What is sleep, and why do we need it?

睡眠とは何か、なぜ必要なのか？

I love this question, because kids and young people often ask me, why do we have to sleep?

私はこの質問が大好きだ。子供たちや若い人たちから、なぜ私たちは眠らなければならないのかとよく聞かれるからだ。

So sleep is really important because when we're sleeping, our body's healing, our immune system is replenishing, we're digesting food, our muscles are relaxing, our brain is also working out what we've been doing during the day, and that often comes about in dreams.

というのも、睡眠は本当に重要で、眠っている間に私たちの身体は癒され、免疫システムは補充され、食べ物は消化され、筋肉はリラックスし、脳は日中私たちがしてきたことを解決している。

How important is sleep for children?

子供にとって睡眠はどれほど重要か？

Sleep is so important for children, because there's a lot of things your body needs to do during the day, one of the most important things is being at school, and being at school takes a lot of brain energy, you've got to get to school really early in the morning, you've got to make sure you've had breakfast, you've got to work in class, and then there's playtime, and then there's eating, and then there's talking to your friends, and then there's making sure that you answer questions in class, and so all those body functions require you to be really rested.

子どもにとって睡眠はとても重要だ。日中、体が必要とすることはたくさんある。最も重要なことのひとつは学校にいることで、学校にいることは脳のエネルギーをたくさん使う、朝早く登校し、朝食を摂り、授業に取り組み、遊び、食事、友達との会話、授業中の質問に答える。

So sleep is really important for children because it prepares you for the day ahead.

子供にとって睡眠は本当に重要だ。

How much sleep should kids get?

子供の睡眠時間は？

I would say that children from about six to 12 years old should get about nine to 12 hours.

6歳から12歳くらいまでの子供なら、9時間から12時間くらいは必要だろう。

That's really important, nine to 12 hours of good quality sleep.

9時間から12時間の良質な睡眠は本当に重要だ。

What happens to people when they sleep?

人は寝ている間にどうなるのか？

So great question.

素晴らしい質問だね。

There are quite a few stages of sleep.

睡眠にはかなり多くの段階がある。

But important to know is that there's light sleep, so just as you're going to sleep, someone could tap you on the shoulder and you'll wake up.

でも知っておくべき重要なことは、軽い睡眠があるということだ。だから、眠りにつこうとしたときに、誰かが肩を叩いて目を覚ますかもしれない。

And then there's a deeper sleep where our eyes are actually moving really rapidly under our closed eyelids, and that's called REM sleep, rapid eye movement sleep.

さらに深い眠りでは、閉じたまぶたの下で眼球が急速に動く。

And in that sleep we're dreaming.

そして、その眠りの中で私たちは夢を見ている。

And then as we come out of that, it becomes lighter sleep again, and that's when we either wake up by ourselves and enjoy the day, or someone can wake us up in the morning and we wake up and we feel really replenished.

そして、その状態から抜け出すと、また軽い眠りになり、その日は自分で目覚めて一日を楽しむか、朝、誰かが起こしてくれて、目が覚めると本当に満たされた気分になる。

What should we avoid doing before bedtime to help us sleep?

寝る前に避けるべきことは？

No electronics, exercise is amazing, but not before bed, large meal, not before bed, a heavy drink, not before bed, having a bedtime routine is amazing, like a warm bath, shower, a light book, and maybe you can just talk to your parent before you go to sleep.

電子機器を使わない、運動は素晴らしいが寝る前ではない、大食は寝る前ではない、重い飲み物は寝る前ではない、寝る前の習慣を持つことは素晴らしいことだ。

Those are my top tips.

これが私の一番の秘訣だ。