如何让孩子和成年人都睡得更好

Like many moms, Sofia Axelrod found the lack of sleep really hard after giving birth.

和许多妈妈一样，索菲亚·阿克塞尔罗德在生完孩子后发现睡眠不足真的很难受。

"Sleep deprivation is so detrimental," said sleep consultant Axelrod, who is a neuroscientist at Rockefeller University in New York. "I didn't just want to suck it up and think, yeah my life for now on is going to be permanently damaged."

“睡眠不足非常有害，”睡眠顾问阿克塞尔罗德说，她是纽约洛克菲勒大学的神经学家。“我不想只是忍着，想着，是的，我现在的生活将会被永久地破坏。”

The mother of two was inspired to dig into the research, looking for evidence-based tactics to get young children and their parents to sleep through the night. The results of her search can be found in her new book, "How Babies Sleep: The Gentle, Science-Based Method to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night."

这位两个孩子的母亲受到启发，开始深入研究，寻找有证据的策略，让孩子和他们的父母彻夜入睡。她的搜索结果可以在她的新书《婴儿如何睡眠：一种温和的、基于科学的方法来帮助你的宝宝彻夜入睡》中找到。

Axelrod learned that parents' brains -- mostly moms -- are wired to care for a young child. Nighttime noises, tame or savage, will jolt many of us awake. Even when the baby is capable of self-soothing. Even when we are so, so tired.

阿克塞尔罗德了解到，父母的大脑——主要是母亲的大脑——与照顾幼儿有关。夜间的噪音，不管是温和的还是野蛮的，都会把我们惊醒。即使婴儿能够自我安抚。即使当我们很累很累的时候。

But if we let our instinct to care for our young children reign supreme, and get no sleep as a result, nobody wins. "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy," the old saying goes; and sleep-deprived mamas are not happy.

但是，如果我们让关爱孩子的本能占据主导地位，结果睡不着觉，那谁也赢不了。俗话说:“如果妈妈不高兴，谁也不高兴。”睡眠不足的妈妈们也不开心。

"I wanted to be happy, and I need sleep to make me happy," Axelrod said. "So I said, how do I make it happen?"

“我想要快乐，我需要睡眠来让我快乐，”阿克塞尔罗德说。“所以我说，我怎么让它发生?”

Axelrod spoke to CNN about how to maximize everyone's sleep, from the baby years on. She also had a few thoughts about which pandemic habits might be getting in the way of a good night's sleep, and which ones are not.

阿克塞尔罗德接受CNN采访时谈到了如何从婴儿时期开始，让每个人的睡眠都最大化。她也有一些想法，关于流行疾病的哪些习惯可能会妨碍良好的睡眠，哪些不会。

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

为清楚起见，本文经过编辑和压缩。

CNN: Humans instinctively respond to light and get sleep cues from natural and artificial light. What should parents use to signal "sleepy time" to their kids?

CNN:人类本能地对光线做出反应，并从自然和人造光线中获得睡眠线索。父母应该用什么来给孩子发出“睡觉时间”的信号?

Sofia Axelrod: When I was working in the lab with fruit flies. When we want to test their sleep without waking them up, we use a red flashlight. Every other type of light wakes them up.

索菲亚·阿克塞尔罗德:我当我在实验室里研究果蝇的时候。当我们想在不吵醒它们的情况下测试他们的睡眠时，我们用红色手电筒。其他类型的光线会唤醒他们。

I was pregnant, and I realized that the same is true for humans. We are largely insensitive to red light. So I bought a red light bulb (Ed. note: Not all red light bulbs are actual red light, so shop carefully) and started using it during nighttime feeds when my baby was born, and it worked. The baby wouldn't get the signal from the red light that it's time to wake up.

我怀孕了，我意识到人类也是如此。我们基本上对红光不敏感。所以我买了一个红色灯泡(注:并不是所有的红色灯泡都是真正的红色灯泡，所以在购物时要小心)，并在我的宝宝出生后的夜间喂奶时开始使用它，而且它起作用了。婴儿不会从红灯中得到该起床的信号。

CNN: How does light signal to the brain that it's time to sleep or time to wake up?

CNN:光是如何向大脑发出该睡觉还是该起床的信号的?

Axelrod: We have these special cells in the back of our eyes that have special light receptors. So whenever you're exposed to light, in the morning or the evening, they signal to your body that it's time to be awake. They reset your body clock.

阿克塞尔罗德:我们的眼睛后面有一些特殊的细胞，它们有特殊的光感受器。所以无论你在早晨还是晚上暴露在光线下，它们都会向你的身体发出信号，告诉你该醒了。它们会重置你的生物钟。

You can use light to help train your body that this is bedtime, and this is morning time.

你可以利用光线来帮助训练你的身体，这是睡觉时间，这是早上时间。

CNN: Can introducing red light and limiting overall light exposure help older kids fall asleep more quickly at night?

CNN:引入红光和限制整体光线照射能帮助年龄较大的孩子在晚上更快入睡吗?

Axelrod: Yes. We actually have a red light in our living room that we put on an hour before bedtime.

阿克塞尔罗德:是的。在我们的起居室里有一个红灯，我们在睡觉前一小时打开它。

CNN: Can dimming lights in the evening help get us to sleep?

CNN:晚上调暗灯光能帮助我们入睡吗?

Axelrod: Yes, though it's really important to be consistent with timing. We need to work with our inner clock. Also, turn the red light on or dim the lights an hour before bedtime.

阿克塞尔罗德：是的，但与时间保持一致非常重要。我们需要利用我们的生物钟。另外，在就寝前一小时把红灯打开或把灯光调暗。

There is a strong correlation between not getting enough sleep and depression, and so the sleep deprivation can end up making them feel even worse if it continues. Parents need to try to provide the comfort their kids need, so the kids' anxieties don't take over and keep everyone from sleeping well.

睡眠不足和抑郁之间有很强的相关性，所以如果睡眠不足持续下去，会让他们感觉更糟。父母应该尽力为孩子提供他们需要的安抚，这样孩子的焦虑才不会占据上风，让每个人都睡不好觉。