Can You Change Your Body Clock?

We’re all more productive at certain times of the day. But why, and can we change? Rachel Carlyle learns how to make the most of your body clock

Some of us are born to binge on box sets in the early hours, while others leap out of bed at 6am looking refreshed. Research suggests we can’t choose to be an owl or a lark, as our biological clock, or chronotype, is largely genetic. But we could all achieve more if we tweaked our days in line with our body clock.

Only about 15% of us are true morning larks, 20% are natural owls, and the rest of us are in-between. For the larks and in-betweeners, our days follow a distinct pattern, believes author Daniel Pink, who examined 700 scientific studies for his book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (Canongate). There’s a morning peak of productivity from about 8.30am to 12pm, followed by a mid-afternoon trough, then a “rebound” energy peak from about 4pm. For owls, it’s in reverse: rebound, trough, then peak.

The idea is to get your cognitively demanding work done in the peak, when the brain is most vigilant and best able to repel distractions. Research shows four hours of solid morning work is more productive than spreading it over 12 hours. Pink also found that even among larks, creative tasks were best done during the early evening rebound.

“If you’re a strongly night-time person, you can’t suddenly become a morning person,” says sleep researcher Dr Neil Stanley. “For most of us, around 11am is when we’re at our peak, even if we don’t think we are.”

THE EARLY BIRD

“There’s no one about and no interruptions”

MARY JARDINE, 54, is a handbag designer (jardineoflondon.co.uk). She lives with her husband John in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and has two grown-up sons.