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Trouble sleeping? Here’s a military-tested trick for guaranteed slumber

失眠吗？这里有一个经过军事测试，可用来保证睡眠的技巧。

前言

英文原文来自Medium
Link：https://link.medium.com/O3j0d2mlDY
中文翻译为博主自主翻译，若有不足之处，恳请在评论中指出。

原文

When you’re on military exercise, sleep is a luxury. Maybe you can only snatch a few hours each day. So there’s nothing so frustrating as lying in your sleeping bag with your eyes closed, waiting for something to happen.

当你在进行军事演习时，睡眠是一件奢侈的事情。也许你每天只能睡几个小时。因此没有什么比闭着眼睛躺在睡袋里等着睡着更令人沮丧的了。

You’re totally exhausted. You have to be up in three hours for picket. You’re distracted by the noises around you. There’s a rock jutting into your hip bone. Or you’re replaying the day’s events on repeat in your head.

你总是很疲惫。你必须在三小时内起床参加纠察。你被周围的噪音分散了注意力。你的髋骨被一块突出的石头硌着。或者在你的脑海中重现今天发生的事情。

If you don’t sleep, you’ll burn out pretty quickly. You’ll make bad decisions. You’ll let people down and become a liability.

如果你不睡觉，你很快就会筋疲力尽。你将作出最坏的决定。你会让大家失望，成为累赘。

That’s what happened with U.S. fighter pilots in World War II. The U.S. military realized many of its pilots were making terrible, avoidable decisions due to stress and the resulting sleeplessness. Shooting down friendlies. Being shot down themselves. Even when pilots clocked off, they couldn’t relax and they couldn’t sleep. So their stress and fatigue built up, till they made a fatal error.

这就是第二次世界大战中美国战斗机飞行员的遭遇。美国军方意识到，由于压力和由此导致的失眠，许多飞行员做出了可怕的、可以避免的决定。击落盟军。或是自己被击落。飞行员们即使在下班后，也不能放松，无法入睡。因此他们的压力和疲惫日积月累，直到他们犯下致命的错误。

No one wants to be that guy.

没有人想把事情弄成这样。

Luckily, you never have to be. The U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School developed a scientific method to fall asleep day or night, in any conditions, in under two minutes. After six weeks of practice, 96 percent of pilots could fall asleep in two minutes or less. Even after drinking coffee, with machine gunfire being played in the background.

幸运的事，你永远不必这样。美国前海军飞行学校开发了一种科学的方法，可以在任何条件下，白天或是黑夜，仅需两分钟即可入睡。经过六周的训练，96%的飞行员可以在两分钟内入睡。即使刚刚喝过咖啡，在枪械声作为背景的情况下。

Which means if you follow these steps, falling asleep will be a piece of cake.

这意味着通过这几个步骤，进入睡眠就是小菜一碟。

Work with the real estate you have

利用你周围的地形

Check out the available terrain. It might seem uninspiring, but that’s no problem. In fact, if you can stretch out at all, you’re already way ahead.

检查可用的地形。这可能听上去并不鼓舞人心，但是没关系。事实上，如果你能伸展四肢，就已经优于多数人。

In the training, the pilots were taught to fall asleep while sitting upright in a chair. Which is a tough position to sleep in when you’re feeling restless. It’s why the airlines invented business class. But it was all the pilots needed. Sitting back in the chairs, they put their feet flat, and let their hands go limp against their laps. So remember a sleeping mat or room to lay down is a bonus. Work with the real estate you’ve got, knowing a humble seat will do.

在训练中，飞行员们被要求在椅子上坐着睡觉。当你感觉紧张，这种睡姿很难入睡。因此航空公司发明了商务舱。但所有的飞行员都必须这样做。他们向后靠在椅上上，双脚平放在地上，双手无力地搭载膝盖上。所以请记住，有一个可以躺下的垫子或房间是额外的奖励。在你所拥有的房子里，有一个不起眼的座位就足够了。

Your face is the key to slowing down everything

脸部是放松的关键

Now that you’ve got your position, it’s all about the face. Think of it as the epicenter of your emotions. Close your eyes and breathe slowly and deeply. Then relax all 43 of your face muscles — no squinting or frowning. Your forehead should be smooth. Let everything go loose. Breathe out as you feel your cheeks, mouth, tongue, and jaw relax.

现在你有了自己的位置，一切都取决于你的脸。把它当作你情绪的中心。闭上你的眼睛，缓慢地做深呼吸。然后放松面部的43块肌肉——不要眯眼或是皱眉。你的前额应该很平静。让一切顺其自然，当你感到脸颊、嘴巴、舌头和下巴放松时，呼气。

Your eyes are shut, but you want to make sure they are totally limp. Do this by letting them fall deep into your socket. There are six muscles that control your socket; feel them relax and go lifeless.

你闭着眼，但你要确保它们完全是放松的。让你的眼睛深入你的眼窝，从而做到这一点。那里有六块肌肉控制你的眼窝。感觉到他们放松下来，变得松弛。

When you relax your face and let your eye sockets go limp, you signal to the rest of your body it’s time to unwind.

