你会不会在设好闹钟，准备入睡时估算自己的睡眠时间？

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当你在床上默默数羊大脑却异常清醒时，会不会频繁点开手机，重新计算还有多久就要起床？

随着时间一点点流逝，你越来越焦虑，而大脑却越来越清醒。

一项新研究发现，这样的行为会形成一种负反馈循环，让失眠者更加焦虑痛苦，加剧失眠问题。

A new study outlines how insomniacs might make their condition even more tiresome: clock-watching (or time-monitoring behavior (TMB), to be technical). It seems this can aggravate insomnia, increase frustration, and lead to higher use of sleeping aids.研究表明，不断确认时间（时间监测行为，TMB）会让失眠者更加痛苦，加剧失眠问题，增加焦虑感，并导致更加依赖安眠药。

It"s a sort of negative feedback loop, the researchers found. TMB worsens insomnia and its associated annoyances, leading to more clock-watching and so on.研究人员发现，这是一种负反馈循环。时间监测行为加剧失眠和焦虑，导致失眠者更频繁看时间等。

"People are concerned that they"re not getting enough sleep, then they start estimating how long it will take them to fall back asleep and when they have to be up," says clinical psychologist Spencer Dawson from Indiana University Bloomington.印第安纳大学伯明顿分校的临床心理学家斯宾塞·道森说，“人们担心他们没有得到充足睡眠，然后他们开始估算重新入睡需要多长时间，以及什么时候必须起床。”

[Photo/pexels]

"That is not the sort of activity that"s helpful in facilitating the ability to fall asleep; the more stressed out you are, the harder time you"re going to have falling asleep."“这不是有助于促进入睡的活动；你越紧张，就越难入睡。”

Dawson and his colleagues looked at sleep-specific data from 4,886 patients who completed a questionnaire at a sleep medical center in Arizona: the severity of their insomnia, the time spent monitoring their behavior while trying to sleep, and their use of both over-the-counter and prescription sleep medications.道森和研究团队查看了在亚利桑那州一个睡眠医学中心接受问卷调查的4886名患者的睡眠相关数据，包括研究对象的失眠严重程度，入睡时监测自己行为的时间，以及他们使用非处方和处方安眠药的情况。

"We found time monitoring behavior mainly has an effect on sleep medication use because it exacerbates insomnia symptoms," says Dawson.“我们发现时间监测行为加剧了失眠症状，从而影响安眠药物的使用。”道森说。

TMB wasn"t the only driver for medication, however. Frustration with not being able to sleep, the researchers noted, is just as important when it comes to dealing with insomnia.时间监测行为并不是导致用药的唯一因素。研究人员指出，无法入睡引发的焦虑对失眠的影响也很重要。

The researchers recommended specific therapies – cognitive restructuring or addressing emotional processing – to further alleviate frustration, thus further alleviating the use of sleep medications.研究人员建议采用特定的治疗方法，通过认知重建或处理情绪加工以进一步缓解焦虑感，从而减少使用安眠药。

As well as recommending future studies into TMB in even larger groups of people over more extended periods of time, the researchers suggest that taking measures to remove the temptation of checking the time might be helpful.除了建议扩大研究对象和时间范围，对事件监测行为进行进一步研究外，研究人员还建议采取相应措施，消除查看时间的诱惑。

"One thing that people could do would be to turn around or cover up their clock, ditch the smart watch, get the phone away so they"re simply not checking the time," says Dawson.“可以把钟表转过去或盖起来，取下智能手表，把手机放远，这样就不会去查看时间。”道森说。“确认时间毫无帮助。”

来源：sciencealert编辑：董静

来源：中国日报网