If you are worried about things and are under a lot of stress at work or school, then you are probably not sleeping well. Worry can keep you awake, and turning in bed until the early hours of the morning when you eventually fall asleep. When you wake up, you don’t feel refreshed, but tired and worn out and unable to face a new day.

Dr. Henry Winkle, in a recent newspaper article entitled Stress and Sleep, indicates that stress / worry and (lack of) sleep are directly related. Dr. Winkle says,“The more we worry, the less we sleep, the more we are unable to deal with stress. If we can find a way to get a good night’s sleep，”he adds,“we can often find the energy to deal with what’s worrying us.”

So, what is a good night’s sleep? Research shows that the amount of sleep which people need in order to keep healthy varies a lot. Seven hours is about the average amount, though strangely enough, sleeping longer often gives you a headache instead of making you feel more refreshed.

Dr. Winkle believes that preparing for sleeping is important. People who work late should try to give themselves a short break and do something restful before going to bed. This could be watching TV or listening to music. Doing some exercise earlier in the day should help you to feel physically as well as mentally tired. A bedtime drink can also help, but coffee or tea should be avoided as they contain caffeine and will keep you awake.“When you put the light out，”Dr. Winkle says,“concentrate on relaxing your muscles, working slowly up from your feet, and you’ll be asleep before you know it.”

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    Science has a lot of uses. It can uncover laws of nature, cure diseases, make bombs, and help bridges to stand up. Indeed science is so good at what it does that there’s always a temptation (诱惑) to drag it into problems where it may not be helpful. David Brooks, author of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, appears to be the latest in a long line of writers who have failed to resist the temptation.

Brooks gained fame for several books. His latest book The Social Animal, however, is more ambitious and serious than his earlier books. It is an attempt to deal with a set of weighty topics. The book focuses on big questions: What has science revealed about human nature? What are the sources of character? And why are some people happy and successful while others aren’t?

To answer these questions, Brooks surveys a wide range of disciplines. Considering this, you might expect the book to be a dry recitation (背诵) of facts. But Brooks has structured his book in an unorthodox (非常规的), and perhaps unfortunate way. Instead of introducing scientific theories, he tells a story, within which he tries to make his points, perhaps in order to keep the reader’s attention. So as Harold and Erica, the hero and heroine in his story, live through childhood, we hear about the science of child development and as they begin to date we hear about the theory of sexual attraction. Brooks carries this through to the death of one of his characters.

On the whole, Brooks’ story is acceptable if uninspired. As one would expect, his writing is mostly clear and, to be fair, some chapters stand out above the rest. I enjoyed, for instance, the chapter in which Harold discovers how to think on his own. While Harold and Erica are certainly not strong or memorable characters, the more serious problems with The Social Animal lie elsewhere. These problems partly involve Brooks’ attempt to translate his tale into science.

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