你的脸放松下来，你的眼窝松弛下来，这就是在告诉你的身体，可以放松了。

Send your upper body south

放松你的上半身

Now it’s all about the shoulders. Let them drop as low as they can, as if they were floating down your body. You should feel the back of your neck go lifeless. Let all the muscles there go even looser.

现在开始关注肩膀。尽可能让他们降低，就像是漂浮在你身体上一样。此时你应该感觉到你的后脖颈松弛下来。让所有的肌肉放松。

Breathe in deeply. Then exhale slowly, blowing out all of the tension.

深呼吸，然后慢慢的呼气，把所有的紧张都释放出来。

Next are your arms. Start with your dominant side. If you’re right-handed, focus on your right bicep. Feel it relax and drop down your body. If it’s not relaxing, tense it first, then let it go loose.

下一步是你的胳膊。从你的惯用方向开始。如果你是右撇子，从右侧的二头肌开始。感受到它在放松，将你的身体向下拉。如果没有放松下来，首先把它拉紧，然后再放松。

Then move to your right forearm. Focus on sending it limp. Finally, comes your hand and fingers. Let them fall like a dead weight against your leg. When you’ve finished with your dominant side, work through the process with your other arm.

然后移动你的前臂。集中注意力让它放松下来。最后，来到你的头和手指。让他们像一个重物，压在你的腿上。当你的惯用方向完成，用另一条手臂完成这个过程。

Your upper body should be nice and limp, like it’s sinking into you. You’re more than halfway there.

你的上身应该是无力的，就像它在下沉一样。这样你已经完成了一半。

What to say to your legs

你的腿应该怎么做

Next stop is your legs. Tell your right thigh muscle to sink, like a dead weight. Then tell the same thing to your right calf muscles. Then do the same thing for your ankle and foot. Feel the muscles go limp, as your leg sinks into the ground.

下一步是你的腿。让你右侧大腿肌肉放松，像一个重物。然后让你的小腿做同样的事情。之后是脚踝和脚。当你的腿下沉到地面，感觉到肌肉变得松弛。

Repeat the process with the left leg, talking to your thigh, then your calf, then your ankle and foot.

用你的左腿重复做同样的事，从大腿，到小腿，再到脚踝和脚。

Now you have unwound, relaxing every muscle in your body from your face to your feet. There’s just one more thing you need to do to turn your relaxed state into deep sleep.

现在你已经放松，从脸到脚的每一块肌肉都是放松的。现在你还需要做一件事情，从放松状态进入深度睡眠。

How to not think about anything

如何不去想任何事情

The last step is to clear your mind for 10 seconds. That’s it. No thinking about what went wrong that day, or what time you need to get up, or when you’ll get to call your partner. Doing these things all involve movement. Which means just thinking about them is enough to make your muscles involuntarily contract.

最后一步，清空你的大脑十秒钟。也就是说，不去想今天出了什么事，不去想什么时候起床，不去想什么时候给爱人打电话。做这些事情都需要运动。这意味着只要想到他们就足以是你的肌肉不由自主地收缩。

Instead, you need to keep your mind still. You can do this by holding a static image in your head. Imagine you are lying on a comfy couch, in a pitch black room. Hold this image in your mind for 10 seconds.

你最好不要继续思考。为了做到这一点，你可以尝试在头脑中想象一张静止的图片。想象自己在漆黑一片的房间里，躺在一张很舒适的沙发上。在头脑中保持这个画面10秒钟。

If that doesn’t work, say the words “don’t think … don’t think … don’t think” over and over for at least 10 seconds. This will clear out any thoughts and stop your brain from wandering.

如果这招不管用，反复说“别瞎想。。。别瞎想。。。别想别的”，至少十秒钟。这将会清空你的大脑，阻止你的大脑走神。

When you’re physically relaxed and your mind is still for at least 10 seconds, you’ll be asleep.

当你的身体放松下来，思维至少停止10秒钟，你就睡着了。

Imagine being able to fall asleep almost instantly. No matter how many things are going on around you, or how on edge you feel. Being able to block out all that background noise. Knowing how to slow down your body, switch off your mind, and give yourself permission to reset. Turning five minutes of downtime into guaranteed slumber.

想象一下，你几乎可以立即入睡。不管你周围发生多少事情，或者你感觉有多紧张。能够屏蔽外界所有的噪音。知道如何让你的身体放松，关闭你的思维，允许自己重置。把五分钟的休息时间变成有保证的睡眠。

Everything will be easier. Your mind will be clearer. Your decisions will be better. You’ll have more energy, and you’ll be able to push your body further, day after day.

一切都会变得简单。你的思维将会更清晰，你的决定会变得更好。你会更有活力，你将能够驱动自己的身体，日复一日

While others are wriggling around, fixating on uneven terrain or the loud snorer, you’ll have a combat-tested system for sleep. One that will keep you sharp, constant, and on top of your game.

当其他人辗转反侧， 盯着凹凸不平的地面或鼾声大作时。你将拥有一个经过战斗测试的睡眠系统。一个能让你保持敏锐，稳定，并且在你的游戏中保持领先的睡眠系统。