Best time to sleep, eat, have sex etc by Oxford researcher

Get out your pen and paper and start writing. This is the ultimate guide for the optimum time to have sex, eat, sleep and exercise depending on your age.

Age: 20-30

Paul Kelley, a researcher from Oxford University explains that our sleep depends on the balance of two hormones, melatonin (sleep hormone) and orexin (wakefulness hormone). In the younger people orexin does not dominate melatonin until midday.

Wake up at 9.30 am and have a coffee at 10 am, which is the optimum time for this age group, as metabolism procedures are too low for a couple of hours after they wake up in the morning to initiate hunger. Caffeine helps them wake up. The only time the brain is in functional mode, which is why it is best to work at 12 noon. Libido for younger adults is at its highest in the middle of the day, so 3 pm is sex time. At 3.30 pm you should have lunch and at 5 pm exercise. The physiological performance at this age group is at the highest level between 3pm and 6pm. At 9.30 pm is the best time to have dinner, while two hours later a night cap is just right. Finally, 1 am is the best time to go to sleep.

Age: 30-40

Wake up time is at 8.10 am, as the body starts feeling more fatigued after 30 years. According to the professor 8.20 in the morning is the best time to have sex, as the levels of testosterone are at their highest in men. After sex comes breakfast at 8.40 in the morning, while 10.40 is the best time to start work (avoid sugar intake). Lunch at 2.10 pm is just right, preferably rich in proteins. A nap at 3.40 pm is advisable then finish off work at 6.40 pm. Finally, some exercise at around 7 pm and dinner at 8.10 pm closes off your day, before going to bed at 11.40 pm.

Age: 40-50

You wake up at 7.50 in the morning as the need for a large breakfast gradually dwindles after 40. A rich breakfast in protein and fiber is a must, while a walk 20 minutes later is very helpful as it ‘gets the muscles warm’. From 10.20 to 10.45 in the morning you work and have a coffee, as the body is full of cortisol, our organism’s ‘natural caffeine’. Between 1.50 pm and 3.30 pm you eat lunch and deal with the house chores. Dinner comes at 7.30 in the evening with the body at this age requiring more time to digest before bedtime, which comes at 11.30 after having some sex at 10.20 at night.

Age: 50-60

Wake up call at 7 am. The less sleep the better. A breakfast half an hour after you get up as a human’s metabolism falls by 5% each decade gone by after the 40-year mark. Work at 9.30 when your concentration is at its peak. 1 o’clock after midday is the time for lunch, then 2pm a siesta, 7 pm dinner, 10 pm some sex and you hit the sack at 10.30 at night.