How being a morning person or a night owl transforms your memory
做早起的鸟、还是夜猫子是如何改变你的记忆的
We all have times of day when we are not at our best. For me, before 10am, and between 2-4pm, it's as though my brain just doesn't work the way it should. I labor to come up with names, struggle to keep my train of thought, and my eloquence drops to the level expected of an eight-year-old.
我们每个人在一天中都有低潮期。像我，早10点前，和下午2-4点，这是我的大脑就不按常态工作了。我努力去想那些人名，拼命想保持脑力前行，而我的说话能力这是降到了8岁的水平。
In an effort to blame my brain for this, rather than my motivation, I reached out to a researcher in the area of sleep and circadian neuroscience. Andrea Smit, a PhD student working with Professors John McDonald and Ralph Mistlberger at Simon Fraser University in Canada, was happy to help me find excuses for why my memory is so terribly unreliable at certain times of day.
我拼命责怪我的大脑，而不是我的动机，我找到了一位在睡眠和生物科学的研究者，Andrea Smit。他是名加拿大Simon Fraser大学跟随John McDonald和RalphMistlberger教授学习的博士生。他很乐意帮我找到我的大脑在一天中定时宕机原因。
Your chronotype matters
与你的时间类型有关
Humans have daily biological rhythms, called circadian rhythms, which affect almost everything that we do. They inform our bodies when it is time to eat and sleep, and they dictate our ability to remember things. According to Smit, "Chronotype, the degree to which someone is a "morning lark" or a "night owl," is a manifestation of circadian rhythms.
人类每天都会有生物节奏，叫昼夜节奏，这会影响我们很多行为。它们告诉我们的身体什么时间吃饭和睡觉，并管理我们的记忆能力。Smit说：“时间类型能表明你是早起的白灵还是一只夜猫子，是昼夜节奏的一种表现。”
In a recent study, Smit used EEG, a type of brain scan, to study the interaction between chronotypes and memory. "Testing extreme chronotypes at multiple times of day allowed us to compare attentional abilities and visual short term memory between morning larks and night owls. Night owls were worse at suppressing distracting visual information and had a worse visual short term memory in the morning as compared with the afternoon," she says. "Our research shows that circadian rhythms interact with memories even at very early stages of processing within the brain."
在最近的研究中，Smit使用了EEG，这是一种大脑扫描，来探究昼夜节奏和记忆之间的相互关系。她说：“在一天中多次测试时间类型能让我们对早起百灵和夜猫子之间的注意力和视觉短期记忆进行比较。夜猫子在抑制分散注意力的视觉信息上更弱，而且他的视觉短期记忆在早上比下午要差。我们的研究显示在大脑中昼夜节奏在很早的时候就与记忆进行互动。
As a self-identified night owl, this is exactly what I want to hear. When someone next asks why I am being unproductive; I can say that I'm not being lazy, it's just that my brain is having trouble suppressing distracting information.
作为一个夜猫子，这正是我想听的。当有人以后问我为什么不灵光时，我会说我不是懒惰，而只是我的大脑当时对抑制干扰信息不管用了。
Why you need to sleep more
为什么需要多睡眠
On top of being a night owl, I need so much sleep. I nap as if it's going out of style, and if left alarm-less I can easily turn a night's sleep into a steady 12-hour dream-a-thon.
除了是个夜猫子，我其实需要许多睡眠。我还进行过了时的午睡，如果不上闹钟的话我能连睡12小时美梦连篇。
Luckily, Smit can help with excuses here too; "Research has reliably shown that memory performance is best following an episode of sleep, and that sleep deprivation disrupts the transfer of information into long-term memory." This transfer of information into long-term memories is a process called memory consolidation (a process which I discuss at some length in my book on memory).
