摘要：Sacrificing sleep has big consequences for your success.One simple breathing trick can lead to deeper sleep, better recovery, and
Don't Let Sleep, Motivation,
and Performance Be Hijacked
不要让睡眠、动力和表现被劫持
One simple breathing technique can change everything.
一种简单的呼吸技巧可以改变一切。
Posted September 10, 2025 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma
发布于 2025 年 9 月 10 日 | Lybi Ma 审阅
Sacrificing sleep has big consequences for your success.One simple breathing trick can lead to deeper sleep, better recovery, and higher performance.Sleep isn't lazy—it's your competitive advantage.
牺牲睡眠会对您的成功产生重大影响。一个简单的呼吸技巧可以带来更深的睡眠、更好的恢复和更高的表现。睡眠并不代表懒惰——它是你的竞争优势。
As summer fades and daylight hours shorten, millions of us will be bracing for more than just cooler weather and darker evenings. The change in season brings with it a change in routine: back-to-work and back-to-school alarms, busy commutes, and mounting workloads that can quietly sabotage one of our most vital pillars of health—our sleep.
随着夏季渐行渐远，白昼时间缩短，数百万人即将迎来的不仅仅是更凉爽的天气和更黑暗的夜晚。季节更替也带来了日常生活的改变：返校和返工的闹钟、繁忙的通勤以及日益繁重的工作负担，这些都可能悄悄地损害我们最重要的健康支柱之一——睡眠。
Sleep disturbances surge during times of transition, and this doesn't just make us tired—it influences our focus, mood, next-day performance, and our actual physiology. The good news is that one simple science-backed breathing method can help reset your nervous system and unlock deeper, more restorative sleep.
在过渡期，睡眠障碍会激增，这不仅会让我们感到疲惫，还会影响我们的注意力、情绪、第二天的表现以及我们的生理机能。好消息是，一种简单的、有科学依据的呼吸方法可以帮助重置你的神经系统，开启更深层、更有益的睡眠。
Why does sleep matter so much for your goals and ambitions?
为什么睡眠对你的目标和抱负如此重要？
Sleep Fuels Success
睡眠助力成功
Sleep serves as the cornerstone of recovery and well-being—more fundamental than nutrition, exercise, or therapy. Poor sleep undermines nearly every skill critical to professional success.
睡眠是恢复和健康的基石，比营养、运动或治疗更为重要。睡眠不足几乎会损害所有对职业成功至关重要的技能。
Research reveals that sleep deprivation impairs memory consolidation, learning, emotional regulation, focus, decision-making, and immune function. Reaction times slow, mood deteriorates, and irritability increases. Simultaneously, testosterone drops while cortisol spikes, trapping the body in chronic low-grade stress.
研究表明，睡眠不足会损害记忆巩固、学习、情绪调节、注意力、决策能力和免疫功能。反应速度变慢，情绪恶化，易怒。同时，睾酮水平下降，皮质醇水平飙升，使身体陷入慢性低级压力。
Even more concerning: in 2019, the World Health Organization classified night-shift work—any occupation disrupting natural circadian rhythms—as a "probable carcinogen."
更令人担忧的是：2019 年，世界卫生组织将夜班工作（任何扰乱自然昼夜节律的职业）归类为“可能的致癌物”。
We sleep in 90-minute cycles, alternating between light sleep, deep sleep, and REM (rapid eye Movement) sleep. Early night hours feature deep sleep, which is crucial for physical repair and immune restoration. Morning hours are REM-dominant, essential for emotional regulation, memory, and creative problem-solving. Missing REM cycles is like attending a leadership meeting with your body present but your mind absent.
我们的睡眠周期为90分钟，在浅睡眠、深睡眠和快速眼动睡眠（ REM）之间交替。夜间早期以深睡眠为主，这对身体修复和免疫恢复至关重要。清晨则以REM睡眠为主，对情绪调节、记忆力和创造性解决问题至关重要。缺少REM睡眠周期就像参加领导会议，身体在场，但思维却不在。
The Hidden Cost of Sleep Sacrifice
睡眠不足的隐性成本
For high-achieving professionals, sleep often becomes either elusive or expendable. The overwhelmed executive may lie awake for hours, achieving only light or deep sleep while remaining mentally unrested and emotionally unbalanced. The deadline-pressured manager might fall asleep quickly but wake repeatedly, disrupting cycles and missing REM entirely.
对于成就卓著的专业人士来说，睡眠常常变得难以捉摸或可有可无。不堪重负的高管可能会连续数小时无法入睡，只能获得浅度或深度睡眠，精神上得不到休息，情绪也难以平衡。面临最后期限压力的经理可能很快入睡，但却会反复醒来，扰乱睡眠周期，完全错过快速眼动睡眠。
The skills we depend on most—empathy, negotiation, insight, innovation, and relational intelligence—become compromised. In boardrooms, client meetings, and team management, these aren't "nice-to-have" traits; they distinguish leadership from liability.
我们最依赖的技能——同理心、谈判能力、洞察力、创新能力和人际交往能力——正在受到损害。在董事会、客户会议和团队管理中，这些并非“锦上添花”的特质；它们将领导力与责任感区分开来。
Chronic sleep restriction reduces prefrontal cortex activity—the brain region governing impulse control, goal-directed behavior, and working memory. Simply put: the brain area you need most for high-level professional functioning suffers most from sleep loss.
