For everyday we have 24 hours to spend, that's really a lot of time, but always many people complain that they have no enough time to do something. The only problem is you don't know how to arrange your time scientifically and reasonablly. If you are like me, always feel that time is not enough but I keep busy everyday, take a look at this article(I find on other website, and I want to share with you guys).
Experts reveal the ideal hours to nap, exercise, ask for a raise, and more.
Take a Nap
1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Doctors used to think afternoon sleepiness
was the result of a big lunch. "But we've found that in the early
afternoon there's
a dip in body temperature, which causes
sleepiness," says Michael Smolensky, a professor of environmental
physiology at the
University of Texas School of Public Health
at Houston and author of
The Body Clock Guide to Better Health: How to Use Your Body's Natural Clock to Fight Illness and Achieve Maximum Health ($19,
amazon.com).
Just as a similar decrease encourages you to shut down at bedtime, this
midday dip can make you crave a siesta. An ideal
nap, he says, should last 15 to 20 minutes.
More than 30 and you may end up with sleep inertia―and feel even more
groggy when
you wake up. Richard Schwab, M.D., codirector
of the University of Pennsylvania Penn Sleep Center, in Philadelphia,
says that
early afternoon is indeed when your circadian
rhythms (the pattern of physical and mental changes we each repeat
every 24
hours) are "more likely to want your body to
sleep." But Schwab insists that if we weren't all sleep-deprived, we
wouldn't
even need naps.
Read (and Retain) Information
8 a.m. or 10 p.m.
If you're going over
notes for today's presentation or memorizing the names of your child's
classmates' parents before the
school open house tonight, do it early in the
morning, when your immediate recall is highest. For longer retention
(the book
club meets in three weeks, but this weekend's
your only chance to finish
The Good Nanny),
evening is better. "This is just the way the brain is organized," says
Smolensky. "Memory depends on nucleic acids, and
those show circadian rhythms." In other words,
your brain doesn't store information with the same efficiency all day;
there
are peaks and valleys. "College students often
unknowingly take advantage of the dual circadian rhythm by staying up
late
studying, then doing a quick review the morning
of the exam," says Smolensky.
Go to the Doctor
8 a.m. to 9 a.m., or 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
You'll spend less time in the waiting room if you book the first appointment of the morning or the first after lunch, says
Patricia Carroll, R.N., author of
What Nurses Know and Doctors Don't Have Time to Tell You ($15,
amazon.com):
"Doctors start fresh in the morning and catch up when the office is
'closed' for lunch." Many lab tests require fasting,
so a morning appointment will help you avoid
being hungry half the day. If you're seeing a doctor who performs
surgery (orthopedist,
gynecologist), ask that your appointment not
follow her operating time―a recipe for serious delays, says Carroll.
Pediatricians'
and family-practice offices can get mobbed
when work and school let out (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.). And if you leave with a
prescription
to be filled, try to visit the pharmacy
before 3 p.m. on weekdays, when it's least busy―"which also reduces the
risk of error,"
says Carroll.
Pop a Multivitamin
Breakfast time
Taking your supplements with a meal is
important because "vitamins are components of food, and whether water
soluble or fat
soluble, they are absorbed better with food,"
says Shari Lieberman, Ph.D., a New York City and Hillsboro Beach,
Florida, nutrition
scientist and coauthor of
The Real Vitamin & Mineral Book .
"Also, as with many other pills, you're more likely to get queasy if
you take multivitamins on an empty stomach. Breakfast
is the meal of choice. Because most people
have it at home (whereas lunch and dinner are often eaten elsewhere),
making the
morning meal your time for vitamin-popping
will help you stick with the habit. Another reason dinnertime may not be
a good
option, Lieberman adds, is that certain
nutrients, including vitamin B, may keep you
Walk the Dog
8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
To you, walking the dog may be about exercise. To him, it's all about the social life, explains Jean Donaldson, author of
Dogs Are From Neptune
and director of the San Francisco SPCA's dog-training academy. Owners
have more time to stroll in the evening and to let
their pets linger over exciting smells and
sounds missed on the morning-rush walk. Evening walks also let him avoid
midday
overheating. He can make himself comfortable
before bedtime, says David Reinecke, the founder of Los Angeles-based
Dog Remedy
behavioral training.
