What you can learn from Einstein’s quirky habits
从爱因斯坦的怪癖中你能学到什么

Celebrated inventor and physicist Nikola Tesla swore by toe exercises – every night, he’d repeatedly ‘squish’ his toes, 100 times for each foot, according to the author Marc J Seifer. While it’s not entirely clear exactly what that exercise involved, Tesla claimed it helped to stimulate his brain cells.

著名发明家、物理学家尼古拉·特斯拉（Nikola Tesla）深信脚趾运动的功效——根据作家马克·J·塞弗尔（Marc J Seifer）的描述，特斯拉每晚重复做"压扁"脚趾的运动，每只脚100次。虽然我们并不了解有关特斯拉脚趾运动的所有细节，但我们知道特斯拉声称脚趾运动有助于刺激大脑细胞。

The most prolific mathematician of the 20th Century, Paul Erdos, preferred a different kind of stimulant: amphetamine, which he used to fuel 20-hour number benders. When a friend bet him $500 that he couldn’t stop for a month, he won but complained “You’ve set mathematics back a month”.

20世纪最多产数学家保罗·艾尔多斯（Paul Erdos）喜欢另一种刺激剂：安非他命，依靠安非他命的刺激，艾尔多斯能对着数字一连工作20个小时。艾尔多斯的朋友用500美元押注他无法停用一个月安非他命，艾尔多斯赢了这笔赌注，但是他对朋友抱怨到："你让数学倒退了一个月。"

Newton, meanwhile, bragged about the benefits of celibacy. When he died in 1727, he had transformed our understanding of the natural world forever and left behind 10 million words of notes; he was also, by all accounts, still a virgin (Tesla was also celibate, though he later claimed he fell in love with a pigeon).

牛顿则大力宣扬禁欲和独身的好处。1727年牛顿去世时，他已经永久地转变了我们对自然世界的看法，并留下了一千万字的笔记；而所有记录都证实，牛顿一直保持着童子之身（特斯拉也秉持禁欲信条，虽然后来他声称自己爱上了一只鸽子。）

Many of the world’s most brilliant scientific minds were also fantastically weird. From Pythagoras’ outright ban on beans to Benjamin Franklin’s naked ‘air baths’, the path to greatness is paved with some truly peculiar habits.

许多全世界最聪明的科学家们同时也极度疯狂。从完全禁止信徒食用豆子的毕达哥拉斯（Pythagoras），到进行裸体"空气浴"的本杰明·富兰克林（Benjamin Franklin），这些科学家在通往伟大的道路上都不乏有一些非常奇怪的嗜好。

But what if these are more than superficial facts? Scientists are increasingly realising that intelligence is less about sheer genetic luck than we tend to think. According to the latest review of the evidence, around 40% of what distinguishes the brainiacs from the blockheads in adulthood is environmental. Like it or not, our daily habits have a powerful impact on our brains, shaping their structure and changing the way we think.

然而，如果这些嗜好不只是迷信呢？科学家们正越来越意识到，智力优势不只是我们通常所认为的纯粹的基因运气。最新研究证明，决定你成年后是天才还是傻瓜的因素中，40％是环境因素。不论你是否对此结果满意，日常习惯的确会对大脑产生极强的影响，从而塑造大脑结构，改变人们的思考方式。

Of all history’s great minds, arguably the master of combining genius with unusual habits was Albert Einstein – so what better person to study for clues to mind-enhancing behaviours to try ourselves? He taught us how to squeeze energy out of atoms, so maybe, just maybe, he might be able to teach us a thing or two about how to squeeze the most out of our tiny mortal brains. Could there be any benefits in following Einstein’s sleep, diet, and even fashion choices?

在历史上出现过的所有伟人之中，集天才与不寻常的嗜好为一身的最佳体现毫无疑问是阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦（Albert Einstein）——所以，如果要找一个研究对象，寻找可以让大脑更聪明的行为，就没有比爱因斯坦更适合的人选了。既然爱因斯坦告诉了我们如何从原子中释放能量，那么也许，他也能够就如何从我们小小的脑袋瓜里释放最多的智慧给我们支几招。那么我们能从爱因斯坦的睡眠、饮食，甚至时尚选择中学到点什么吗？

10 HOURS OF SLEEP AND ONE-SECOND NAPS

十小时睡眠和白日小憩

It’s common knowledge that sleep is good for your brain – and Einstein took this advice more seriously than most. He reportedly slept for at least 10 hours per day – nearly one and a half times as much as the average American today (6.8 hours). But can you really slumber your way to a sharper mind?

