he says. Avoid the bedroom, though. 'Your brain has an association with sleep in the bedroom,' says Dr. Olson. 'You'd be better off in a well-lighted place like a 24-hour coffee shop. The light, the noise, the caffeine -- they'd all promote wakefulness.'

在家中，良好的照明房间也许能帮助提高效率。奥尔森博士说：“我不知道这么做是不是在欺骗你的昼夜节律，但是令人兴奋、光照充分的环境更有可能让人保持清醒。”不过要避免在卧室中熬夜。奥尔森博士说：“在卧室中你的大脑就会联想到睡眠，在24小时咖啡馆之类的照明良好的地方情况会更好一些。灯光、杂音和咖啡因――它们全都会帮助人保持清醒。”

The morning after

熬夜过后

After being up for 24 hours, 'you may feel terrible at 6 a.m., but at 9 or 10 your internal clock is temporarily overcoming that drive to sleep,' Dr. Olson says. 'That's the second wind.' Eventually, however, the desire to nod off will win, most likely after lunch, when most circadian clocks have a built-in lull. 'If you can, try to nap after lunch,' he advises, then sleep without interruption that night.

奥尔森博士指出，在24小时不睡之后，“你也许会在早晨六点时感觉糟糕，但在九点或10点钟时你的生物钟会暂时克服睡觉的欲望。这是精力的暂时恢复”。然而，睡觉的渴望最终将压倒一切，这种情况最有可能在午饭过后发生，此时大多数人的生物钟都会有一个固有的间歇期。他建议说，“如果可以，尽量在午饭后小睡一会”，然后当天晚上不受干扰地睡上整晚的觉。

The trick to responsibly pulling an all-nighter, he says, is to allow enough compensatory down time to relieve one's sleep deficit as quickly as possible. 'Rather than setting your alarm yet again for the following morning or having some built-in commitment like getting your kids to school, you should allow yourself to spontaneously awaken without a set stimulus the night after,' he says. That doesn't mean one has to make up for all eight hours missed, since 'it's not an hour-per-hour payback,' Dr. Olson says.

奥尔森博士说，对自己负责的熬通宵的诀窍是给自己足够的补偿性休息时间，以尽快补足睡眠。他建议：“第二天早晨不要再设闹钟，心里也不要惦记送孩子上学之类的任务，而是应当让自己第二天在没有设定刺激的情况下自然醒来。”这并不是说你得把少睡了的那八个小时全部补回来，因为“这不是一小时对一小时的补偿”。

Dr. Olson says he last stayed up all night about two months ago to tend to family emergencies. 'It's a killer,' he says of an all-nighter. 'As you get older, it gets harder to bounce back. And if you're pulling all-nighters with any regularity, it does have effects on your all around health and diet.'

奥尔森博士说，他上一次熬通宵大约是在两个月前，那次是为了处理家里的急事。他在谈起熬通宵时说道：“那真要命。随着你年纪越来越大，恢复精力越来越难。倘若你时不时就要熬通宵，它确实会对你整体的健康状况和饮食造成影响。”