长期睡眠不足会降低前额叶皮质的活动——大脑中掌管冲动控制、目标导向行为和工作记忆的区域。简而言之：你最需要的、用于高效工作的区域，最容易受到睡眠不足的影响。
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine estimates that workplace fatigue costs U.S. companies over $136 billion annually in lost productivity. Employees sleeping less than six hours nightly show significantly higher burnout rates, reduced job satisfaction, and decreased engagement.
美国睡眠医学学会估计，工作场所疲劳每年给美国公司造成超过1360亿美元的生产力损失。每晚睡眠时间少于6小时的员工倦怠率显著升高，工作满意度降低，敬业度也下降。
While late nights and weekend emails may signal commitment, they often mask hidden capability erosion, affecting individual output, team morale, strategic thinking, and long-term company performance.
虽然熬夜和周末发邮件可能表明了承诺，但它们往往掩盖了隐藏的能力侵蚀，影响个人产出、团队士气、战略思维和公司的长期业绩。
Breath: Your Overlooked Sleep Tool
呼吸：被你忽视的睡眠工具
Standard sleep hygiene advice includes avoiding screens before bed, reducing light exposure, keeping rooms cool, and maintaining consistent bedtime routines. Breath, however, remains surprisingly overlooked.
标准的睡眠卫生建议包括睡前避免接触屏幕、减少光照、保持房间凉爽以及保持规律的就寝习惯。然而，令人惊讶的是，呼吸的重要性却被忽视了。
Unless you practice yoga, breathwork, or meditation, you probably ignore your breathing patterns. Yet this automatic process, governed by the autonomic nervous system, is one of the few bodily functions we can consciously control—and doing so dramatically improves sleep and stress regulation.
除非你练习瑜伽、呼吸练习或冥想，否则你很可能会忽略自己的呼吸模式。然而，这种由自主神经系统控制的自动过程是我们少数几个能够有意识控制的身体功能之一——而且这样做可以显著改善睡眠和压力调节。
Intentional breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest-and-digest mode), reducing heart rate, balancing cortisol, and promoting the internal chemistry needed for relaxation and recovery.
有意识的呼吸可以激活副交感神经系统（休息和消化模式），降低心率，平衡皮质醇，并促进放松和恢复所需的内部化学反应。
Breathing deeply and slowly through the nose reduces snoring, sleep apnea, dry mouth, and nighttime waking—these contribute to more unbroken sleep and, crucially, more REM cycles.
通过鼻子进行深而缓慢的呼吸可以减少打鼾、睡眠呼吸暂停、口干和夜间醒来——这些有助于更连续的睡眠，并且至关重要的是，有助于更多的 REM 周期。
A Simple Practice for Better Sleep
改善睡眠的简单做法
Try this technique before sleep:
睡前尝试一下这个技巧：
The 4-7-8 Method:
4-7-8方法：
Inhale through the nose for four seconds
用鼻子吸气四秒钟
Hold your breath for seven seconds
屏住呼吸七秒钟
Exhale slowly for eight seconds
缓慢呼气八秒钟
Repeat four times
重复四次
Stop focusing on breath and breathe normally
停止关注呼吸并正常呼吸
This rhythm regulates the nervous system, calms mental chatter, and promotes the sense of safety essential for transitioning into quality sleep.
这种节奏可以调节神经系统，平息精神杂念，并增强进入优质睡眠所必需的安全感。
Redefining Success: Recovery as Foundation
重新定义成功：恢复是基础
For driven individuals and teams, the message is clear: Recovery isn't the opposite of ambition—it's the foundation. Performance without recovery isn't resilience; it's burnout in slow motion.
对于有动力的个人和团队来说，信息很明确：恢复并非雄心壮志的对立面，而是基础。没有恢复的表现并非韧性，而是慢动作的倦怠。
We must stop equating sleep with laziness or inefficiency. Organizations that value sleep and psychological recovery through flexible hours, boundary-setting encouragement, and education on nervous system regulation don't just retain talent—they amplify it.
我们必须停止将睡眠与懒惰或低效划等号。重视睡眠和心理恢复的组织，通过灵活的工作时间、设定界限的鼓励以及神经系统调节方面的教育，不仅能留住人才，还能增强其潜能。
Professionals must view sleep as part of their training regimen, just as athletes do. It's the ultimate legal performance enhancer.
专业人士必须像运动员一样，将睡眠视为训练计划的一部分。睡眠是终极合法的提升体能的手段。
In pursuing excellence, don't sacrifice the one thing that helps you reach your potential: recovery. Breathe better. Sleep well. Perform sustainably.
在追求卓越的过程中，不要牺牲帮助你发挥潜能的那一个：恢复。呼吸更顺畅。睡眠充足。持续表现。
For more evidence-based strategies on optimizing performance through recovery, explore resources on sleep science and breathwork techniques.
Ian Davis is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Imagery Coach, Movement Coach, and Breathwork Coach. He co-designed, taught, and led a degree in Strength, Conditioning, and Rehabilitation in conjunction with the University of Plymouth.
伊恩·戴维斯是一位认证力量与体能训练专家、意象教练、动作教练和呼吸教练。他与普利茅斯大学合作设计、教授并领导了力量、体能与康复学位课程。
来源：左右图史