睡眠有助于大脑，这是普遍的认知，但爱因斯坦比大多数人更重视这一建议。据说爱因斯坦一天的睡眠时间在十小时以上——几乎是美国人平均睡眠时间的1.5倍（6.8小时）。然而，我们真的能靠睡觉变聪明吗？

The author John Steinbeck once said: “It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”

作家约翰·斯坦贝克（John Steinbeck）曾写道："人们普遍有这样的体验，晚上在一个问题上冥思苦想不得解，可是经过一夜安眠后，早上你会得到答案。"

Many of the most radical breakthroughs in human history, including the periodic table, the structure of DNA and Einstein’s theory of special relativity, have supposedly occurred while their discoverer was unconscious. The latter came to Einstein while he was dreaming about cows being electrocuted. But is this really true?

据说，人类历史上的许多最具颠覆性的突破，比如发现元素周期表、DNA结构，以及爱因斯坦的狭义相对论，都得益于发现者无意识间获得的灵感；因为在睡梦中梦见了被电击的母牛，爱因斯坦才发现了狭义相对论。这样的说法属实吗？

Back in 2004, scientists at the University of Lubeck, Germany, tested the idea with a simple experiment. First they trained volunteers to play a number game. Most gradually got the hang of it with practice, but by far the quickest way to improve was to uncover a hidden rule. When the students were tested again eight hours later, those who had been allowed to sleep were more than twice as likely to gain insight into the rules than those who had remained awake.

2004年，德国吕贝克大学（the University of Lubeck）的科学家们用一个简单的实验检验了以上说法。科学家首先教会参加实验的志愿者们如何玩一个数字游戏。大多数志愿者通过练习能够逐渐掌握游戏技巧，但目前为止，最快提升游戏水平的途径是发现隐藏的规律。当科学家们八小时后再度测试志愿者的游戏水平，他们发现，那些被允许去睡觉的志愿者发现游戏规律的可能性是那些一直醒着的志愿者的两倍以上。

When we fall asleep, the brain enters a series of cycles. Every 90-120 minutes the brain fluctuates between light sleep, deep sleep and a phase associated with dreaming, known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM), which until recently was thought to play the leading role in learning and memory. But this isn’t the full story. “Non-REM sleep has been a bit of a mystery, but we spend about 60% of our night in this type of sleep,” says Stuart Fogel, a neuroscientist at the University of Ottawa.

当我们睡着后，大脑会进入一系列循环。每90至120分钟，大脑在轻度睡眠、深度睡眠，以及一个与做梦有关的阶段之间波动；这一与做梦有关的过程被称作"快速眼动"（Rapid Eye Movement，REM），直到最近科学家才认为该过程对学习和记忆至关重要。然而这不是故事的全部。"非快速眼动睡眠有些神秘，但我们在夜晚60％的睡眠时间都在非快速眼动过程中度过，"渥太华大学（the University of Ottawa）神经学家斯图尔特·福格尔（Stuart Fogel）说道。

Non-REM sleep is characterised by bursts of fast brain activity, so called ‘spindle events’ because of the spindle-shaped zigzag the waves trace on an EEG. A normal night’s sleep will involve thousands of these, each lasting no longer than a few seconds. “This is really the gateway to other stages of sleep – the more you sleep, the more of these events you’ll have,” he says.

非快速眼动睡眠的特征是大脑的间歇快速运动，也被称作"纺锤波事件"（spindle events），因为脑电图（EEG）上会留下纺锤形锯齿波形的波迹。一晚上的正常睡眠包括了成千上万次非快速眼动睡眠过程，每一次持续的时间最长几秒钟。"这的确是通往睡眠其他阶段的途径——你睡的时间越长，就会经历越多次数的纺锤波事件，"福格尔说道。

Spindle events begin with a surge of electrical energy generated by the rapid firing of structures deep in the brain. The main culprit is the thalamus, an oval shaped region which acts as the brain’s main ‘switching centre’, sending incoming sensory signals in the right direction. While we’re sleeping, it acts like an internal earplug, scrambling external information to help you stay asleep. During a spindle event, the surge travels up to the brain’s surface and then back down again to complete a loop.

"纺锤波事件"始于大脑深层处迅速形成的结构所产生的电能激增。"罪魁祸首"是丘脑（thalamus），丘脑是一个椭圆形区域，充当大脑中主要的"转换中心"，将传入的感官信号发送至正确的方向。当我们睡觉时，它就像一个内置耳塞，扰乱外部信息来帮助你入睡。在"纺锤波事件"中，激增的电能会到达大脑表面，然后再折返，以完成整个循环。

Intriguingly, those who have more spindle events tend to have greater ‘fluid intelligence’ – the ability to solve new problems, use logic in new situations, and identify patterns – the kind Einstein had in spades. "They don’t seem related to other types of intelligence, such as the ability to memorise facts and figures, so it’s really specific to these reasoning skills," says Fogel. This ties in nicely with Einstein’s disdain for formal education and advice to "never memorise anything which you can look up".

