T I M E M A N A G E M E N T
of digestion, with the “power breakfast” and the “working lunch”
and the “business dinner.”
If we become tired at the “wrong” time, like in the middle of
the afternoon staff meeting, we fight off fatigue with caffeine or
sugar or both, overriding our need for rest.
And we pay for it.
WhaT WOULD Y OU D O iF Y OU C OULD D O WhaTeVer YOU
WanTeD T O?
Most of us have developed a daily cycle involving one long block
of time from six to nine hours of sleep and two or three meals, the
largest coming at dinnertime.
You’ve trained your body to its cycle (or your own version of
it) through repetition and reinforcement, but your body may show
its displeasure, by being groggy and sleep-ridden at get-up time,
queasy at dinnertime, wakeful at bedtime. You may simply strug-
gle through these discomforts, or you may seek pharmaceutical
help to rise, eat, and sleep at the “right” times.
Ever wonder what you’d do if you let yourself do whatever felt
right? What if you had absolutely no obligations or appointments,
a true vacation? You could get up when you wanted, eat when you
wanted, nap if you wanted, stay up all night if you wanted.
You probably wouldn’t do much too differently for the first few
days. Our learned patterns can become quite entrenched. But after
a few days, as you begin at last to relax and ease into a new way of
life, what would you ease into?
What if you let the body, rather than the schedule, drive
your day?
Scientists have wondered about such things. One experiment
involves putting folks into an environment free of all obligations,
free of all clocks and watches, even free of sunrise and sunset.
Subjects had no schedules to follow and no clues as to when they
“should” sleep and wake and eat.