如何找到做每件事情的最佳時間?

Could you pack More into each day if you did everything at the optimal time?

如果任何事情都是在最佳時間去做，你的每一天是否就能加進更多的活動？

A growing body of research suggests that paying attention to the body clock, and its effects on energy and alertness, can help pinpoint the different times of day when most of us perform our best at specific tasks, from resolving conflicts to thinking creatively.

越來越多的研究表明，多加重視生物鐘及其對人的精力和清醒度的影響有助於我們精確找到大多數人一天中從事具體活動──無論是解決矛盾還是創造性思維──的最佳時間。

Alertness tends to slump after eating a meal, Dr. Matchock found. Sleepiness also tends to peak around 2 p.m., making that a good time for a nap, says Martin Moore-Ede, chairman and chief executive of Circadian, a Stoneham, Mass., training and consulting firm.

馬丘克博士發現，清醒度在飯後往往會迅速降低。馬薩諸塞州斯通哈姆市（Stoneham）Circadian培訓諮詢公司的董事長兼首席執行長馬丁•摩爾艾德（Martin Moore-Ede）說，困頓感也往往是在下午兩點左右達到頂峯，這是進行午休的好時候。

Surprisingly, fatigue may boost creative powers. For most adults, problems that require open-ended thinking are often best tackled in the evening when they are tired, according to a 2011 study in the journal Thinking & Reasoning. When 428 students were asked to solve a series of two types of problems, requiring either analytical or novel thinking, their performance on the second type was best at non-peak times of day when they were tired, according to the study led by Mareike Wieth, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Albion College in Michigan. (Their performance on analytical problems didn't change over the course of the day.) Fatigue, Dr. Wieth says, may allow the mind to wander more freely to explore alternative solutions.

讓人意想不到的是，疲勞可以增加創造力。2011年《思考與推理》（Thinking & Reasoning）雜誌上刊登的一篇研究論文指出，對多數成年人來說，需要開放性思維來思考的問題，其最佳處理時間是在晚上他們感到疲勞的時候。密歇根阿爾比恩學院（Albion College）心理學助理教授馬雷克•維斯（Mareike Wieth）牽頭的這項研究顯示，當428名學生被要求解決一系列要麼需要分析能力要麼需要創新思維的兩種類型的問題時，他們解決第二類問題時的最好表現出現在一天中他們感到疲勞的非高峯時段。（他們解決分析性問題的表現在一整天的過程中沒有變化。）維斯博士說，疲勞可以讓思維得到更自由的發散，去尋找不同的解決方案。

Of course, everyone's body clock isn't the same, making it even harder to synchronize natural rhythms with daily plans. A significant minority of people operate on either of two distinctive chronotypes, research shows: Morning people tend to wake up and go to sleep earlier and to be most productive early in the day. Evening people tend to wake up later, start more slowly and peak in the evening.

當然，每個人的生物鐘不盡相同，這使得日常計劃與生理節奏同步難上加難。研究表明，有極少數人做事時屬於兩種獨特的時間類型：早上型的人一般比一般人更早睡早起，一天中工作最有成效的時間是在早上；晚上型的人往往醒來較晚，啓動工作較慢，最佳表現時間是在晚上。

Communicating with friends and colleagues online has its own optimal cycles, research shows. Sending emails early in the day helps beat the inbox rush; 6 a.m. messages are most likely to be read, says Dan Zarrella, social-media scientist for HubSpot, a Cambridge, Mass., Web marketing firm, based on a study of billions of emails. 'Email is kind of like the newspaper. You check it at the beginning of the day,' he says.

iStockphotoHubspot的研究表明，晚上八點左右發表到Facebook上的帖子得到“喜歡”評價的最多。研究表明，在網上與朋友和同事交流也有最優週期。大清早發送電子郵件有助於避開收件高峯期。馬薩諸塞州劍橋市（Cambridge）HubSpot網絡營銷公司的社交媒體科學家丹•薩瑞拉（Dan Zarrella）在對數十億封電子郵件進行研究之後表示，早晨六點發送的信息被閱讀的可能性最大。他說，“電子郵件有點類似報紙，查閱的時間在一日之初。”

Reading Twitter at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. can start your day on a cheery note. That's when users are most likely to tweet upbeat, enthusiastic messages, and least likely to send downbeat tweets steeped in fear, distress, anger or guilt, according to a study of 509 million tweets sent over two years by 2.4 million Twitter users, published last year in Science. One likely factor? 'Sleep is refreshing' and leaves people alert and enthusiastic, says Michael Walton Macy, a sociology professor at Cornell University and co-author of the study. The cheeriness peaks about 1-1/2 hours later on weekends -- perhaps because people are sleeping in, Dr. Macy says.

在早上八點或九點閱讀推特（Twitter）上的微博信息可以讓你心情輕鬆地開始新的一天。去年其論文發表在《科學》(Science)雜誌上的一項研究對240萬推特用戶在兩年時間裏發表的5.09億條微博信息進行了研究，結果顯示這個時間是微博用戶最可能發佈樂觀向上、熱情洋溢的信息的時候，發送恐懼、悲痛、憤怒或者內疚這些悲觀情緒的可能性則最小。一個可能的因素是什麼？研究論文的共同作者、康奈爾大學（Cornell University）社會學教授邁克爾•沃爾頓•梅西（Michael Walton Macy）說，“睡眠可以讓人恢復精神”，讓人頭腦清醒、充滿熱情。梅西博士說，週末時，這種開心情緒的高峯時間比平時要晚一至一個半個小時──也許是人們要睡懶覺的緣故。

Other social networking is better done later in the day. If you want your tweets to be re-tweeted, post them between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., when many people lack energy to share their own tweets and turn to relaying others' instead, Mr. Zarrella says. And posts to Facebook at about 8 p.m. tend to get the most 'likes,' after people get home from work or finish dinner. At that time of day, they're likely to turn to Facebook feeling less stressed. 'You have less stuff to do and more time to give,' says Mr. Zarrella.

