Multiple studies have shown adequate sleep for college-age students is about eight hours a night, yet as many as 70 percent of college students don’t get that much shuteye.

　　很多研究表明对于大学生来说每晚8个小时的睡眠是最佳时间，然而高达70%的大学生并没有睡足8小时。

　　Experts and students agree the trend is not good — and there’s plenty of research to back up that claim. In response, some institutions are putting sleep on the curriculum with classes designed to teach students the basic neuroscience behind sleep and how it affects both physical and mental functions of our well being in our daily lives. It’s a growing trend that includes the University of Missouri, Stanford University, and New York University.

　　专家和学生们都赞同这并不是一个好趋势——这已经得到了很多研究的证明。鉴于此，一些学校开始开设睡眠课，教授学生与睡眠有关的神经系统科学的基本知识，以及睡眠如何从生理和心理上影响我们的日常生活。

　　While some of the classes are recent — NYU first started offering their sleep course in 2012 — others are older. Stanford’s course, “Sleep and Dreams,” was one of the first of its kind in the country and has been offered since 1970.

　　一些睡眠课是近几年来才开设的，如纽约州立大学于2012年开设睡眠课;而另一些则年代相对久远，如斯坦佛的“睡眠与梦”，就是此类课程的先行者，自1970年就已经开设。

　　Students want to learn about sleep

　　学生希望学习睡眠知识

　　“Sleep behavior is inherently interesting. Students want to learn about it — even though they do it every night, it’s a mystery to them,” said Dennis Miller, an associate professor in the department of psychological sciences at the University of Missouri who teaches a course called “Sleep and Sleep Disorders.” “Students learn a lot about themselves through the class; they gain insight into their own sleep behavior and about managing their daily lives better.”

　　“睡眠行为本身就很有意思。学生们希望学习相关知识——即便他们每天都要睡觉，但睡眠对于他们来说仍是一个谜团，”密苏里大学心理科学院的副教授丹尼斯·米勒说。目前，他教授一门名为“睡眠与睡眠紊乱”的课程。“通过课堂学习，学生们可以对自身有更多的了解，通过了解自己的睡眠行为，从而更好地管理自己的日常生活。”

　　Missouri offers the sleep class as an online course to any undergraduate student enrolled at the school and students enrolled in one of the university’s web-based Mizzou Online degree programs. The course is designed to teach students about the science of sleep, as well as its applications to students’ daily lives, Miller explained. Students learn what happens to the brain and the body when we sleep, what common sleep disorders are, and how sleep disorders are managed and treated.

　　密苏里大学则为本校的在校学生提供在线睡眠课程，学生可以在“密苏里哥伦比亚大学在线”的学位课程上选修此门课程。

　　Students learn about sleep science, hygiene, evolution, and dreams

　　学生学习睡眠科学、睡眠卫生、睡眠演变以及睡眠与梦的相关知识

　　NYU’s sleep course, “While You Were Sleeping” was inspired in part by the success of the course at Stanford, said Jess Shatkin, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry and pediatrics at the NYU School of Medicine. In addition to covering the science of sleep and how students can better manage their own sleep, Shatkin’s course also touches on the evolution of sleep, sleep disorders and treatments, and dreams, he explained.

　　纽约州立大学的睡眠课，名为“睡眠状态下的你”。该校医学院儿童青少年精神病学的教授杰斯·沙特金说，这一课程开设一部分原因是因受到斯坦佛课程的启发。沙特金解释，他的课程除了教授基本的睡眠科学以及帮助学生更好地管理自己的睡眠之外，还讲授睡眠演变、睡眠紊乱和治疗以及睡眠与梦境相关知识。

　　“I wanted to build a class that was solid academically, but still fun,” Shatkin said. The course is structured so that students first learn about the science of sleep, then they learn about what happens to the body during sleep and the consequences of going without. Then, later in the course, they learn about sleep hygiene — and everything they can do to actually get better sleep, he said.

