午睡文化Napping

陆地/文　任东升　焦琳/译注

中午不睡，下午崩潰。即便到了冬天，我也需要小眯一会，多年来一直如此。看看周围的朋友同事，有如此顽强2午休习惯的占比很大。

A nap at midday keeps afternoon drowsiness away. I have always been a napper， even on winter days， for many years. In fact， Ive noticed that my friends and colleagues who stick to such a daily routine are the majority.

如在夏天，午睡文化的力量简直神奇3，大家吃罢午饭，整个大楼内一片寂静，工作停转，大家约定俗成，各不打扰。离家近的，回家午睡去了；离家远的，搬张椅子，套上护脖在办公室将就一下。

Napping casts its spell on summer days particularly. Shortly after lunch， silence fills the whole office building， for the employees are now taking a nap break， and an unspoken agreement is shared by all that each deserves a personal napping space without interference. Those living nearby go home for a nap， while others make do with a chair and a neck pillow in the office.

午休对身体益处多多，在文化上也源远流长。4“南州溽暑醉如酒，隐几熟眠开北牖。日午独觉无余声，山童隔竹敲茶臼。”唐代的柳宗元5描绘了一幅恬然自乐、风轻云淡的午睡好时光。而南宋杨万里对午睡的描述，也非常温情和惬意：“梅子留酸软齿牙，芭蕉分绿与窗纱。日长睡起无情思，闲看儿童捉柳花。”啊呀，这是多么好的午睡时光，多么好的生活情趣！

A daily practice good for health， napping is also a seasoned cultural behaviour with a long history. Liu Zongyuan （A.D. 773–819， a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty） impressed us by a picturesque description of a joyful and leisurely nap time：

Drowned in sultry and sweltering summer， I was drowsy like a tipsy toper.

The north window opens wide， leaning on the desk， I fell fast asleep at noontide.

In the stillness of midday hushed were the worldly sounds.

Through the bamboo woods far away， came the ringing of tea mortar by a boys pounds.

Another depiction of napping is from Yang Wanli （A.D. 1127–1206）， a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty， showing the leisure and comfort of napping：

Between my teeth the sourness of plums remains，

Upon the window screen lies the green shade of  plantains.

From a nap I awake in a lengthy day with an empty mind，

Idly watching catkins floating with children running behind.

What a delightful napping time and what a spice of life！

如果时间再往前些，在东汉末年，午睡似乎也流行了。在三顾茅庐6中，刘备第三次到达孔明的茅庐，孔明正在午睡，他“拱立阶下”半晌，而后又“立了一个时辰”，这孔明的午睡时间也真够长的。

Napping at noon as a popular daily practice might date back to the late Eastern Han Dynasty （A.D. 25–220）. According to the story “San Gu Mao Lu” （Liu Bei paid three visits to Zhuge Kongmings thatched cottage）， Zhuge Kongming was in a sound nap when Liu Bei came visiting him for the third time， and Liu stood respectfully on the doorstep waiting for his waking， and that took hours. What a napper Zhuge was！

最近看了一文，說中国人与欧美国家相比，是特别喜欢午睡的一个族群。在国外公司，午睡文化不像国内浓厚，国外公司中午不会给职员很多的午睡时间。但有人不认同，他们认为这与工作时间相关，西方公司上班时间较迟，有的到11点才上班，他们可以睡到自然醒，当然不需要午睡了。

I came across an essay recently stating that compared with Europeans and North Americans， Chinese people take much more delight in napping. In companies abroad， where the employees are not granted much napping time， napping is not yet popular enough to be called a culture phenomenon. Some people do not go with such a remark， holding that it has something to do with the start of office work. They take it that Western companies start work later， sometimes at 11 oclock， so they are able to wake up naturally in the morning. In such a case， a noon nap is certainly not necessary.

还有专家从饮食习惯分析了中国人喜欢午睡的原因，欧美国家食物结构肉蛋类偏多，蔬菜类较少；而中国食物主要来自种植业，北方以面食为主，南方以米饭为主。如果学过生物，那我们就明白一个科学道理，面食和米饭含较高的葡萄糖，一般中午我们会吃得较饱，这就会导致血糖升高，人就会产生嗜睡感。

Some researchers interpret the Chinese indulgence in napping in the light of eating habits. Food in European countries and America is mostly composed more meat and eggs than vegetables， while Chinese food comes mainly from farming， with people in the north eating wheaten food primarily and those in the south relying on rice. Biology tells us that wheaten food and rice contain a lot of glucose. Normally we Chinese get on a full stomach after lunch， so the glucose-rich Chinese diet raises the level of blood glucose， leading to drowsiness.

这些说法非常有趣，但对于我来说，即便几天不食用面食、米饭，按照西方的饮食习惯来，一到中午用餐之后，整个人仍然无精打采，仍要找个安静的地方小睡一会儿了。 除非让我睡到日上三竿，才有可能在午间活蹦乱跳。

These speculations are seemingly reasonable. They， however， do not work on me. Even days of conversion to Western diet， instead of wheaten food or rice， cannot ease my post-lunch listlessness， hence a nap at a quiet place is desperate. Otherwise， only a lie-in in the morning could help me accumulate enough energy for the whole afternoon.

美国的一位睡眠研究专家说，午休是人类自我保护的方式，它类似于运动过程中的缓冲，它有利于下午保持充沛精力。看来，美国人也并非不需要午睡，只要是生命肌体，睡眠从来都是一种对健康非常友好的行为。

According to an American sleep researcher， noon-time napping is a kind of self-protection similar to buffering in sports， helping to keep people energetic in the afternoon. That is to say， Americans need to take a noon nap， too. For each living organism， taking a nap is always a healthy habit.

经常在网络和报刊上曝光在宜家商场的沙发、席梦思上小睡的顾客，还有在公园长椅、草坪上小睡的游客，我对这些午睡者表示同情，睡意来袭，排山倒海，真的无法阻挡啊！大概人与人之间的区别在于随意和不随意，你随意睡可能有碍观瞻，触及了文明底线；如果你是一个不随意的人，午睡必须到一个相对私密的空间，那么就是文明之睡了。

Noon nap occurs everywhere： candid shots of IKEA customers napping on a sofa or Simmons， park-goers on a bench or on the lawn， are frequently noticed on newspapers and the Internet. I fully understand them， since drowsiness is so overwhelming that nobody can resist it. Be that as it may， your napping places make a difference. Those who nap in public places embarrass passers-by， which is not socially tolerable. On the contrary， a self-disciplined person preferring to nap in private space is regarded as a napper with decency.