薩瑞拉說,其它網絡社交活動在晚些時候開展更好。如果你想讓你發表的微博被人轉發，那就在下午三點到六點之間發佈，這個時候很多人都沒有精力發表自己的微博，而更傾向於轉發別人的微博。晚上八點左右發表到Facebook上的帖子得到“喜歡”評價的最多，這時人們已經下班回家或吃完晚飯，他們很可能是在沒有太大壓力的情況下登錄Facebook的。薩瑞拉說，“你沒有太多的事情要做，可以支配的時間較多。”

Late-night drama can be found on Twitter, where emotions heat up just before bedtime, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., says Scott Andrew Golder, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University and co-author of the Twitter study. At that time, people tended to send more emotion-laden tweets, both positive and negative. Tired out by the workday, but also freed from its stresses and demands, people become 'more alert and engaged, but also more agitated,' Dr. Macy says.

前述推特研究項目的聯合作者之一、在康奈爾大學攻讀Ph.D.學位的斯科特•安德魯•高德（Scott Andrew Golder）說，就在就寢前的10點至11點之間，推特可能會變成一個深夜劇場，人的情感在這裏升溫。在這個時間段，人們往往會發表更多富含感情的微博，積極的和消極的都有。梅西博士說，一天的勞累之後，卸下工作壓力和要做的事情之餘，人們變得“更敏感更專注，但是也會更焦躁不安。”

When choosing a time of day to exercise, paying attention to your body clock can also improve results. Physical performance is usually best, and the risk of injury least, from about 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., says Michael Smolensky, an adjunct professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Texas, Austin, and lead author with Lynne Lamberg of 'The Body Clock Guide to Better Health.'

在選擇體育鍛煉時間的時候，關注一下生物鐘也可以提高鍛鍊效果。德克薩斯大學奧斯汀分校（University of Texas, Austin）的生物醫學工程兼職教授邁克爾•斯莫倫斯基（Michael Smolensky）說，身體活動能力最強、受傷危險最小的時候通常在下午三點到六點之間。他與琳•藍柏（Lynne Lamberg）合着了《生物鐘健康指南》（The Body Clock Guide to Better Health）一書，他是第一作者。

Muscle strength tends to peak between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. at levels as much as 6% above the day's lows, improving your ability to grip a club or racquet. Another boost for physical strength comes from the lungs, which function 17.6% more efficiently at 5 p.m. than at midday, according to a study of 4,756 patients led by Boris Medarov, an assistant professor of medicine at Albany Medical College in New York.

iStock研究稱，練習自由搏擊的最佳時間是下午晚些時候。肌肉力量一般在下午兩點到六點之間達到最高值，比一天中的低值時候高出6%，這時候抓握球棒或球拍的能力更強。另一個增強體力的因素是肺。根據紐約州奧爾巴尼醫學院（Albany Medical College）醫學助理教授鮑里斯•美達洛夫（Boris Medarov）牽頭的針對4,756名病人進行的一項研究，肺在下午五點時的效率比中午時分要高17.6%。

Eye-hand coordination is best in late afternoon, making that a good time for racquetball or Frisbee. And joints and muscles are as much as 20% more flexible in the evening, lowering the risk of injury, Dr. Smolensky says.

眼手配合最好的時候是在傍晚，這時打壁球或玩飛盤非常合適。斯莫倫斯基博士說，關節和肌肉在晚間的靈活度比其它時候高20%，受傷的機率會少一些。

These body rhythms hold true regardless of how much you've slept or how recently you've eaten. In a 2007 study at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, 25 experienced swimmers did six timed trials while sticking to an artificial schedule that controlled for variables like sleep, diet and other factors. The swimmers' performance still varied by time of day, peaking in the evening and hitting bottom at around 5 a.m.

Getty Images扔飛盤也是一樣。不管你睡了多久或者離吃飯時間有多近，這些機體節律都是不變的。在南卡羅來納大學哥倫比亞分校（University of South Carolina at Columbia）2007年進行的一項研究中，25名經驗豐富的游泳選手接受了六次計時測試，測試期間他們嚴格遵守人爲制定的日程安排，對睡眠、飲食和其它變量因素進行了控制。結果游泳選手們的成績還是因時間不同而產生了差異，晚間的成績最好，凌晨五點左右成績最差。

Is there a best time to eat? To keep from packing on pounds, experts say, limit food consumption to your hours of peak activity. A study in Cell Metabolism last May linked disruptions of the body clock to weight gain. 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.

有沒有最佳的吃飯時間？專家說，爲了避免體重增加，進食的時間要限制在活動最多的時間段。去年5月刊登在《細胞代謝》（Cell Metabolism）雜誌上的一篇研究論文指出，生物鐘的紊亂與體重增加有關係。研究人員讓兩組老鼠進食相同的高熱量食物，其中一組可以在任何時候進食，另一組進食的時間限制在通常清醒活躍的八個小時內。只在活躍時間內進食的老鼠脂肪要少40%，膽固醇和血糖含量也都更低。

While more research is needed on humans, Dr. Kay says, the research suggests that 'we are not only what we eat, we are when we eat.'

凱博士說，雖然還需要針對人類做更多的研究，但是這項研究表明，“不僅吃什麼與我們的體重有關，什麼時候吃也很有關係。”