　　“我希望这门课不仅学术性强，而且非常有趣，”沙特金说。他解释，课程的设置是先让学生了解睡眠科学，然后让他们知道人处于睡眠状态时身体的状况以及不睡的后果。本门课的后阶段则教授睡眠卫生，以及如何拥有高质量睡眠。

　　“We talk about everything from caffeine use and the role of exercise to what temperature your bedroom should be,” Shatkin explained. “And we teach relaxation exercises — meditation and breathing techniques — to help them fall asleep.”

　　“我们谈论各个方面，从咖啡因的摄入、运动的作用到卧室的温度，”沙特金解释说。“我们也会教授一些放松练习——冥想和呼吸技巧——帮助学生更好入睡。”

　　“I learned basically everything about sleep”

　　“我学到了所有的睡眠基本知识”

　　Cynthia Haddad, who graduated from NYU in 2015 and took the course over the summer of 2013, signed up because it was cross-listed under a minor she planned to pursue.

　　纽约州立大学15届毕业生辛西娅·哈达德在2013年夏天报名学习了学校的睡眠课，因为这是一门向未成年人开设的跨学科交叉课程，正是她计划要学习的。

　　“I learned basically everything about the significance of sleep,” Haddad told HuffPost. “We learned about how sleep affects our bodies. … We learned about how sleep affects us in our waking hours — the brain, the body, emotionally.”

　　“我学到了一切关于睡眠重要性的基本知识，”哈达德告诉赫芬顿邮报。 “我们了解了睡眠如何影响我们的身体。……也了解了睡眠如何影响我们的日常——大脑、身体以及情绪。”

　　The course absolutely changed my sleep habits

　　睡眠课完全改变了我的睡眠习惯

　　“The course absolutely changed my sleep habits,” Haddad added. “I learned the following and try to keep to these rules: Do not use devices up to an hour before bed; no caffeine past noon; and use the bed only for sleep and sex — so that when you get into bed, your body knows it wants to sleep.”

　　“睡眠课完全改变了我的睡眠习惯，”哈达德说。 “我学会了以下规则并尽量遵从：睡前一小时不要使用电子设备;午后不摄入咖啡因;床只为两个目的：睡觉和性生活——这样当躺上床时，你的身体就知道你要睡觉了。”

　　Students sleep 22 minutes longer

　　学生平均每晚多睡22分钟

　　Haddad was not the only one who slept better after the course. To determine how effective the lesson plans were in actually improving sleep quality among students in the course, Shatkin and his colleagues compared sleep quantity and quality between NYU students enrolled in the class in the fall 2014 semester and NYU students enrolled in coursework other than the sleep course. They found sleep for the students taking “While You Were Sleeping” did, in fact, improve.

　　哈达德不是学完该课程后唯一一位睡眠有所提高的学生。为了探究该门课程是否真的能有效提高学生的睡眠质量，沙特金和他的同事们对比了本校2014年秋季学期学了此门课程和未学习此课程的学生的睡眠时间和睡眠质量。他们发现选修了睡眠课“睡眠状态下的你”的学生的睡眠确实提高了。

　　Students enrolled in the sleep course slept 22 minutes longer per night on average two months after taking the course compared with their sleep before the course, and the students fell asleep nine minutes faster per night after the course, according to the findings, which were presented at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s annual meeting last year. And better sleep hygiene for all of the students was associated with fewer depressive symptoms — meaning the results imply that the course, by improving sleep, could also help decrease depression and anxiety, Shatkin said.

　　调查结果显示，选修了睡眠课的学生在学习此课程两个月后，较学习之前相比，平均每晚多睡22分钟，每晚早9分钟入睡。这一结果也被公布在《美国儿童青少年精神病学会》去年的年度会议上。夏特金表示，对于所有学生来说，更好的睡眠卫生与更少的抑郁症状有关——这表明，本次调查结果暗示，本门课程通过改善睡眠，也有助于减少抑郁和焦虑。

（编辑：何莹莹）