科技資訊:新技術幫人提高睡眠質量(上)
For Lisa Hanson, a stay-at-home mother in San Francisco, the alarm that used to rouse her out of sleep most mornings was the sound of her toddler.
對於麗薩.漢森這位生活中舊金山的全職媽媽來說，經常在早上把她從睡夢中叫醒的就是她一歲的兒子的發出的聲音了。"He wakes up at 5:30 screaming sometimes," she said. "It would jolt me awake, and then I'd be miserable and groggy all morning because I'd be woken up when I'm in my deepest sleep."
"他早上5：30就醒了，有時候還哇哇大叫，"她說，"他的尖叫把我震醒，然後整個早上我都感到痛苦眩暈，因爲我都是在熟睡的時候被叫醒。"But last month, Ms. Hanson started using a new program, the Renew Sleep Clock, an iPhone app that keeps track of her sleep. Its makers, GEAR4, say that the app uses radio sensors to detect breathing patterns and movements at night, then uses that information to wake a person at the lightest point of sleep, the optimal time to wake up. The theory is that awaking from light sleep, as opposed to the deep stages of sleep, helps reduce so-called sleep inertia, the cloud of grogginess and impaired alertness that makes people desperately want to crawl back into bed. The app also acts as a sort of sleep adviser, giving Ms. Hanson guidance about the amount of shut-eye to shoot for and ways to get there.
但是上個月，漢森女士開始使用一種新型軟件，"睡眠更新鍾"，一款iPhone 應用可以追蹤用戶的睡眠。這款應用的研發團隊GEAR4說"睡眠更新鍾"使用無線遙感器以監測使用者夜晚的呼吸模式和行動，接下來利用收集的信息在使用者睡得最輕的時候把使用者叫醒，也就是最理想的起牀時間。這個理論，即在最輕度睡眠時把使用者叫醒，與深度睡眠相反，有助於降低所謂的睡後遲鈍、由睡眠不足引起的身體衰弱和警惕度受損，而就是這些狀況讓人們迫不及待地想要爬回牀上。此外，"睡眠更新鍾"還起到了睡眠諮詢師的作用，告知漢森女士需要多少眼睛開合的次數以及如何達到這一數字。
"Since I've been using it, I do feel better," Ms. Hanson said. "It's waking me up in a more ideal stage of sleep and helping me have that much better of a day."
"自從開始使用這項應用，我確實感覺好多了，"漢森女士說，"它讓我在更爲理想的狀態下醒來，讓我在接下來的一天來過得更好。"The Renew Sleep Clock, which costs $199, is the latest addition to a new generation of smartphone apps designed to analyze and improve sleep patterns. While experts have warned for years that gadgets like smartphones are increasingly disrupting sleep by keeping us connected 24/7, these programs claim to do the opposite. Two other products that have gained followings are the WakeMate ($59.99), a wristband worn at night that wirelessly transmits data to the user's smartphone, and the Zeo Sleep Manager-Mobile ($99), which uses a sensor-equipped headband to collect data about the user's sleep habits.
價值199美元的"睡眠更新鍾"是新一代智能手機應用的附加品，其設計目的就是分析及提高睡眠模式。然而專家們多年以來都在警告人們，像智能手機這樣的小機器正在越來越多地擾亂人們的睡眠，因爲它們使我們無時無刻都被連接，儘管這些軟件聲稱的與此相反。另外兩種具有相似功能的應用是"起牀夥伴"（價值59.99美元）和"Zeo睡眠移動管理"（價值99美元），其中Zeo使用了裝有感應器的頭帶用以收集使用者的睡眠習慣。While all the apps vary, they generally work by having users pick a window of time in the morning - typically 20 to 40 minutes long - during which they would like to get up, then nudging the sleeper awake at the lightest point of sleep in that window. Sleepers get a score each morning that factors in the number of hours they slept while adding and subtracting points for things like disruptions and the percentage of time spent in the deep, restorative stages of sleep. The programs also let users keep track of daily habits like caffeine intake, exercise and meals, among other things, so they can see which habits might be affecting their sleep.
儘管這類應用多種多樣，但是工作原理基本上都是讓使用者在早上選擇一段願意起牀的時間，大約20到40分鐘，然後這段時間內，在使用者睡得最輕的時候把他們叫醒。睡眠者每天早上都會得到一個分數，這個分數主要是由他們睡眠時間所影響，同時考慮其他因素對分數進行加減，如使用者受到的干擾和處於深度修復睡眠階段的時間所佔的比例。這類軟件還讓使用者記錄日常習慣，如咖啡因的攝入量、鍛鍊習慣和飲食習慣等等，這樣就可以瞭解到使用者的那些習慣會影響其睡眠。But while some people swear by these tools, scientists caution that the claims they make and the advice they dole out to users may not be very sound.
儘管一些人認可這些軟件時，科學家卻提醒說這些軟件給使用者的承諾和建議或許沒有說得那麼好。
