睡眠改善生活方式的4大原因

4 Reasons Sleep Can Improve Your Lifestyle

Sleep is probably one of the most underrated factors that can be used to improve our health. Despite being extremely important, it rarely gets the attention it deserves.

睡眠能改善健康大概是最可能被低估的一个方面。尽管有着这样的重要性，但还是没有引起足够的重视。

Here are five reasons sleep can improve your lifestyle:

睡眠也能改善健康的4个原因：

1.Improved cognitive performance and memory.

提高认知力和记忆力

Most people burn the midnight oil whenever they are studying for an exam or have to cram a whole lot of information into their brains.

不管是备考还是浏览信息来充实自己，很多人都喜欢挑灯夜战。

What if I told you that your late night attempt to learn is counterproductive and you are probably better off sleeping? There are a couple ways sleep will enhance your cognitive performance and memory.

但是如果我告诉你晚上挑灯夜战的效率反而会下降，还影响睡眠质量呢？有很多种睡觉的方式都能提高你的认知力和记忆力。

Ensuring you are well-rested will help keep mental fatigue at bay.

好的睡眠能治愈你一天的疲惫。

Short term memory is stored in a part of the brain called the neocortex, while long term memory is stored in the hippocampus .

短期记忆是储存在大脑皮质里面的，而长期性的记忆是储存在海马体中。

During sleep, information from the neocortex gets transferred into the hippocampus, creating a much more permanent storage. Hence, a well-rested brain will ensure proper mental function and an improved memory.

休息的时候这些信息从大脑的皮质层里转移到海马体中，如此来存储更多的长期性记忆。因此，好的睡眠能搞保证机体的正常运转，提高记忆力。

2.Sleep and skill acquisition.

技能的习得

It’s interesting to note that sleeping well will help us pick up new skills faster. Study subjects that had sleep deprivation had no problem performing and learning simple skills; however, as difficulty increased, the subjects who were sleep-deprived found it tougher to pick up a new skill .

很有趣的是：好的睡眠能让技能的掌握变得更快。研究也显示：睡眠不足也不会在个人的表现和简单技能的学习方面造成不好的影响。但是随着难度的加大，睡眠不足的人会发现学习一项新的技能会变得比较困难。

3.Lack of sleep can lead to weight gain.

睡眠不足会引起体重的上升

Lack of sleep can not only disrupt mental performance but it can also hamper physical performance. Lab studies have shown that an increase in sleep deprivation showed an increased risk of obesity and diabetes .

睡眠不足不仅会作用到精神层面，还会严重的影响到身体。实验室研究表明睡眠不足会增加患上肥胖症、糖尿病的风险。

4.Lack of sleep can lead to decreased immune function.

睡眠不足会影响免疫功能

When we sleep, our body produces a hormone called melatonin. This is a vital hormone that helps regulate our immune system. A lack of melatonin can lead to someone falling sick easily due to a weaken immune system.

睡觉的时候，身体会释放出一种叫做褪黑激素的物质。这是一种相当重要的荷尔蒙激素，它能够帮助调节免疫系统。褪黑素的缺乏容易让人生病，从而引起免疫系统的弱化。

There are also studies demonstrating that a lack of sleep can also increase the risk of cancer, heart disease and an increase in cholesterol levels.

也有研究表明睡眠不足还会增加引发癌症、心脏病、引起肾上激素上升的风险。

So if you want to take care of your health, you better be monitoring your sleep.

所以如果你想要健康，那你还是要保证足够的睡眠。