London - It might play havoc with your work and domestic schedules but the best time to make love is 7.30am, a survey claims.
Having sex 45 minutes after you wake makes the most of your stamina and energy levels, which are at their highest after a good night’s rest.
The rush of endorphins lowers blood pressure and stress levels, leaving you more upbeat for the rest of the day.
The survey for Forza Supplements, which monitored the body clocks of 1 000 adults who lead healthy and active lives, also found the optimum times to work, eat, drink and exercise to maintain fitness and avoid putting on weight.
Jogging is most beneficial at 7am, before breakfast, so is probably best seen as an option to love-making and not a daily part of the timetable.
Concentration levels peak around three hours after we wake, so it’s best to do the most mentally taxing jobs around 9.45am.
Stress levels peak an hour later, particularly early in the week when our to-do lists are heaviest, so this is the best time to relax. Going to bed at 10.10pm allows enough time for the most restorative type of sleep, non-REM (rapid eye movement), which is best enjoyed before midnight.
The study found that eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at regular times helped participants with weight loss.
We are most likely to snack at 3.30pm, when we are starting to lag at work, and at 8.15pm, when relaxing at home in front of the television, so these are the times those in a diet should beware of.
Drinking alcohol is best done in the early evening, allowing the liver enough time – four hours – to recover before bed.
However, if you rise later than 6.45am and do not fit into the plan, don’t worry – you can simply adjust the timetable, Forza says.
So if, for instance, you wake at 8.45am, just add two hours to each of the times for eating, sleeping, exercising – and love-making.