有趣的是，那些经历了更多"纺锤波事件"的人往往会拥有更多"流体智力"（fluid intelligence）——解决新问题、在新情况下使用逻辑，以及识别规律的能力——正如爱因斯坦那样。"这种智力与记忆事实和数字等其他智力无关，它仅仅与这些推理能力有关，"福格尔表示。这正好让人联想到爱因斯坦对正统教育的憎恶，以及他的那句忠告——"不要背诵任何你能够查得到的东西"。

And though the more you sleep, the more spindle events you’ll have, this doesn’t necessarily prove that more sleep is beneficial. It’s a chicken and egg scenario: do some people have more spindle events because they are smart, or are they smart because they have more spindle events? The jury is still out, but a recent study showed that night-time sleep in women – and napping in men – can improve reasoning and problem solving skills. Crucially, the boost to intelligence was linked to the presence of spindle events, which only occurred during night-time sleep in women and daytime slumbers in men.

尽管睡得越多，经历的"纺锤波事件"就越多，但这并不一定就能证明，更多的睡眠就有益处。这是个"先有鸡还是先有蛋"的问题：是因为拥有更多的"纺锤波事件"所以更聪明？还是因为更聪明，所以才会经历更多的"纺锤波事件"？对于这一问题，目前尚无结论。但最近的一项研究表明，女性夜间睡眠和男性白天打盹儿都可以提高推理能力和解决问题的能力。关键是，智力提升与"纺锤波事件"的存在有关，而"纺锤波事件"仅会发生在女性的夜间睡眠中，以及男性白天打盹儿期间。

It’s not yet known why spindle events would be helpful, but Fogel thinks it may have something to do with the regions which are activated. “We’ve found that the same regions that generate spindles – the thalamus and the cortex [the brain’s surface] – well, these are the areas which support the ability to solve problems and apply logic in new situations,” he says.

我们尚不知晓为什么"纺锤波事件"会有助于智力提升，但福格尔认为这可能跟被激活的大脑区域有关。"我们发现产生纺锤波的区域——丘脑和皮层（大脑表面）——正是为人提供问题解决能力及新情况下逻辑应用能力的区域，"福格尔表示。

Luckily for Einstein, he also took regular naps. According to apocryphal legend, to make sure he didn’t overdo it he’d recline in his armchair with a spoon in his hand and a metal plate directly beneath. He’d allow himself to drift off for a second, then – bam! – the spoon would fall from his hand and the sound of it hitting the plate would wake him up.

爱因斯坦很幸运，因为他经常小憩。有传闻说，为了确保自己不会睡过头，靠在扶手椅上休息的时候，爱因斯坦手里会捏只勺子，下面正对着一只金属盘。他会迷迷糊糊地打个盹儿，然后——砰！——勺子会从他手上掉下来，在盘子上弄出声响，把爱因斯坦吵醒。

DAILY WALKS

每日散步

Einstein’s daily walk was sacred to him. While he was working at Princeton University, New Jersey, he’d walk the mile and a half journey there and back. He followed in the footsteps of other diligent walkers, including Darwin who went for three 45 minute walks every day.

爱因斯坦非常重视每日散步。他在新泽西州的普林斯顿大学工作时会走路去上班，全程1.5英里。爱因斯坦跟随其他持之以恒的散步者的脚步，其中就包括了达尔文（Darwin），达尔文每天要散步三次，每次持续45分钟。

These constitutionals weren’t just for fitness – there’s mountains of evidence that walking can boost memory, creativity and problem-solving. For creativity at least, walking outside is even better. But why?

散步不只有益于保持身体健康，大量证据表明，散步还有助于提高记忆力、创造力和解决问题的能力；同时，在室外散步至少对于提升创造力是更有效的。但这又是为什么呢？

When you think about it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Walking distracts the brain from more cerebral tasks, and forces it to focus on putting one foot in front of the other and not falling over. Enter ‘transient hypofrontality’ – translated into basic English, this impressive mouthful basically means temporarily toning down the activity in certain parts of the brain. In particular, the frontal lobes, which are involved in higher processes such as memory, judgement and language.

