I too dislike the "next" buttons to turn through the pages and I found that if I listed the content in order, in was much more easily embedded in my mind. A lot of the studies I found almost irrelevant to my current lifestyle but could reinvent the data thus finding it useful. Here goes:
The Best Time of Day to 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
mid-morning 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.
The Best Time of Day to Pop a Multivitamin
8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
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 ($13.99,
Amazon Prime). "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 awake.
The Best Time of Day to 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,
co-founder 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?”
The Best Time of Day to 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.
The Best Time of Day to 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 JC Penney 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.
The Best Time of Day to Fly
10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
"Although U.S. Department of Transportation statistics show that
flights taking off between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. have the best on-time
record, those numbers are sometimes misleading," says Rally Caparas, an
Atlanta-based air-traffic controller and a Travelocity "Eye on the Sky"
correspondent for CNN. "On time" refers to when the plane pushes back
from the gate. You can wait on the tarmac for an hour because of weather
problems, which cause the vast majority of delays.
"Scheduling
arrivals and departures between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time," Caparas
says, "will help you avoid most delay-causing weather patterns. This
will also help you avoid airport rush hours, "which mostly coincide with
workday rush hours," says Robert Baron, president of the Aviation
Consulting Group, in Fort Lauderdale.
For best results, check for
regional weather patterns and schedule accordingly. "For example, for
the West Coast, fly in or out after noon Pacific Standard Time, when
marine-level fog has dissipated," says Caparas. For southeastern and
Gulf Coast hops, steer clear of the thunderstorms that kick up around 3
p.m. "Airline schedules are based on perfect weather conditions," he
says. "You're more likely to be punctual if you follow Mother Nature's
schedule."
*There seems to be a lunch rush hour too that needs to
be avoided. It's never really a good time to fly in the U.S. it seems
for many reasons. This is why I always opt to drive when possible and I
suggest that you do the same.
The Best Time of Day to 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.
The Best Time of Day to 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.
The Best Time of Day to 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 her. And, in the end,
if you're at your best in the morning, just go for it.
The Best Time of Day to 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 ($15,
amazon.com) 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.
The Best Time of Day to 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 ($15, amazon.com) 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.
The Best Time of Day to Read (Information Retention)
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.
I miss the days gone by where all of my doctors were under one roof, on one payroll, with one mission; to help. My current G.P. doesn't even know my blood type after all of the blood-work that I've had done over the past year and a half of finally seeing doctors again for the first time since childhood. He told me if I wanted to know, ahem, the best way to find out is by going and donating at a blood bank...Yes, this is because I have insurance now but I'm not going to make this a habit, visiting doctors that is.
I had never been able to safely swim or free dive without holding or plugging my nose until after my recent surgery. Previously, water would rush in unless I was blowing outward, had a pincher on or just trying REALLY hard not to let it in. Now it's a breeze and I'm floored by it. Might this be attributed to my deviated septum correction? Balance of airflow due my turbinate reduction? It's absolutely amazing swimming now none-the-less. And right when I'm about to leave Florida. :( Let me not forget to mention singing is no longer a labor intensive chore! Having braces has made simply vocalizing like Carol Burnett quite a task. But as we all know, doing things the hard way first and the norm later makes makes our activities that much greater!
