An average night’s repose includes four or five spells of REM sleep, but these bursts tend to be lengthier towards the end of the night.

夜间睡眠通常包括四到五个周期的快速眼动睡眠，但直到天亮之前，快速眼动睡眠间隔周期呈逐渐延长的趋势。

This means that adults who get less than the recommended seven to eight hours a night – and therefore insufficient REM sleep – may be damaging their mind’s ability to form strong memories.

这意味着，睡眠时间不足7-8小时的成年人形成牢固记忆的能力受到严重影响，因为他们无法保障充分的快速眼动睡眠时间。

Although REM sleep is not classified as a type of deep sleep, it is only reached after the brain has passed through deep sleep stages.

尽管快速眼动睡眠并不属于深度睡眠的范畴，但只有在经过深度睡眠后，大脑才能进入快速眼动睡眠状态。

For the most recent study, participants were shown groups of three words – such as “cookie”, “heart” and “sixteen” – and asked to find another word that can be associated with all three words.

在最新研究中，研究人员向参与者展示三个单词——譬如“cookie（曲奇）”、“heart（爱心）”以及“sixteen(16)”，同时他们需要找到与这三个词语相关的一个词。