很走运，这方面Smit也可能帮到我，“研究发现记忆力的表现和睡眠分不开，不良睡眠扰乱了信息转化为长期记忆。”这个将信息转化成长期记忆得过程叫做记忆巩固（关于记忆在我的书中有详尽描述）。
Smit says that this means that particularly people who need to remember information for tests or presentations "will retain more information if they get a good night's sleep." She says that this applies particularly to teenagers, opining that "school start times are too early for adolescents (who are more likely to be night owls) which negatively affects their school performance."
Smit说这意味着特定的一部分人比如为了为了考试或提案要牢记资料的人“如果睡眠充足记住的信息会更多。”她说这也适合青少年，她认为“学校开课的时间对于青少年来说过早（谁更像是夜猫子）对他们的学习成绩会有负面影响”
As a bonus high-five to sleep, Smit says that "sleep is also important for clearing away waste from the brain, including proteins whose buildup has been linked with Alzheimer's."
Smit对睡眠还做了进一步说明，她说：“睡眠对清除大脑中的垃圾很有帮助，包括蛋白质，它的堆积物已证明和阿尔茨海默症有关。”
Being ridiculed for sleeping in? Just say something to the effect of "I didn't oversleep. I consolidated, optimized my brain for this presentation, and cleared additional waste from my brain thereby preventing the onset of Alzheimer's. What did you do this morning?" BAM.
被嘲笑没起床吗？那就说两句呗，“我没有多睡。我就是为了这个提案整理，优化了一下我的大脑，顺便为防止老年痴呆症分发作清理了一下大脑废物。你早上做什么了？”哼哼。
Be careful with big schedule shifts
要小心大的变动
Watch out, however, for big changes in your sleep schedule. Disruptions to your schedule are bad news, says Smit. While many of us experience small changes to our bedtime, and some mornings we need to get up earlier than others, it's big shifts in our schedule that we need to worry about.
但是小心，要注意睡眠习惯的大变动。Smit说打乱你的睡眠习惯是个坏事。我们很多人都经历过小的睡眠变化，如有时候要比别人早起床，但大的变动就要引起我们的注意了。
Shifts like those resulting from long-distance travel or shift-work. "Research suggests that circadian disruption, such as jetlag, accelerates memory loss. Chronic jetlag has been found to decrease cell proliferation and neurogenesis (the creation of new brain cells), and cause memory deficits like retrograde amnesia that last longer than the jetlag itself."
比如长距离旅行和调换工作后，“研究结果建议，昼夜节奏混乱，如时差，会加速记忆丧失。已发现长时间时差能降低细胞增殖和神经发育（制造新的脑细胞），并导致记忆障碍如逆行性遗忘，它会比时差本身持续时间更长。”
If you fancy yourself a world traveler, just make sure you get enough sleep and try not to shift your sleep schedule too many hours at a time or too often.
如果你是一名环球旅行家，记住要确保你有足够的睡眠并不要过于频繁打乱或经常打乱睡眠习惯。
Research like Smit's is valuable not just to scare us into a regular schedule, but to allow us to optimize our brains. Understanding our chronotype allows us to harness times of day when we are programmed to be most efficient, and encourage us to overcome our limits (coffee!) when we need to perform at sub-optimal times of day.
想Smit这样的研究的重要性不只是让我们保持良好的睡眠习惯，还要让我们大脑保持乐观。了解我们的时间类型可允许我们在如何计划更有效时能充分利用时间，并鼓励我们在一天中疲惫的时间工作时超越极限（咖啡！）。
Understanding the role of chronotype and sleep in memory formation also allows us to cultivate compassion for ourselves and others. It's ok that you don't like mornings. If possible, try to shift more brain-draining work to times of day when you know your brain is going to be at its best. The quality of your work and your work enjoyment will thank you.
了解时间类型和睡眠在记忆方面的作用还能培养对自己和他人的同情。你不喜欢早晨没有问题。如可能，试着把消耗脑力的工作换到一天中你认为大脑运行最佳的时候。你的工作质量和对工作的享受会对你有回报的。
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