当你仔细去想，这一说法难免牵强。散步将大脑的注意力从脑力劳动中转移出来，迫使它专注于把一只脚放在另一只脚的前面，以免自己摔倒的过程，进入"顺时脑前额叶功能低下"(transient hypofrontality)的状态，通俗来说，即大脑的某些功能暂停活动，特别是与记忆、判断和语言等更高级大脑思维过程相关的前额叶部分。

By turning it down a notch, the brain adopts a totally different style of thinking – one which may lead to insights you wouldn’t get at your desk. There isn’t any evidence for this explanation of walking’s benefits yet, but it’s a tantalising idea.

通过把大脑活动调低一级，大脑会采用一种完全不同的思维方式，这可能给你带来坐在办公桌前无法产生的灵感。虽然尚无任何证据证明对散步为何有益的这一解释，但这的确是个有趣的推理。

EATING SPAGHETTI

吃意大利面

So what do geniuses eat? Alas, it’s not clear what fuelled Einstein’s extraordinary mind, though the internet somewhat dubiously claims it was spaghetti. He did once joke that his favourite things about Italy were “spaghetti and [mathematician] Levi-Civita”, so we’ll go with that.

那么天才们吃什么呢？很可惜，我们还不清楚爱因斯坦是吃什么来为大脑提供养分的，不过互联网上盛传一种可疑的说法，即爱因斯坦提升智慧的方法是吃意大利面。爱因斯坦的确曾开玩笑说，对于意大利，自己最喜欢的是"意大利面和（数学家）列维·齐维塔（Levi Civita）"。让我们看看。

Though carbohydrates have got a bad rep, as always, Einstein was spot on. It’s well known that the brain is a food-guzzling greedy guts, consuming 20% of the body’s energy though it only accounts for 2% of its weight (Einstein’s may have been even less – his brain weighed just 1,230g, compared to an average of around 1,400g). Just like the rest of the body, the brain prefers to snack on simple sugars, such as glucose, which have been broken down from carbohydrates. Neurons require an almost-contunuous supply and will only accept other energy sources when it’s really desperate. And therein lies a problem.

虽然碳水化合物有各种问题，但爱因斯坦还是对它们钟爱有加。众所周知，大脑是个贪恋美食的馋鬼，虽然只占身体重量的2%，却消耗着身体中20%的能量（爱因斯坦的大脑更轻，仅重1230克，而平均脑重为1,400克左右）。正如身体的其他部分，大脑更喜欢葡萄糖（glucose）等单糖，而单糖是从碳水化合物中分解出来的。神经元几乎需要不间断获得单糖供应，只有供给完全中断，才会接受其他能量来源。这里就存在着一个问题。

Despite this sweet tooth, the brain has no way of storing any energy, so when blood glucose levels drop, it quickly runs out. “The body can release some from its own glycogen stores by releasing stress hormones such as cortisol, but these have side-effects,” says Leigh Gibson, a lecturer in psychology and physiology at the University of Roehampton.

虽然嗜糖，但大脑无法储存任何能量。所以当血糖（blood glucose）水平下降时，大脑很快就会耗尽能量。"身体可以通过释放皮质醇（cortisol）等应激激素（stress hormones）释放自己储存的糖原（glycogen），但这会引发副作用，"罗汉普顿大学（the University of Roehampton）心理学及生理学讲师利·吉布森（Leigh Gibson）表示。

These include the familiar light-headedness and confusion we feel when we skip dinner. One study found that those on low carbohydrate diets have slower reaction times and reduced spatial memory – though only in the short-term (after a few weeks, the brain will adapt to salvaging energy from other sources, such as protein).

我们每次因为不吃晚饭所感受到的那种熟悉的头晕和混沌就是大脑耗尽能量的表现。一项研究发现，低碳水化合物饮食的人反应较慢，空间记忆能力也会减退——尽管这些只是短时现象（几周后，大脑会适应其他能量来源，如蛋白质）。

Sugars can give the brain a valuable boost, but unfortunately this doesn’t mean binging on spaghetti is a good idea. “Typically the evidence suggests that about 25g of carbohydrate is beneficial, but double that and you may actually impair your ability to think,” says Gibson. For perspective, that’s around 37 strands of spaghetti, which is a lot less than it sounds (around half as much as the recommended portion). “It’s not as simple a story as it sounds,” says Gibson.

