【英语时差8,16】独自入眠

Nobody likes being lonely. As it turns out, loneliness can be unhealthy as well.  The study was done by psychologist John Cacioppo at the University of Chicago. He had thirty three male college students and twenty one female students spend five nights in a lab where their sleep could be carefully monitored. That was done by having them catch Z's while wearing a special skull-cap that had devices for measuring eye motions, head motions, and brain waves. Why? Because different kinds of waves are generated¹ by your brain as you sleep, and the motions of your body--especially your eyes--give information about how your sleep is going.

Afterward², the students filled out a questionnaire describing themselves. In particular Cacioppo wanted to know what their social lives were like, to see if there was any connection between your social life and how well you sleep. There was indeed a connection. Everyone slept for about the same amount of time, but the volunteers who rated themselves as the loneliest were also the ones who were most likely to wake up during the night. Not only that, they stayed down in deep sleep less than other people did.

What do these findings mean? The researchers themselves note that it isn't clear yet which is the cart and which is the horse. That is, does being lonely interfere³ with a healthful night's sleep? Or, on the other hand, do people who sleep poorly for one reason or another wind up irritable⁴ and difficult to deal with, making it harder to have friends? One way or the other, lonely feels bad--and sleep shows it, too.

1 generated   

a.生成的

参考例句：

• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。
• It generated much excitement and frenetic activity. 这使人们非常激动并导致了狂热的行动。

2 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

3 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

4 irritable   

adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的

参考例句：

• He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
• Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。