SEtalk: Sleep Is Not a Waste of Time

Raise your hand if you've ever pulled an all-nighter.

曾經熬夜到天亮的人，請舉手。

Oh, I can see plenty of hands out there!

喔，我看到好多人舉手耶！

Don't worry. I used to be the champion of all-nighters myself.

別擔心，我以前自己就是熬夜冠軍。

But tonight, I want to convince you to stop.

但今晚，我想說服大家別再這麼做了。

Sleep isn't a break from learning. It's part of learning.

睡眠不是學習的中斷，而是學習的一部分。

Let's go back to 1924, to a lab at Cornell University.

讓我們回到1924年，Cornell大學的一間實驗室。

Two researchers asked people to learn lists of nonsense syllables.

兩位研究人員請受試者背一串串沒有意義的音節。

Then some went to sleep, and others stayed awake.

接著，有些人去睡覺，其他人則保持清醒。

The sleepers remembered far more of the lists!

有睡覺的人，記得的內容多太多了！

But what is the brain actually doing at night?

可是，大腦在夜裡到底在做什麼呢？

In the 1990s, scientists recorded brain cells in rats.

1990年代，科學家記錄了大鼠腦細胞的活動。

Certain cells fired as the rats ran through a maze.

大鼠在跑迷宮時，某些細胞會放電。

Later, as the rats slept, the same cells fired together again!

後來大鼠睡著時，同一批細胞竟然又一起放電了！

It was as if they were replaying the maze!

就好像牠們在腦中重播那座迷宮一樣！

Here's the simplest way I can put it.

我用最簡單的方式來說。

During the day, your brain collects information.

白天，你的大腦在蒐集資訊。

At night, sleep is when your brain presses 'save'!

到了晚上，睡眠就是大腦按下「儲存」鍵的時候！

So what happens if you skip the night?

那如果你乾脆整晚不睡呢？

In 2007, a team at Harvard tested exactly that.

2007年，Harvard的一個團隊正好測試了這件事。

One group slept normally. The other stayed awake all night.

一組正常睡覺，另一組整晚沒睡。

The next day, both groups tried to learn new pictures.

隔天，兩組人都試著記住一批新的圖片。

For the sleepless group, making new memories was much harder.

對整晚沒睡的那組來說，形成新記憶困難多了。

Their ability dropped by about forty percent!

他們的這項能力下降了大約40%！

I learned this the hard way, at university.

我是在大學時吃了苦頭，才學到這一課。

Before my biology final, I studied all night with coffee.

生物期末考前，我靠咖啡熬了一整夜讀書。

In the morning, I read the first question —

早上，我讀了第一道題——

and my mind was completely blank.

腦袋一片空白。

I'd studied for twelve hours, and remembered almost nothing.

我讀了12個小時，卻幾乎什麼都想不起來。

So here's my advice for your next big exam.

所以，針對你們下一場重要考試，我的建議是這樣。

Don't trade sleep for study the night before.

考試前一晚，別拿睡眠去換讀書時間。

Review the hardest material just before bed,

睡前複習最難的內容，

and let your brain do the rest while you sleep.

剩下的就交給睡著的大腦吧。

Protect seven to nine hours a night.

每晚守住7到9個小時的睡眠。

That's not wasted time. That's when learning happens!

那不是浪費時間，那正是學習發生的時候！

Thank you.

謝謝大家。