想快樂不難 只需早上牀
When you go to bed, and how long you sleep at a time, might actually make it difficult for you to stop worrying. So say Jacob Nota and Meredith Coles of Binghamton University in the US, who found that people who sleep for shorter periods of time and go to bed very late at night are often overwhelmed with more negative thoughts than those who keep more regular sleeping hours.
當你上牀睡覺的時候，你一次睡眠的時間長短可能會對緩解你的憂慮有一定的作用。美國賓漢姆頓大學的Jacob Nota和Meredith Coles就如此認爲，他們發現睡眠時間短和睡覺時間晚的人相比於平時睡眠時間充足的人更容易被負面情緒影響。
The findings appear in Springer's journal Cognitive Therapy and Research.
普林格出版的《認知療法與研究》雜誌上發表了這一發現。
People are said to have repetitive negative thinking when they have bothersome pessimistic thoughts that seem to repeat in their minds. They feel as though they have little control over these contemplations. They also tend to worry excessively about the future, delve too much into the past, and experience annoying intrusive thoughts. Such thoughts are often typical of people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder. These individuals also tend to have sleep problems.
據說在有讓人討厭的悲觀想法不斷地出現在心裏的時候人們會產生一些連續的消極思想。他們覺得好像對於此類想法無能爲力。而且他們傾向於極度擔心未來，沉迷過去，並且胡思亂想。這些思想常常是患有焦慮，失落，受傷，強迫症，社會焦慮症的人的典型表現。這些人都傾向於有睡眠問題。
Previous studies have linked sleep problems with such repetitive negative thoughts, especially in cases where someone does not get enough shut eye. Nota and Coles set out to replicate these studies, and to further see if there's any link between having such repetitive thoughts and the actual time when someone goes to bed.
早期研究表明睡眠質量和不斷出現的消極情緒有一定關係，特別是在沒有獲得充足睡眠的情況下。Nota和Coles對這些實驗做了重複性的研究，並且進一步研究了產生消極情緒和睡眠的確切時間是否有一定聯繫。
They asked 100 young adults at Binghamton University to complete a battery of questionnaires and two computerized tasks. In the process, it was measured how much the students worry, ruminate or obsess about something -- three measures by which repetitive negative thinking is gauged. The students were also asked whether they were more habitual morning or evening types, preferring to hold regular hours or to have a sleep-wake schedule that is more skewed towards later in the day,
Nota和Coles要求一百位在賓漢姆頓大學的成年人完成一份調查問卷和兩個電腦測試。在此過程中，測量了學生們到底有多擔心，憂慮或者困擾於某些事情——這是三種主要的反覆出現的消極情緒。參與實驗的學生被問了一些問題，像更習慣早起還是熬夜，是會傾向於堅持一個正常的作息時間還是會有一個睡眠的時間安排表——但是不一定遵守。
The researchers found that people who sleep for shorter periods of time and go to bed later often experience more repetitive negative thoughts than others. This was also true for those students who described themselves as evening types.
研究者發現睡眠時間短和喜歡熬夜的人相比其他人更容易經受消極情緒。對那些喜歡熬夜的學生來說也是如此。
"Making sure that sleep is obtained during the right time of day may be an inexpensive and easily disseminable intervention for individuals who are bothered by intrusive thoughts," remarks Nota.
Nota提醒說，“對那些經常被消極思想困擾的人來說，確保該睡覺的時候睡覺應該是一種廉價和易得的方式。”
The findings also suggest that sleep disruption may be linked to the development of repetitive negative thinking. Nota and Coles therefore believe that it might benefit people who are at risk of developing a disorder characterized by such intrusive thoughts to focus on getting enough sleep.
這個發現還意味着，睡覺的時候被打擾可能也和消極情緒的產生有一定關係。因此，Nota和Coles相信對於因爲消極情緒而處於混亂狀態的人，充足的睡眠不失爲一種有益的方法。
"If further findings support the relation between sleep timing and repetitive negative thinking, this could one day lead to a new avenue for treatment of individuals with internalizing disorders," adds Coles. "Studying the relation between reductions in sleep duration and psychopathology has already demonstrated that focusing on sleep in the clinic also leads to reductions in symptoms of psychopathology."
“如果將來的研究表明睡眠的時間和消極情緒的出現有聯繫，那麼有一天可能會產生一種新的治療人們情緒混亂的方法。”Coles補充說，“睡眠時間的減少和心理活動的關係的研究已經證明在小屋裏睡覺也能夠減少心理活動。”
This study is part of a line of research examining the relations between sleep behavior and mental health. Based on growing evidence linking sleep and psychopathology, Nota and Coles and their colleagues at Binghamton University are aiming to understand how information about sleep may be used to help individuals with anxiety disorders.
這個研究只是睡眠行爲和精神健康之間關係的一部分。基於睡眠和心理之間有聯繫的證據的不斷增加，Nota和Coles以及他們賓漢姆頓大學的同事致力於掌握如何運用有關睡眠的信息幫助情緒紊亂的人。
