If you are like me, you are constantly looking for ways to do more with less time! What if we could gain some time each day simply by rearranging our schedule? Read on…
According to a recent article in Psychology Today (“Building The Perfect Day,” February 2015), there appears to be an optimum time for most of our daily tasks! If we are able to synch up our activities with our biology, we just might be able to accomplish more each day. Or, for those of you who are Type B, get more downtime each day!
- Waking up. Believe it or not, there is an optimum time to wake. First, although it should be obvious to most of you, it’s worth mentioning that you must get enough sleep. This amount varies from person to person. How do you figure it out? Track your sleeping while you are on vacation, where you don’t have a set schedule and you aren’t overloading your system with caffeine. Next, do the math. Subtract backwards from when you know you need to get up, and you’ll know what time you need to go to bed. Second, if you can rise without an alarm clock you won’t interfere with your last cycle of REM sleep, which occurs right before you wake up. If you need the alarm, be sure not to hit the snooze button as that will end up making you feel more sleepy when you do decide to get out of bed.
- Sex. There is a testosterone surge first thing in the morning, and so morning sex might be preferable. As a bonus, you will create feel-good chemicals such as oxytocin that will benefit you throughout your day.
- Breakfast. Be sure to eat within a few hours of waking up, to give your brain fuel and raise your blood sugar appropriately.
- Outdoor exercise. The best time to exercise outdoors is within a few hours of waking up because the light will help you set your circadian rhythms. (Fancy medical speak for “feeling and being awake when you are supposed to, and sleepy when you are supposed to.”) If you prefer exercising indoors, then morning is still the best time because 1. you’ll make sure it gets done; and 2. it will help regulate your appetite throughout the day.
- Emails. Send emails first thing in the morning. Messages that are sent between 6 and 10 am are more likely to be read. This is also a good time to check your email, but be sure to close your email application so you can focus on other things. If once a day isn’t enough for you, then schedule a time later in the day to check email. And limit your checks to those designated times.
- Coffee. Drink coffee later in the morning. Because we naturally have a surge of cortisol (a hormone that helps keep us awake) first thing in the morning, coffee may be unnecessary. So save your first cup for a few hours after you wake up, when cortisol starts dropping and you start feeling less perky. And while we are on the topic, keep in mind that coffee has a half-life of between 3 and seven hours. For most of us, this means no coffee after 2 pm or it will disturb your sleep.
- Best time to focus. Schedule your most challenging work for mid-morning. This is when your body temperature is at its highest, which means you are the most alert. However, the best time for creative work is late afternoon, or for night owls, first thing in the morning. Our inability at these times to filter out irrelevant info is actually a benefit to creative thinking. So, focus work in the morning and creative work in the afternoon.
Yours in the Joy of Knowledge,
Dr. Barbara LoFrisco
