When you go to bed, and how long you sleep at a time, might actually make it difficult for you to stop worrying. So say Jacob Nota and Meredith Coles of Binghamton University in the US, who found that people who sleep for shorter periods of time and go to bed very late at night are often overwhelmed with more negative thoughts than those who keep more regular sleeping hours.

当你上床睡觉的时候，你一次睡眠的时间长短可能会对缓解你的忧虑有一定的作用。美国宾汉姆顿大学的Jacob Nota和Meredith Coles就如此认为，他们发现睡眠时间短和睡觉时间晚的人相比于平时睡眠时间充足的人更容易被负面情绪影响。

The findings appear in Springer's journal Cognitive¹ Therapy and Research.

普林格出版的《认知疗法与研究》杂志上发表了这一发现。

People are said to have repetitive negative thinking when they have bothersome pessimistic thoughts that seem to repeat in their minds. They feel as though they have little control over these contemplations. They also tend to worry excessively about the future, delve² too much into the past, and experience annoying intrusive³ thoughts. Such thoughts are often typical of people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder⁴, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive⁶ compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder. These individuals also tend to have sleep problems.

据说在有让人讨厌的悲观想法不断地出现在心里的时候人们会产生一些连续的消极思想。他们觉得好像对于此类想法无能为力。而且他们倾向于极度担心未来，沉迷过去，并且胡思乱想。这些思想常常是患有焦虑，失落，受伤，强迫症，社会焦虑症的人的典型表现。这些人都倾向于有睡眠问题。

Previous studies have linked sleep problems with such repetitive negative thoughts, especially in cases where someone does not get enough shut eye. Nota and Coles set out to replicate⁷ these studies, and to further see if there's any link between having such repetitive thoughts and the actual time when someone goes to bed.

早期研究表明睡眠质量和不断出现的消极情绪有一定关系，特别是在没有获得充足睡眠的情况下。Nota和Coles对这些实验做了重复性的研究，并且进一步研究了产生消极情绪和睡眠的确切时间是否有一定联系。

They asked 100 young adults at Binghamton University to complete a battery of questionnaires and two computerized tasks. In the process, it was measured how much the students worry, ruminate⁸ or obsess⁵ about something -- three measures by which repetitive negative thinking is gauged⁹. The students were also asked whether they were more habitual¹⁰ morning or evening types, preferring to hold regular hours or to have a sleep-wake schedule that is more skewed towards later in the day,

Nota和Coles要求一百位在宾汉姆顿大学的成年人完成一份调查问卷和两个电脑测试。在此过程中，测量了学生们到底有多担心，忧虑或者困扰于某些事情——这是三种主要的反复出现的消极情绪。参与实验的学生被问了一些问题，像更习惯早起还是熬夜，是会倾向于坚持一个正常的作息时间还是会有一个睡眠的时间安排表——但是不一定遵守。

The researchers found that people who sleep for shorter periods of time and go to bed later often experience more repetitive negative thoughts than others. This was also true for those students who described themselves as evening types.

研究者发现睡眠时间短和喜欢熬夜的人相比其他人更容易经受消极情绪。对那些喜欢熬夜的学生来说也是如此。

"Making sure that sleep is obtained during the right time of day may be an inexpensive and easily disseminable intervention¹¹ for individuals who are bothered by intrusive thoughts," remarks Nota.

Nota提醒说，“对那些经常被消极思想困扰的人来说，确保该睡觉的时候睡觉应该是一种廉价和易得的方式。”

The findings also suggest that sleep disruption may be linked to the development of repetitive negative thinking. Nota and Coles therefore believe that it might benefit people who are at risk of developing a disorder characterized by such intrusive thoughts to focus on getting enough sleep.

这个发现还意味着，睡觉的时候被打扰可能也和消极情绪的产生有一定关系。因此，Nota和Coles相信对于因为消极情绪而处于混乱状态的人，充足的睡眠不失为一种有益的方法。

"If further findings support the relation between sleep timing¹² and repetitive negative thinking, this could one day lead to a new avenue for treatment of individuals with internalizing disorders¹³," adds Coles. "Studying the relation between reductions in sleep duration and psychopathology has already demonstrated that focusing on sleep in the clinic also leads to reductions in symptoms of psychopathology."

“如果将来的研究表明睡眠的时间和消极情绪的出现有联系，那么有一天可能会产生一种新的治疗人们情绪混乱的方法。”Coles补充说，“睡眠时间的减少和心理活动的关系的研究已经证明在小屋里睡觉也能够减少心理活动。”

This study is part of a line of research examining the relations between sleep behavior and mental health. Based on growing evidence linking sleep and psychopathology, Nota and Coles and their colleagues at Binghamton University are aiming to understand how information about sleep may be used to help individuals with anxiety disorders.

这个研究只是睡眠行为和精神健康之间关系的一部分。基于睡眠和心理之间有联系的证据的不断增加，Nota和Coles以及他们宾汉姆顿大学的同事致力于掌握如何运用有关睡眠的信息帮助情绪紊乱的人。