Depriving yourself of sleep is never ever a good idea, even though in our go-go-go society people take pride in going strong on 4 hours of sleep and tons of coffee. While everybody needs his personal amount of sleep to wake up rested and refreshed, the average human being still needs about 8 hours of sleep per night. You might trick your body into needing fewer hours of sleep by flooding it with caffeine, or by having high stress levels that keep you bouncing around, but you're wreaking havoc on your long-term and short-term performance. In fact, sleep deprivation muddles your ability to judge a situation, and as a result you might judge your mental clarity as OK, while you'd be performing poorly in tests.
在这个形色匆忙的时代，尽管有人每天喝了一顿咖啡后能够自豪顽强到只睡四个小时，但如此剥夺睡眠真心不是件好事儿。每个人对恢复自身精力的睡眠要求时间不一，人类平均睡眠时间是八小时左右。也许你会无畏地猛灌咖啡因来减少睡眠或者在高压之下保持活力。但这样只会给你接下来的工作和生活带来更严重的影响。因为，睡眠不足会干扰你的判断力。这通常表现在有时你自认为还挺清醒地参加了测试，但事实上却表现得相当糟糕。
Allowing yourself adequate sleep should be a no-brainer; it should feel natural to all people and we should reclaim it as our right. Sleep is one of the most important non-negotiable elements in your self-care, but it takes courage to go against the flow of 24/7 alertness and allow your body its necessary rest so that it can rejuvenate.
让身体得到充足的睡眠是天经地义的事情，我们也理所应当地要讨回大自然赋予的权利。毋庸置疑，睡眠是自我保养的最佳方式之一。但为了让身体得到放松和恢复，要在三分之一的时间放下一切的确需要勇气。
Ideally, your sleep cycle should follow the natural patterns of sunset and sunrise as much as possible. You know that you have had enough sleep when you can consistently wake up at the same time in the morning without an alarm clock, feeling rested and refreshed. Besides the length of your sleep, the quality of your sleep is very important as well. Your sleep cycle consists of different levels, with deep sleep as the phase in which most restoration occurs. If your sleep is disrupted, you might find it very difficult to reach the state of deep sleep.
理想状态是，你的睡眠周期要尽量贴合自然规律，日出而作，日落而歇。要知道在大量规律睡眠后，即使不用闹钟你也会在每天清晨自然醒，并且头脑清晰，充满活力。除了睡眠的时间，其质量也特别重要。你的睡眠周期具有不同的水平程度，其中深度睡眠是头脑剧烈整合恢复的阶段，一旦被打断，你便发觉很难再次进入该阶段。
