1 . The brain function of very late risers and “morning larks(早睡早起的人)” during the hours of the working day is different, according to a study.

Researchers scanned the brains of night owls(夜猫子)with a bedtime of 02: 30 and awake time of 10: 15, along with early risers. The tests performed between 08 : 00 and 20 : 00 found night owls had less connectivity in brain areas linked to keeping consciousness. They were more likely to be scatterbrained and they also had slower reactions and increased sleepiness.

Scientists took 38 people who were either night owls or morning larks (people who went to bed just before 23 : 00 and woke at 06 : 30) and studied their brain function at rest. The volunteers then carried out a series of tasks at various times, from 08 : 00 to 20 : 00, and were asked to report on their levels of sleepiness.

Morning larks were least sleepy and had their fastest reaction time in the early morning tests. They were also found to perform significantly better at this time than night owls. In contrast, night owls were least sleepy and had their fastest reaction time at 20 : 00, although they did not do significantly better than the larks at this time.

The brain connectivity in the areas that predicted better performance and lower sleepiness was significantly higher in larks at all time points, suggesting connectivity in late risers is impaired(减弱的) throughout the whole working day, researchers said.

The lead researcher, Dr Elise Facer-Childs, of the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Human Brain Health, said the findings “could be partly driven by the fact that night owls tend to compromise throughout their lives.” He added, “Night owls during school have to get up earlier, then they go into work and they have to get up earlier, so they’re constantly in conflict.”

Therefore, Dr Facer Childs called for more researches to understand the effects of night owls performing on a work or school schedule to which they are not naturally suited.

2 . There are plentiful ways to help increase your efficiency.     1     But according to time management trainers, employing even one of the strategies can save most people hours each week.   

Clarify actual expectations. When you take on a significant task, talk with key participants about what they expect. Perhaps they need a PowerPoint deck; perhaps they don’t.     2     By clarifying what’s actually needed and to what level, you can save hours of time on getting tasks done.

    3     Depending on what you need to accomplish, you can potentially save time by sharing what you’ve done by word of mouth. When you are asked to research a particular topic, instead of writing up a formal presentation, you may accomplish your purposes in less time during a one-on-one discussion. This strategy also works well if you need to communicate about more abstract concepts.

Develop templates (模板) and checklists. To speed up your process on routine items, come up with a template or checklist. You might want templates for activities like putting together reports or presentations. Checklists are valuable for weekly planning or other repeated activities.     4    You can keep them more systematically, but simply having them recorded in a Word document is sufficient.

Time box your work. Finally, a strategy for doing a good job faster is deciding how much time you will spend on a task, and them sticking to it. If you tend to overinvest in the research stage, you may want to tell yourself you have to stop after one to two hours. Time boxing doesn’t guarantee you’ll finish the work in the assigned time.     5