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How Much Sleep Do You Need
你需要多少睡眠？
If I were to answer this question based on my experience, I would answer “at least 10 hours” straightaway. For different people, you’d definitely get different answers. I still remember learning in school that the average amount of sleep that people need is anywhere from 7 to 9 hours. I suppose the key word here is “average.” This means that the figures cannot be pinned down for everyone. So how would you know how much sleep you really need?
According to the National Sleep Foundation, “sleep needsvary across populations, and the study calls for further research to identify traits within genes that may provide a “map” to explain how sleep needs differ among individuals.” More than this, “another reason there is “no magic number” for your sleep results from two different factors that researchers are learning about: a person’s basal sleep need – the amount of sleep our bodies need on a regular basis for optimal performance – and sleep debt, the accumulated sleep that is lost to poor sleep habits, sickness, awakenings due to environmental factors or other causes.”
It is complicated, isn’t it? I suppose the determining factor would be how your body responds to the amount of sleep you get. If you sleep for 7 hours and you still can’t function optimally during the day, then the chances are that you need more. On the other hand, if you sleep for 10 hours and you feel groggy and not even coffee can do much for you, then you should probably lessen your sleeping hours. As for me, I am sticking to my minimum of 10 hours a day if I can!
如果让我根据我的经验来回答这个问题，我会脱口而出“至少10小时”。问不同的人，你绝对会得到不同的答案。我还记得在学校里学到的人所需的平均睡眠时间是7至9小时。我觉得这里的重点是“平均”。这就意味着这个数字不能制约所有人。所以你怎样才能知道你真正需要多少睡眠呢？
根据国家睡眠基金会说，“对于睡眠的需求，人与人是不同的，仍需要进一步的研究来确定不同基因的特点，从而为不同的人对睡眠的不同需求来做出详细的解释。”不仅如此，“另一个这里没“幻数”的原因是，你的睡眠结果来自研究人员正在学习的两个不同要素：一个人的基本睡眠需要——我们身体为日常的理想状态所需的基本睡眠量——和睡眠负债，由于不好的睡眠习惯，生病，出于环境因素或其它因素而导致醒来等累计失去的睡眠量。”
很复杂，不是吗？我认为决定性的因素是你的身体对于你得到的睡眠量所做出的反应。如果你一天睡7小时在白天仍不能保持理想的状态，那你就需要更多的睡眠。另一方面，如果你一天睡10小时，感到头昏眼花，咖啡也帮不了你，那你也许要减少点你的睡眠时间。对于我来说，如果可以，我还是坚持每天最少睡10个小时。
[责编：朱静]
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