Do Your Cardio Workout
5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
"For increasing fitness, decreasing the chance of injury, and improving sleep, the best time to exercise is late afternoon
or early evening," says Matthew Edlund, M.D., author of
The Body Clock Advantage: Finding Your Best Time of Day to Succeed In: Love, Work, Play, Exercise and head of the Center for Circadian Medicine, in Sarasota, Florida. At
these times, he says, your lungs use oxygen more
efficiently, you're more coordinated, and
your muscles are warmed up, so you're less likely to suffer a sprain or
strain.
Finish exercising at least three hours before
bed so that when your head hits the pillow the extra adrenaline will no
longer
be pumping through your bloodstream (and
other factors that keep you awake will also have subsided). Bonus: "If
you're all
wound up at the end of the day, exercise may
be a great stress reliever," notes Shirley Archer of the Stanford Health
Improvement
Program, in Palo Alto, California.
Ask for a Raise
5 p.m.
"The key is finding a moment when your boss
is not rushed and has time to truly listen," and that's most likely to
be the
end of the day, says Lynn Ellis, a career
coach in Austin, Texas, who has worked with employees and bosses at
global companies
like Unilever. "That's when I'm getting ready
for the next day or looking ahead to the next week, and I'm in a good
mood because
I'm going home soon," says Amy Holloway, a
vice president at Angelou Economics, in Austin. And you'll have a
biological edge
then, since, as Edlund, points out, your
elevated body temperature makes you more alert in the late afternoon.
But asking
for a raise is not an exact science. Ellis
advises tracking your boss's daily habits to find the ideal, low-key
time for him
or her. And, in the end, if you're at your
best in the morning, just go for it.
Return Merchandise
10 a.m.
Arrive with your
what-was-I-thinking sweater within the first hour a store is open.
Workforces are leaner these days, but
“retailers still need enough staff to open up,
so that may be when they have the best ratio of staff to customers,”
says Edward
Fox, director of Southern Methodist University’s
JCPenney Center for Retail Excellence, in Dallas. It may also be the
only
time all day when staff are at assigned posts,
“so you can usually get someone to help,” notes former fashion stylist
Linda
Arroz, who spent years returning things she
didn’t end up using for movies and TV shows. Fox adds that “the most
experienced
people get the best hours, so they will be
working the day shift.” Finally, consider customer flow. “A city store
may be busier
during weekday lunch hours, a suburban store on
weekend afternoons,” says Target spokesperson Lena Michaud.
Go to the Post Office
7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
The U.S. Postal
Service may have more than 700,000 employees, yet there never seems to
be enough of them when you're waiting
in line to mail a birthday present. Your best
chance, according to USPS spokesperson Monica Suraci: Find out when your
post
office opens (generally between 7 a.m. and 9
a.m.) and arrive a half hour or so later. You'll hit a midmorning lull,
missing
the rush of early birds lined up at the door (as
well as distracted window personnel chatting with carriers sorting the
day's
mail). Heavy traffic is more likely at lunch, at
the end of the workday, and just before closing, so those are times to
avoid.
Suraci's tip: Look for USPS "contract stations,"
which offer services in locations like supermarkets and drugstores, and
for
machines in some post-office lobbies that weigh
and stamp packages most any time.
Get a Haircut
8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Booking the first
appointment of the day will help you ease into the shampoo bowl on time.
That’s because no latecomers will
have thrown off the schedule, says Serena
Chreky, co-owner of the Andre Chreky salon, in Washington, D.C. Saturday
mornings
(after busy workweeks) are usually the least
frantic, says Allen Ruiz of the Jackson Ruiz Salon Spa, in Austin.
However, some
salons fill up then with bridal parties, Chreky
cautions, so ask when you book. An early appointment may also get you
the
best cut. “Stress levels are at their lowest,”
says Michelle Breyer, cofounder of NaturallyCurly.com, which deals with
salons
nationwide. “Even if you’re only the third or
fourth client of the day, your stylist may not look at your hair with
the same
enthusiasm.” For the best service, Breyer and
Ruiz both suggest asking your stylist, “What’s your favorite time of day
to
do hair?”
Clean the House
4 p.m.
You're more likely to whistle while you
window wash (and not kick over the bucket) if you do it in the late
afternoon. That's
when hand-eye coordination is at its peak and
mood levels are high, says Smolensky. If anyone in the house has
allergies or
asthma, avoid insomnia-hour and morning
cleaning sprees (nasal-allergy symptoms are most severe between 6 a.m.
and noon, asthma
attacks more likely between midnight and 6
a.m.), and finish well before that person walks in the door. "It takes
about an
hour for allergens and dust to settle after
you clean," says Martha White, M.D., director of research at the
Institute for
Asthma and Allergy, in Wheaton, Maryland.
