[全文聽寫]：本篇比較長。

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REM
amygdala,
the journal Current Biology
norepinephrine
最后一句：As Shakespeare already knew when he said that sleep "knits up the ravell'd sleave of care" and was "the balm of hurt minds."
Sleep helps us consolidate our memories. Sleep also helps us learn. During REM sleep, which is the dreaming stage of sleep, the brain actually stops releasing stress chemicals. Now a new study finds that as we dream we can even soothe our stressful associations to certain experiences. Scientists scanned the brains of 35 subjects while they viewed emotionally arousing images. Half of the subjects viewed the images in the morning and again in the evening of the same day. The other half viewed the same images in the evening and then again the next morning after sleeping. Those who slept between viewings reported a significant decrease in their emotional reaction to seeing the images the second time. And brain scans corroborated the self-reports, showing a reduction of activity in the amygdala, an area responsible for processing emotions. The research was published in the journal Current Biology. The researchers note that by processing emotional experiences during REM sleep, when norepinephrine levels are dramatically reduced, we feel less strongly about such experiences when we wake. As Shakespeare already knew when he said that sleep "knits up the ravell'd sleave of care" and was "the balm of hurt minds."
睡眠能幫助我們加強(qiáng)記憶。睡眠也能幫助我們學(xué)習(xí)。在REM睡眠中（快速眼動睡眠，也就是做夢的階段），大腦停止分泌令我們感受壓力的化學(xué)成分。現(xiàn)在，一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)當(dāng)我們做夢時，甚至可以緩解我們對于一些經(jīng)歷的緊張感。 在給35個被試們看蘊(yùn)含豐富感情的圖片時，科學(xué)家們掃描了他們的大腦。一半的被試（35是個奇數(shù)，怎么分一半哦，囧）在同一天的早晚都看了這些圖片。另一半被試則在第一天晚上入睡前和第二天起床后看了同一組圖片。 那些睡了一覺的被試在第二次看那些圖片時反映自己的情緒波動明顯減少了。腦部掃描結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)負(fù)責(zé)處理情感的扁桃腺的活動下降，因而也證實(shí)了這個自我反饋的真實(shí)性。這項研究發(fā)表于期刊“當(dāng)代生物學(xué)”。 研究者指出由于在REM睡眠時去甲腎上腺素水平下降明顯，因此在此時處理情感體驗(yàn)，不如清醒時那樣強(qiáng)烈。 正如莎翁所言：睡眠“編織了那散了線的憂慮之袖”，睡眠——“憂郁王子/公主的鎮(zhèn)痛劑”。 REM睡眠，快速眼球運(yùn)動(repid eyes movement)亦稱異相睡眠（Para－sleep)或者也叫快相睡眠，異相睡眠或快波睡眠。是一個睡眠的階段，眼球在此階段時會快速移動。在這個階段，大腦神經(jīng)元的活動與清醒的時候相同。多數(shù)在醒來后能夠回憶的栩栩如生的夢都是在REM睡眠發(fā)生的。它是全部睡眠階段中最淺的，在REM睡眠時醒過來的人會不同于在其他睡眠階段的情形，而是充滿警覺心并且精神飽滿。