不做夢(mèng)對(duì)健康的不利影響

Carl Jung believed dreams represent archetypal realities obscured during waking consciousness. Dreams reveal more than they conceal, he wrote, countering Freud’s idea that subconscious movies were by design secretive. Dreams are an integral component of Jung's theory of individuation, in which our conscious and unconscious lives are integrated.

卡爾·榮格相信：夢(mèng)代表在清醒意識(shí)中被掩蓋的原型現(xiàn)實(shí)，夢(mèng)所揭露的比它們隱藏的更多。在他的理論中，我們的意識(shí)世界和無(wú)意識(shí)世界被整合在一起了。

In Jungian philosophy, the conflict and chaos experienced in dreams ultimately bring order to our lives. While Jung’s more mystical theories are debatable given our current knowledge of neuroscience, he was not mistaken about the importance of dreaming. As it turns out, their absence is terrible for our health.

在榮格的哲學(xué)中，我們?cè)趬?mèng)中所經(jīng)歷的沖突和混亂最終給我們的生活帶來(lái)了秩序。雖然榮格的理論備受爭(zhēng)議，但事實(shí)證明，夢(mèng)的缺席確實(shí)對(duì)我們的健康不利。

Rowan Hooper, the managing editor at New Scientist, reports that chronic dream deprivation is damaging our waking hours in numerous ways. As I wrote about last year, 40 percent of Americans get less than seven hours of sleep every night; Hooper claims that number is 60 percent in the UK.

《新科學(xué)家》的執(zhí)行編輯Rowan Hooper表示，長(zhǎng)期的夢(mèng)境缺失正在以多種方式影響我們的日常生活。Hooper聲稱(chēng)，60%的英國(guó)人每晚睡眠時(shí)間少于7小時(shí)。

This trend is wreaking havoc on our immune and metabolic systems, leading to a variety of diseases and obesity. Forget about focus: the devices that keep us up late at night are ruining our sleep patterns, which has long-term consequences on our memory system. One study showed that denying mice adequate amounts of REM sleep, the cycle in which we dream, the mice couldn’t consolidate memories.

這種趨勢(shì)正在破壞我們的免疫系統(tǒng)和代謝系統(tǒng)，導(dǎo)致各種疾病和肥胖。同時(shí)，這也正在破壞我們的睡眠模式，對(duì)我們的記憶系統(tǒng)有長(zhǎng)期的影響。

We might think this is just a sleep problem, but dreaming is inseparable from our nighttime sojourn through the darkness. Dream problems and sleep problems go hand in hand. We sleep in cycles, each lasting about 90 minutes; we go through three cycles before hitting REM. The longer we sleep, the more time we spend in REM, which is why we are often dreaming when waking up in the morning. If we sleep less than seven hours, however, it becomes harder to achieve this level of REM.

我們可能認(rèn)為這只是一個(gè)睡眠問(wèn)題，但是夢(mèng)境與我們的睡眠是分不開(kāi)的。我們的睡眠是周期性的，每次持續(xù)大約90分鐘。在進(jìn)入快速眼動(dòng)之前，我們大約需要經(jīng)歷三個(gè)周期。我們睡得越久，我們?cè)诳焖傺蹌?dòng)階段(睡眠的最后階段，你能在這個(gè)階段看到清晰的夢(mèng)境)花的時(shí)間就越多，這就是為什么我們經(jīng)常在早上快醒來(lái)時(shí)做夢(mèng)。然而，如果我們睡眠時(shí)間少于7小時(shí)，就很難達(dá)到這種快速眼動(dòng)的水平。

This makes us more than a little groggy. As Hooper writes, sleep problems and digestive issues are also related. Besides mood disorders, missing sleep raises our stress level during the day, which affects how we digest food. The digestive process is interrupted when we don't get the proper amount of shut-eye.

正如 Hooper所說(shuō)的，睡眠問(wèn)題和消化問(wèn)題是相關(guān)的。缺乏睡眠會(huì)增加我們?cè)诎滋斓膲毫λ?，而這會(huì)影響我們消化食物的方式。

Hooper points out a connection between the digestion of food and the digestion of emotions. Memory consolidation is a critical reason for dreaming at all. The combination of sleeping and dreaming acts as an emotional stabilizer. We’re able to integrate the day’s events in a place where, physically speaking, we’re vulnerable—our ancestors didn’t have locks on their doors. Incredibly, we heal from emotional trauma more quickly when we sleep, and dream, properly.

Hooper還指出了睡眠和情緒消化之間的聯(lián)系。鞏固記憶是做夢(mèng)的一個(gè)重要原因，睡眠和做夢(mèng)的結(jié)合起到了情緒穩(wěn)定器的作用。我們能夠把這一天發(fā)生的事情整合到一個(gè)地方。當(dāng)我們做夢(mèng)時(shí)，我們從情感創(chuàng)傷中愈合得更快。

Except we’re not getting enough sleep to cycle through the stages to take advantage of this circadian anti-depressant. Instead, we get depressed and turn to substances like alcohol and pharmaceuticals to nod off. This only makes things worse. Even one drink delays REM—forget about getting drunk. Your sleep is ruined. Antidepressants promote deep sleep at the expense of REM, which also disrupts our dream cycles.

除了因?yàn)闆](méi)有足夠的睡眠而擾亂夢(mèng)周期外，我們還在使用一些讓事情變得更糟的東西——酒精以及抗抑郁藥物。即使是一杯酒也會(huì)延遲快速眼動(dòng)睡眠，而抗抑郁藥物則以犧牲快速眼動(dòng)睡眠為代價(jià)促進(jìn)深度睡眠，這都擾亂了我們的夢(mèng)周期。

We’re paying for this lack of dreaming in numerous ways, including creativity. One 2009 study stated, “Compared with quiet rest and non-REM sleep, REM enhanced the formation of associative networks and the integration of unassociated information.” Volunteers that experienced more REM sleep were better equipped for solving problems requiring creative solutions.

我們?yōu)檫@種缺乏夢(mèng)境的生活方式付出了無(wú)數(shù)的代價(jià)，其中甚至包括創(chuàng)造力。2009年的一項(xiàng)研究表明：“與非快速眼動(dòng)睡眠相比，快速眼動(dòng)睡眠增強(qiáng)了聯(lián)想網(wǎng)絡(luò)的形成和非關(guān)聯(lián)信息的整合，那些經(jīng)歷了更多快速眼動(dòng)睡眠的參與者更有能力解決需要?jiǎng)?chuàng)造性解決方案的問(wèn)題”。

Hooper writes that dreams that include an “emotional core” appear to be a main function of REM sleep. He continues,

Hooper表示，包含“情感核心”的夢(mèng)境似乎是快速眼動(dòng)睡眠的一個(gè)主要功能。他說(shuō)道：

You might dream about a hard decision, and the brain monitors your emotional response to it. The next day, your ability to make the decision is easier: you have “slept on it”. This phrase or similar exists in most languages, by the way.

你可能會(huì)夢(mèng)到一個(gè)艱難的決定，而大腦會(huì)監(jiān)控你對(duì)它的情緒反應(yīng)。第二天，你做決定的能力就變得更容易了

He concludes that we should scrutinize sleep patterns as seriously as we do diet and exercise habits.

他總結(jié)說(shuō)，我們應(yīng)該像對(duì)待飲食和鍛煉那樣嚴(yán)肅認(rèn)真地檢查睡眠模式。