What's Your Best Time of Day?何时是你一天中最佳的时间?
1.Biological rhythms make us a different person at 9 a. m. than we are at 3 p. m. Here's a guide to when you work better, feel better, think better.
1、生物节奏使我们在早上九点和下午三点判若两人。本文指导你何时工作效率较高，何时自我感觉较好，何时思维活动较佳。
2.Every fall, Jane, a young mother and part-time librarian, begins to eat more and often feels sleepy. Her mood is also darker, especially when she awakens in the morning; it takes all her energy just to drag herself out of bed. These symptoms persist until April, when warmer weather and longer days seem to lighten her mood and alleviate her cravings for food and sleep.
2、简是一位年轻的妈妈和兼职的图书馆管理员。每年一到秋天，她就开始食欲增强，而且常常昏昏欲睡。她的情绪也比较消沉，尤其是早上一觉醒来之际，几乎要鼓起全身精力才能勉强挣扎下床。这些症状要持续到翌年四月，那时候，较暖的气候和较长的白昼仿佛使她的心情轻松起来，也不那么嘴馋和嗜睡了。
3.Joseph, a 48-year-old engineer for a Midwestern computer company, feels cranky early in the morning. But as the day progresses, he becomes friendlier and more accommodating.
3、48岁的约瑟夫是中西部一家计算机公司的工程师。每天清晨觉得爱发脾气，但到了白天，他却变得较为友善，容易和人相处了。
4.All living organisms, from mollusks to men and women, exhibit biological rhythms. Some are short and can be measured in minutes of hours. Others last days or months.. The peaking of body temperature, which occurs in most people every evening, is a daily rhythm. The menstrual cycle is a monthly rhythm. The increase in sexual drive in the autumn—not in the spring, as poets would have us believe—is a seasonal, or yearly rhythm.
4、一切生物体，从软体动物到人类的男男女女，无不表现出生物节奏。有些节奏为时甚短，可以用分钟或小时计量。另一些节奏要持续若干天，甚至几个月。多数人的体温每天傍晚达到最高点。这是一种每日一次的节奏。 月经周期是每月一次的节奏。性欲冲动在秋季转旺一一并非像诗人要我们相信的那样出现在春天——它是一种季节性的或每年一度的节奏。
5.The idea that our bodies are in constant flux is fairly new—and goes against traditional medical training. In the past, many doctors were taught to believe the body has a relatively stable, or homeostatic, internal environment. Any fluctuations were considered random and not meaningful enough to be studied.
5、认为我们的躯体经常处于不断变动的状态，这种想法是相当新颖的一一它与传统的医学训练的观点相反。过去，许多医生所受的教育使他们相信人体有一种比较稳定的或者说是体内平衡的内在环境。任何波动都被视为事出偶然，没有值得研究的充分意义。
6. As early as the 1940s, however, some scientists questioned the homeostatic view of the body. Franz Halberg, a young European scientist working in the United States, noticed that the number of white blood cells in laboratory mice was dramatically higher and lower at different times of day. Gradually, such research spread to the study of other rhythms in other life forms, and the findings were sometimes startling. For example, the time of day when a person receives X-ray or drug treatment for cancer can affect treatment benefits and ultimately mean the difference between life and death.
6、然而，早在40年代，有些科学家就对体内平衡的观点提出质疑。一位在美国工作的年轻的欧洲科学家弗兰茨*哈尔伯格，曾注意到实验室里小白鼠的白血球数目的多寡在每天不同的时间里有显著的差别。这种研宄逐渐扩大到对其他生命形式的其他节奏的探讨，其结果有时是令人吃惊的。例如，癌症患者每天接受X线治疗或药物治疗的时间会影响治疗的效果，并最终意味着生和死的差别。
7.This new science is called chronobiology, and the evidence supporting it has become increasingly persuasive. Along the way, the scientific and medical communities are beginning to rethink their ideas about how the human body works, and gradually what had been considered a minor science just a few years ago is being studied in major universities and medical centers around the world. There are even chronobiologists working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as for the National Institutes of Health and other government laboratories.
