You're tired. You could put your head down on a desk right now and fall asleep immediately. You went to bed late last night, had trouble falling asleep and woke up too early. And let's not kid ourselves: Tonight will be the same unless ... well, read on.

This is the classic not-so-shut-eye?? experience of many Americans who think they are sleep-deprived and possibly need pills or other treatment to fix their insomnia, teeth grinding, jet lag, restless or jerky legs, snoring, sleepwalking and so forth.

Reality is quite different.

For instance, insomnia is said to be the most common sleep disorder, but these dissatisfying sleep experiences only get in the way(妨礙) of daily activities for 10 percent of us, according to the National Institutes of Health. And in almost half of those cases, the real underlying problem is illness (often mental) or the effects of a substance, like coffee or medication.

Here are five recent findings that might help you rest easier:

1. We sleep better than we think we do

For most of us, sleep deprivation?? is a myth. We're not zombies. The non-profit National Sleep Foundation (which takes money from the sleep-aid industry, including drug companies that make sleeping pills) says the average U.S. resident gets 7 hours a night and that's not enough, but a University of Maryland study earlier this year shows we typically get 8 hours and are doing fine. In fact, Americans get just as much sleep nowadays as they did 40 years ago, the study found.

2. We need less sleep as we age

We'll die without sleep. The details are sketchy, but research suggests it's a time when we restore vital biological processes and also sort and cement memories. Last year, the World Health Organization determined that nightshift work, which can lead to sleep troubles, is a probable human carcinogen. On the upside??, the latest research suggests we need less of it as we get older.

3. You can sleep like a baby (or Thomas Edison)

Multiple, shorter sleep sessions nightly, rather than one long one, are an option. So-called polyphasic sleep is seen in babies, the elderly and other animals (and Thomas Edison reportedly slept this way). For the rest of us, it is more realistic and healthy to sleep at night as best we can and then take naps as needed. EEGs show that we are biphasic sleepers with two alertness dips — one at night time and one mid-day. So talk to HR about setting up a nap room, like they have for NASA's Phoenix mission?? team members.

4. Animals exhibit a range of sleep habits

The three-toed sloth sleeps 9.6 hours nightly. But newborn dolphins and killer whales can forgo sleeping for their entire first month. However, the latter extreme is not recommended for humans. We grow irritable and lose our ability to focus and make decisions after even one night of missed sleep, and that can lead to serious accidents driving and using other machinery.

5. Get used to being tired, hit the desk

The bottom line is that a good night's sleep is within the reach of most of us if we follow common-sense guidelines for sleep hygiene:

1)Go to bed at the same time nightly.
2)Set aside enough time to hit that golden 7 hours of sleep.
3)Refrain from caffeine, heavy or spicy foods, and alcohol and other optional medications that might keep you awake, four to six hours before bed-time.
4)Have a pre-sleep routine so you wind down before you hop in.
5)Block out distracting lights and noises.
6)Only engage in sleep and sex in bed (no TV-watching, reading or eating).
7)Exercise regularly but not right before bed.

But you already know all this and you don't do it. So your realistic plan might be to surrender to the mid-day desk nap.

現(xiàn)在你覺得很疲勞。且想著立刻就能把腦袋擱到桌子上，美美地睡一覺。昨晚，上床晚了吧，要么就是一宿沒睡著加上起來太早了。得了，就別自欺欺人了：今夜又是不眠夜啊，除非……想知道？讀下去吧。

這就是古今不二的輾轉反側了，以致許多美國人都認為他們的睡眠被剝奪了，甚至認為不吃點什么藥或去醫(yī)院上幾個療程，就沒法治他們的失眠、磨牙、倒不過來的時差、煩躁不安或是小腿抽筋、打鼾、夢游等等如此這般的病。

事實與你想的完全不同

舉例來說，失眠可以說是最常見的睡眠障礙，但據(jù)美國國家衛(wèi)生研究所的說法，這些痛苦睡眠的體驗，真正影響到了日�；顒拥模�只占10％的人口而已。而且在這些案例有中將近一半，真正的潛在麻煩還是有�。ó斎欢鄶�(shù)是心理上的）或者是某些東西產(chǎn)生的影響，好比是咖啡或是你剛吃過的藥。

這里有五個最近的調(diào)查結果，或可幫你更輕松地入眠：

１、我們的睡眠質(zhì)量，比我們們想象中要好得多

對絕大多數(shù)人來說，睡眠的剝奪只能算是個神話。我們可不是僵尸（汗，就是不用睡覺的吧）。非盈利性的國家睡眠基金會（他們錢是從睡眠輔助器材的企業(yè)里拿，當然安眠藥廠也是）的說法是這樣的：全美居民的平均睡眠時間是7小時，這并不夠，而馬里蘭大學在今年早些時候的研究表明：8小時睡眠才能讓我們身心健康。但研究還表明，今天的美國人的睡眠時間和40年前一樣多。

２、我們在長大，睡眠在減少

不睡覺我們會面對死亡。詳情可能過于簡略，不過研究表明：讓我們恢復精力充沛的生物學過程，也是自己回憶的排列和鞏固過程。就在去年，世界衛(wèi)生組織認定，夜班工作導致的睡眠問題，是一個可能的致癌原因。而好處就是：最新的研究表明，隨著年齡的增長，我們的睡眠需要反而會減少。

３、你可以睡得像嬰兒或是托馬斯愛迪生（一樣聽而不聞？）

一整晚頻繁短暫而不是漫長的睡眠，可以只是一種選擇。因此，所謂的多相睡眠被認為僅僅存在于嬰兒、老年人和其他一些動物中（據(jù)報道托馬斯愛迪生也是這樣睡的）。至于我們這些人來說，更現(xiàn)實并且健康的做法就是酣然入夢、一夜好睡，還有只要一覺著累，最好就能打個盹什么的。腦電圖顯示，作為兩階段睡眠者的我們，每天確實有兩段時間會警覺性下降－分別是晚上和中午。因此，每次談到人力資源管理時，總會談到午睡室的問題，就像美國宇航局為“鳳凰”號火星探測任務的隊員建造的那間一樣。

４、動物所展現(xiàn)的睡眠習慣

三趾樹懶每天要睡9.6小時。而新生海豚和殺人鯨可以在他們出生后的第一個月里完全不睡覺。只不過，第二個例子太過極端，所以不推薦人類采用。我們一夜不睡覺的話，就會心情煩燥、精力無法集中加上猶豫不決，如果是在駕駛或操縱儀器，那甚至會導致嚴重的事故。

５、假設你習慣了那種累的一頭錘在桌子上就睡的日子

那么你的底線就是：只要有可能，那就好好睡上一覺，這是我們大部分人都力所能及的。

而且遵循以下睡眠衛(wèi)生學的常識，我們能睡得更香甜：

(1)、每晚同一時間上床睡覺。
(2)、預留足夠的時間以實現(xiàn)黃金7小時的睡眠。
(3)、在睡前4-6個小時中盡量避免攝入咖啡因、別吃太飽或太辣、請勿飲酒和服用會導致亢奮的藥物。
(4)、若有劇烈活動，請在睡前先讓自己平靜下來。
(5)、盡量減少讓人心煩意亂的燈光和噪音。
(6)、床上，只干睡覺和做愛這兩件事（禁止電視、書還有食品）。
(7)、要經(jīng)常鍛煉，不過別在睡覺前。

即使你已經(jīng)明白了這一切，可你不一定做得到。因此切實可行的計劃，還是圍繞著你中午的打盹來安排吧。