糖分的确可以给大脑带来宝贵的刺激，但这并不意味着狂吃意大利面就是好主意。"有证据表明，通常情况下，进食25克碳水化合物是有益处的，如果进食了这个数字的两倍，你就是在损害自己的思考能力，"吉布森表示。更明确地表示就是大约37根意大利面，这比听起来要少得多（大约是建议食用分量的一半）。"这可没有听上去那么简单，"吉布森说道。

SMOKING A PIPE

抽烟

Today, the many health risks of smoking are widely known, so this is not a habit that it would be wise to follow. But Einstein was a hardened pipe smoker, known as much around campus for the cloud of smoke which followed him as for his theories. He famously loved to smoke, believing it “contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” He’d even pick cigarette butts off the street and stuff the remaining tobacco into his pipe.

如今，吸烟对健康的危害已经是众所周知，所以养成抽烟的习惯可不是明智之举。但爱因斯坦是个铁杆烟民，在校园里，爱因斯坦烟雾缭绕的形象跟他的理论一样出名。爱因斯坦非常喜欢抽烟，他相信，"抽烟有助于自己对人类的事情做出冷静客观的判断"。他甚至会从街上捡烟头，把剩下的烟丝塞到自己的烟斗里。

Not really the behaviour of a genius, but in his defence, though evidence had been mounting since the 1940s, tobacco wasn’t publicly linked to lung cancer and other illnesses until 1962 – seven years after his death.

这并不是天才应有的行为，但是我们也有必要为爱因斯坦进行辩护，虽然自20世纪40年代以来，出现了越来越多有关烟草导致肺癌和其他疾病的证据，但直到1962年，烟草的这一问题才被确认，而那时爱因斯坦已经去世7年了。

Today the risks are no secret – smoking stops brain cells forming, thins the cerebral cortex (the wrinkled outer layer responsible for consciousness) and starves the brain of oxygen. It’s fair to say that Einstein was clever despite this habit – not because of it.

如今吸烟的危害已经不再是秘密——吸烟会阻止脑细胞的形成，降低脑皮层厚度（cerebral cortex，负责意识的褶皱外层），导致大脑缺氧。可以说，尽管爱因斯坦有吸烟的习惯，但他依旧很聪明，但爱因斯坦的聪明并非源于吸烟。

But there is one final mystery. An analysis of 20,000 adolescents in the United States, whose habits and health were followed for 15 years, found that irrespective of age, ethnicity or education, more intelligent children grow up to smoke more cigarettes, more frequently, than the rest of us. Scientists still don’t know why this is, though intriguingly it’s not true everywhere – in the UK, smokers tend to have lower IQs.

另有一个谜题尚未被解开。一项针对20,000名美国青少年的调查在15年中追踪了他们的生活习惯和健康状况，调查结果显示，不考虑年龄、种族或教育程度等因素，更聪明的孩子长大后会比其他人抽更多的烟，且抽烟频度也更高。科学家们仍然没有找到原因，但有趣的是，这个发现不是普遍规律——在英国，吸烟者往往智商较低。

NO SOCKS

不穿袜子

No list of Einstein’s eccentricities would be complete without a mention of his passionate aversion to socks. “When I was young,” he wrote in a letter to his cousin – and later, wife – Elsa, “I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in a sock. So I stopped wearing socks.” Later in life, when he couldn’t find his sandals he’d wear Elsa’s sling backs instead.

在列举爱因斯坦的怪癖时，如果不写上他对袜子的极度厌恶，那这个怪癖单显然是不完整的。"当我年轻的时候，我发现大脚趾总是会在袜子上顶出个洞，所以我不再穿袜子了，"在给表亲、也即后来的妻子埃尔莎（Elsa）的信中，爱因斯坦写到。后来，每当爱因斯坦找不到自己的凉鞋时，他就会穿上埃尔莎的露跟女鞋。

As it turns out, rocking the hipster look probably didn’t do Einstein any favours. Regrettably, there haven’t been any studies looking directly at the impact of going sockless, but changing into casual clothing, as opposed to a more formal outfit, has been linked to poor performance on tests of abstract thinking.

然而事实证明，打扮成嬉皮士似乎并未给爱因斯坦带来任何智力优势。令人遗憾的是，尚未出现任何直接针对不穿袜子的影响进行的研究，但已经有研究表明，换上休闲服装，而不是更正式的服装之后，人们在抽象思维测试中的表现会变得糟糕。

And what better way to end that with some advice from the man himself. “The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing,” he told LIFE magazine in 1955.

爱因斯坦本人的建议大概是回答这一系列问题的最好方式吧。"最重要的是，不要停止发问；好奇心的存在是有原因的，"1955年爱因斯坦接受《生活》杂志采访时说道。

Failing that, you might try some toe exercises. Who knows – they might just work. And aren’t you dying to find out?