7、这门新兴的学科叫做计时生物学，支持它的证据已经变得越来越有说服力。沿着这条思路，科学界和医学界人士正在开始重新考虑他们关于人体如何运转的观点。这一学科仅仅在几年前还被认为是微不足道的，如今在全世界一些主要的大学和医学中心，都己逐渐地有人在进行研究。甚至连国家航空和宇宙航行局，以及国立卫生研究所和其他的政府实验室，也有一些计时生物学家在工作着。
8.With their new findings, they are teaching us things that can literally change our lives—by helping us organize ourselves so we can work with our natural rhythms rather than against them. This can enhance our outlook on life as well as our performance at work and play.
8、这些计时生物学家利用他们新的研究成果，正在给我们传授一些能够切实改变我们生活的知识——帮助我们安排自己的生活，使我们能符合，而不是违背我们天然的节奏进行活动。这样做，不仅能够提髙我们工作和娱乐的质量，而且能够提高我们的人生观。
9.Because they are easy to detect and measure, more is known of daily—or circadian (Latin for "about a day")—rhythms than other types. The most obvious daily rhythm is the sleep/wake cycle. But there are other daily cycles as well: temperature, blood pressure, hormone levels. Amid these and the body's other changing rhythms, you are simply a different person at 9 a. m. than you are at 3 p. m. How you feel, how well you work, your level of alertness, your sensitivity to taste and smell, the degree with which you enjoy food or take pleasure in music—all are changing throughout the day.
9、由于每天的或circadian (拉丁语意为“大约一天的”)节奏比较容易被发现和测定，人们对这种节奏的了解多于其他类型的节奏。睡和醒的周期是最明显的每日节奏。不过还有其他的每日节奏，如体温、血压、激素水平等。当你处在人体的这些和其他不断改变的节奏中时，你在早上九点和下午三点简直是判若两人。你的自我感觉、你的工作好坏、你的机警程度、你的味觉和嗅觉的敏感性、你享受食物或欣赏音乐的快感——凡此种种在一天之内都不断地变化着。
10.Most of us seem to reach our peak of alertness around noon. Soon after that, alertness declines, and sleepiness may set in by midafternoon.
10、我们大多数人最为机警的时间似乎是在中午前后;其后不久就开始迟 钝，等到下午三时左右就昏昏欲睡了。
11.Your short-term memory is best during the morning—in fact, about 15 percent more efficient than at any other time of day. So, students, take heed: when faced with a morning exam, it really does pay to review your notes right before the test is given.
11、你的短期记忆在早上这段时间最佳——其效率实际上比一天里的其他时间大约髙出15%。所以，学生们请注意：当遇到早上的考试时，你在快考试前不久温习一下你的笔记确实是有好处的。
12.Long-term memory is different. Afternoon is the best time for learning material that you want to recall days, weeks or months later. Politicians, business executives or others who must learn speeches would be smart to do their memorizing during that time of day. If you are a student, you would be wise to schedule your more difficult classes in the afternoon, rather than in the morning. You should also try to do most of your studying in the afternoon, rather than late at night. Many students believe they memorize better while burning the midnight oil because their short-term recall is better during the wee hours of the morning than in the afternoon. But short-term memory won't help them much several days later, when they face the exam.
12、长期记忆就不同了。对那些你想要在以后几天、几周或几个月回想起来的材料，最佳的学习时间是下午。政治活动家、工商企业经理或其他必须牢记演讲词的人们，在下午这段时间进行记忆将是明智之举。如果你是学生，那么，一个聪明的办法是你把较难的课程安排在下午，而不是安排在上午去做。你还应当力图把研读大部分功课的时间放在下午，而不是放在深更半夜。许多学生因为短期记忆的效果在凌晨比在下午好，就以为挑灯夜读能记得更牢。但短期记忆在他们几天以后面对考试时帮不了多大的忙。
13.By contrast, we tend to do best on cognitive tasks—things that require the juggling of words and figures in one's head—during the morning hours. This might be a good time, say, to balance a checkbook.
