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In some corners of American culture, one rule applies: The less you sleep, the more impressive you are. Tech CEOs and influencers love to tout their morning routines that begin at 5 a.m. or 4 a.m. or 3 a.m. (though at a certain point we really ought to just call them “night routines”). Many of their “How I start my day” videos have a moralizing tone: Waking up early is inherently good, the thinking goes. And not getting much sleep is presented as a symbol of hard work: Elon Musk and many of the Silicon Valley figures who came before him have been known to brag about staying up all night because they are so very dedicated to their company or mission.
在美国文化的某些角落，一个规则适用：睡眠越少，您就越令人印象深刻。科技首席执行官和影响者喜欢吹捧他们的早晨例行活动，该习惯从凌晨5点或凌晨4点或凌晨3点开始（尽管在某个时刻，我们真的应该称他们为“夜间例行程序”）。他们的许多“我如何开始”视频具有道德上的语气：早日醒来是很好的，思想得以出现。而且不睡得太多是辛勤工作的象征：埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）和许多在他面前来的硅谷人物众所周知，因为他们非常致力于他们的公司或任务，因为他们非常致力于整夜熬夜。
Americans have been ascribing moral value to sleep, or the lack thereof, for centuries. In 1861, an Atlantic writer railed against newspaper articles in which “all persons are exhorted to early rising, to resolute abridgment of the hours of sleep, and the like.” Readers were told “that Sir Walter Raleigh slept but five hours in twentyfour; that John Hunter, Frederick the Great, and Alexander von Humboldt slept but four; that the Duke of Wellington made it an invariable rule to ‘turn out’ whenever he felt inclined to turn over, and John Wesley to arise upon his first awaking.” The writer identified the value judgment lurking behind these examples: “‘All great men have been early risers,’ says my newspaper.”
几个世纪以来，美国人一直将道德价值归因于睡眠或缺乏睡眠。1861年，一位大西洋作家反对报纸文章，其中“所有人都被劝告提早上升，以节制睡眠时间等等。”读者被告知：“沃尔特·罗利爵士（Sir Walter Raleigh）在二十四十四个小时里睡了五个小时；约翰·亨特（John Hunter），弗雷德里克（Frederick the Great）和亚历山大·冯·洪堡（Alexander von Humboldt）却睡了四个；这是惠灵顿公爵（Duke of All），惠灵顿公爵（Duke of Bud of Bood）使惠灵顿公爵（Duke of Wellington）成为一个不变的规则，每当他倾向于翻身时，他第一次觉得自己就倾向于“打开”。作者确定了这些例子背后的价值判断：“‘所有伟人都是早起的人，”我的报纸说。”
America was built on a Protestant work ethic, and the idea that hard work is an inherent good has never quite left us. But the Christian ideals that dominated early American culture also helped schedule leisure into the week in the form of the Sunday Sabbath. Throughout much of the 1800s, this day of rest was enforced by individual states, but such enforcement was waning by the end of that century. Americans were so tied to this ritual, however, that some petitioned Congress to legally codify the day. Eventually, the 40-hour workweek was created under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, and workers were granted both Saturdays and Sundays as days off.
美国是建立在新教职业道德的基础上的，而辛勤工作是固有的好处的想法从未完全离开我们。但是，主导美国早期文化的基督教理想也使休闲以周日安息日的形式安排在一周中。在整个1800年代的大部分时间里，这一天的休息是由个别国家执行的，但是到那个世纪末，这种执行正在减弱。然而，美国人与这种仪式紧密相关，以至于有些人请愿国会合法地将这一天编纂。最终，这位40小时的工作周是根据1938年的《公平劳动标准法》制作的，工人被授予星期六和周日休假。
Even as leisure became part of America’s legal structure, the obsession with hard work only grew, especially for higher-paid workers. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, pundits predicted that automation would lead to more leisure time. But another ideology took hold instead, one that the Atlantic contributor Derek Thompson calls workism: Adherents to this quasi-religion, most of whom are college-educated Americans, build their identities and seek fulfillment through their job.
即使休闲成为美国法律结构的一部分，对辛勤工作的痴迷也只会增长，尤其是对于高薪工人而言。在19世纪和20世纪初，专家预测自动化将导致更多的休闲时间。但是，另一种意识形态相反，大西洋贡献者德里克·汤普森（Derek Thompson）称之为工作主义：这种准宗教的信徒，其中大多数是受过大学教育的美国人，建立了自己的身份并通过其工作寻求满足。
Once the twin pillars of working a lot and sleeping a little became symbols of American achievement, those looking to stay up later became prime targets for product marketing. A nation of people trying to rebel against their body’s basic instincts is a nation ready to pay for help. Coffee, for example, was successful in the U.S. in part because employers realized that caffeine would allow workers to toil longer. As time went on, the tools on offer got more varied: Now you can try an ice bath or dubious supplements or a thousand different kinds of energy drinks (some of which may give you a heart attack).
一旦经常工作和睡觉的双支柱成为美国成就的象征，那些希望熬夜的人后来成为产品营销的主要目标。一个试图反抗身体基本本能的人民是一个准备付出帮助的国家。例如，咖啡在美国取得了成功，部分原因是雇主意识到咖啡因将使工人劳作更长的时间。随着时间的流逝，所提供的工具变得越来越多：现在您可以尝试冰浴或可疑的补充剂或一千种不同种类的能量饮料（其中一些可能会给您带来心脏病发作）。
Though in recent years a majority of Americans have acknowledged that they’d feel better with more rest, the mindset that sleep equals laziness is hard to shake. When the actor Dakota Johnson said in 2023 that sleep is her “number one priority in life,” adding that she can easily sleep for up to 14 hours, her comments went viral, and she felt compelled to issue a clarification a while later. Sure, 14 hours is a lot of sleep; tech bros somewhere are shuddering at the thought. Perhaps one day, the new brag will be to say, “I sleep so much.” But we’re not quite there yet.
尽管近年来，大多数美国人都承认他们的休息会感觉好些，但睡眠等于懒惰的心态很难动摇。当演员达科他·约翰逊（Dakota Johnson）在2023年说，睡眠是她的“人生中排名第一”，并补充说她可以轻松睡觉长达14个小时，她的评论传播开来，她感到不得不在一段时间后发出澄清。当然，14个小时的睡眠很大。Tech Bros某个地方的想法令人震惊。也许有一天，新的吹牛会说：“我睡得太多。”但是我们还不到那儿。
