Could you pack more into each day if you did everything at the optimal time?
A growing body of research suggests that paying attention to the body clock and its effects on energy and alertness can help us pinpoint when we'll perform our best at different activities. Most people organize their time around everything but the body's natural rhythms. Workday demands, commuting, social events and kids' schedules frequently dominate—inevitably clashing with the body's circadian rhythms of waking and sleeping.
Here's some advice on the best time to do certain activities
As for eating, the article suggests that we should concentrate our food intake in the hours when we're most active. Researchers put two groups of mice on the same high-calorie diet. One group was allowed to eat anytime; the other group was restricted to eating only during an eight-hour period when they were normally awake and active. The mice that ate only while active were 40% leaner and had lower cholesterol and blood sugar. Read more in the WSJ.
A growing body of research suggests that paying attention to the body clock and its effects on energy and alertness can help us pinpoint when we'll perform our best at different activities. Most people organize their time around everything but the body's natural rhythms. Workday demands, commuting, social events and kids' schedules frequently dominate—inevitably clashing with the body's circadian rhythms of waking and sleeping.
Here's some advice on the best time to do certain activities
- 6am - Send emails - Messages are most likely to be read before the morning rush
- 8am - Write upbeat Tweets - Twitter users tend to be more upbeat after waking, sending more cheery tweets and fewer angry/critical ones
- 9am - Have a tough talk - Difficult conversations are best done at times of high energy and clarity - for most people, this is in the morning
- 10am - Do cognitive work - As body temperature rises through the morning, cognitive skills improve as well. Working memory and concentration tend to peak in mid-late morning
- 2pm - Take a short nap - Sleepiness hits its daytime peak just as post-mealtime drowsiness sets in
- 4pm - Do physical work - Hand-eye coordination tends to rise in late afternoon. This is also a time when physical strength and alertness are still high
- 5pm - Work out - Muscle strength and flexibility tend to peak late in the day. Lungs function 18% better at 5pm than at midday
- 8pm - Update your Facebook status - This is the time when you're mostly to get "Likes" on your posts. People are less stressed and have more time to interact
- 9pm - Think creatively - Our freshest thinking may occur at non-peak times of the day, which for most adults is in the evening. Fatigue may lower inhibition and increase openness to offbeat ideas / solutions
As for eating, the article suggests that we should concentrate our food intake in the hours when we're most active. Researchers put two groups of mice on the same high-calorie diet. One group was allowed to eat anytime; the other group was restricted to eating only during an eight-hour period when they were normally awake and active. The mice that ate only while active were 40% leaner and had lower cholesterol and blood sugar. Read more in the WSJ.
