An Oxford University sleep scholar has the secret to not waking up feeling like shit - and it's all about doing everything in tune with your circadian rhythms, which change depending on your age. This also means there is an ideal time to do pretty much everything - from sleeping to eating to having sex and everything inbetween. The Daily Mailgot Dr. Paul Kelley to map out the perfect day for those in their twenties, thirties and forties - so here's the twenties, just for you.
9.30am: Wake up. According to Dr. Kelley: 'Your wakefulness is controlled by two processes in the brain - one that alerts you and another that drives you towards sleep. This is balanced by the release of different hormones: melatonin, the sleep hormone, and orexin, the wakefulness hormone. In a 20-year-old, orexin doesn't override melatonin until mid-morning.'
10am: Drink coffee. 'For around two hours after waking, we're in a state called sleep inertia,' says Dr Kelley. 'There aren't enough metabolic processes happening in a twentysomething's body for them to need much energy from food.' Caffeine will help them shake off this inertia, by binding to nerve cells in the brain.
12 noon: Start work. Apparently, midday is when the brain starts being productive. Which makes sense considering how zombie-like we feel
3pm: Have sex. The 20-year-old libido can, according to Dr. Kelley, experience desire at any time of day. There's a bit of a spike in your energy around mid-afternoon, so he suggests making the most of it with a quick bang. Although, not sure about you, but we've never experienced a spike in energy at 3pm. It's usually a huge dip.
**3.30pm: **Lunch. Because you had a lie-in, you won't need food until now. 'The European custom of eating a big lunch applies best to 20-year-olds,' says Dr Kelley. 'This is when they need fuel for concentration.'
5pm: Exercise. Apparently your physical performance is highest between 3pm and 6pm, with lung function 18 per cent more efficient than normal after 5pm.
8pm: Switch off. You reach your mental peak in early evening. We'd add that you should switch off way before then, because nobody should stay in the office till 8pm. Jesus.
8.30pm: Watch TV/use your iPad. 'It's a good idea for twentysomethings to slot screen use into the early evening when the brain is still alert from work,' says Dr Kelley.
9.30pm: Dinner. European-style again, to provide an energy boost for the evening.
10pm: Study. Research has shown young people are better at creative thinking late at night. Haha good luck mate, try and pull me away from that iPad I started 'using' an hour and a half ago.
We reckon that, while this is interesting, and sounds like a lovely day, don't beat yourself up if you can't make all these times. If you've got a job, who has the time to have sex at 3pm unless it's with a work colleague in a cupboard?
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Picture: Eylul Aslan
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.