13、反之，我们在早上几个钟头里往往能够最有效地从事那些脑力工作，即那些需要动脑筋仔细推敲文字和认真思考数字的事情。比如说，这个时候也许最适宜于核对支票簿。
14.Your manual dexterity—the speed and coordination with which you perform complicated tasks with your hands—peaks during the afternoon hours. Such work as carpentry, typing or sewing will be a little easier at this time of day.
14、在下午的几个小时，你的双手最为灵巧，表现在你的双手完成复杂工作的速度和协调能力。在一天的这段时间里干木工活、打字或缝纫更为得心应手。
15.What about sports? During afternoon and early evening, your coordination is at its peak, and you're able to react the quickest to an outside stimulus—like a baseball speeding toward you at home plate. Studies have also shown that late in the day, when your body temperature is peaking, you will perceive a physical workout to be easier and less fatiguing—whether it actually is or not. That means you are more likely to work harder during a late afternoon or early-evening workout, and therefore benefit more from it. Studies involving swimmers, runners, shotputters and rowing crews have shown consistently that performance is better in the evening than in the morning.
15、体育运动方面的情况如何呢?在下午和黄昏初降时，你的协调能力处于顶峰状态，你能够以最快的速度对付外界的刺激，例如对朝你本垒飞来的棒球作出反应。多项研究也已经证明，傍晚当你的体温升到最高时，不论实际情况是否如此，你都会觉得体育锻炼比较轻松，不那么令人感到疲倦。这意味着你在下午稍晚时或傍晚刚开始时锻炼起来比较有可能多加一把劲，因此收获更大。对游泳、赛跑、推铅球和划船等运动员的有关研究一致表明，这样一些运动下午比上午易出成绩。
16.In feet, all of your senses—taste, sight, hearing, touch and smell—may be at their keenest during late afternoon and early evening. That could be why dinner usually tastes better to us than breakfast and why night lights irritate us.
16、事实上，你的一切官能——味觉、视觉、听觉、触觉和嗅觉——都会在下午稍晚时和傍晚刚开始时最为敏锐。这也许可以说明为什么我们通常觉得晚餐比早餐香，为什么夜间的灯光剌眼吧。
17.Even our perception of time changes from hour to hour. Not only does time seem to fly when you're having fun, but it also seems to fly even fester if you are having that fun in the late afternoon of early evening, when your body temperature is also peaking.
17、连我们对时间的感受也是因时而异的。时光似乎过得飞快，这种感觉不仅出现在你正玩得兴高釆烈时，而且，这同样的欢乐如果是发生在下午稍晚和傍晚刚开始时，即你的体温正朝最高点上升时，你就会感到时间过得甚至更快。
18.While all of us follow the same general pattern of ups and downs, the exact timing varies from person to person. It all depends on how your "biological" day is structured—how much of a morning or night person you are. The earlier your biological day gets going, the earlier you are likely to enter—and exit—the peak times for performing various tasks. An extreme morning person and an extreme night person may have circadian cycles that are a few hours apart.
18、尽管我们的生物节奏上下起落的总模式相同，但确切的定时却因人而异。它完全取决于你的“生物节奏”日的结构如何——你是早晨活动得多还是夜里活动得多。你的生物节奏日开始得愈早，你就可能愈早地进入和退出完成各种工作的顶峰期。一个完全在上午活动的人和一个完全在夜晚活动的人，其每日生物节奏的周期可能相隔几个小时。
19.Each of us can increase our knowledge about our individual rhythms. Learn how to listen to the inner beats of your body; let them set the pace of your day. You will live a healthier—and happier—life.
19、我们人人都能增进自己对自己的生物节奏的了解。要学会如何倾听你体内的节拍;根据它们来设定你的每日生活。这样，你将过一种更加健康、更加幸福快乐的生活。
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