If someone's always late, is it time blindness, or are they just being rude?

Even as a kid, Alice Lovatt was always getting in trouble for being late.

She was often embarrassed after letting down friends for her tardiness, and she was routinely stressed about arriving at school on time.

“I just don’t seem to have that clock that ticks by in my head,” said Lovatt, a musician and group-home worker in Liverpool, England.

It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with ADHD at 22 that she learned she was experiencing a symptom sometimes called "time blindness."

Russell Barkley, a retired clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Massachusetts, is often credited with linking time impairment with people with ADHD or autism. In 1997, he called it “temporal myopia.”

But recently, time blindness has sparked a social media debate: Where is the line between a genuine condition and someone who is disorganized or just plain rude?

Time blindness is the inability to determine how long a task will take or conceptualize how much time has passed. It relates to executive function that occurs in the frontal lobes of the brain, and it is a well-documented characteristic of many people with ADHD, said Stephanie Sarkis, a psychotherapist in Tampa Bay, Florida.

“Anyone can have issues with running late, just with ADHD there’s functional impairment,” said Sarkis, author of “10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD.” “It impacts family life and social life. It impacts work, money management, all areas of life.”

Sarkis said if a person’s chronic tardiness is “one star in the constellation of symptoms,” then it could be evidence of a treatable disorder. She cited research that stimulant medication prescribed for other ADHD symptoms, such as inattention or restlessness, is also effective at treating time blindness.

That’s not to say, however, that everyone who is chronically late has ADHD — or a built-in excuse.

Jeffrey Meltzer, a therapist in Bradenton, Florida, counsels people who never show up on time to examine the core issue behind their lateness.

Some people who hate small talk fear arriving early, which could point to anxiety as the underlying issue, Meltzer said. Others may feel they don’t have much control over their lives, so they try to reclaim a few minutes from responsibilities.

“It’s the same psychology concept behind revenge bedtime procrastination,” he said, referring to the urge one may have to stay up later to recoup personal time after a busy day.

In those cases, one tool is to create a small “coping card” to refer to regularly, he said. After determining a reason for chronic lateness, take an index card and write down a reframed thought about that reason and a consequence of being late.

For instance, on one side write, “Attending this meeting doesn’t mean that I lose my freedom.” On the other side, write: “Being late again will upset people at work.”

Meltzer said the hardest reason to change the habit would be something that early-arrivers often attribute to late-comers — a sense of entitlement. People who feel their time is more important than others' time may give themselves permission to be late.

But Meltzer said those people would also exhibit entitlement in other areas, such as parking in a spot designated for people with disabilities or tending to make a grand entrance at an event.

“Maybe they’re 20, 30 minutes late, and it’s like, ‘Oh, look who is here,’” he said. “So it’s a way to kind of get attention.”

Whether a person has ADHD or not, they’re still responsible for their actions, said Sarkis, who was also diagnosed as an adult and struggles with managing time.

The good news is that the same interventions that help people with ADHD can work for all late-arrivers.

Sarkis said using a smart watch to set alerts can help with knowing when you need to leave, although having analog clocks around also helps. Relying only on your phone to see the time creates more distractions.

She also suggested breaking tasks down into a checklist of smaller parts and resisting the urge to cram too many activities into one day.

Lovatt has learned to give herself much more time than she thinks she needs. She also uses Forest, a time management app, and another app to lock herself out of other apps on her phone to help keep track of time while concentrating.

Particularly helpful has been making granular lists of how long things take. Getting out the door in the morning felt like it took 20 minutes until Lovatt listed every step from bed to door.

“Walk downstairs, one minute. Find shoes, one minute. And I had a list that was a whole page long of literally walking between rooms,” she said.

She learned it instead took 45 minutes.

“It doesn’t work, like, 100% of the time. But generally, I am a lot more reliable now.”

Albert Stumm writes about food, travel and wellness. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com.

FILE - Commuters walk from the PATH rapid transit station into the World Trade Center in New York on Nov. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - Commuters ride the subway in New York on April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)

FILE - Commuters walk along a corridor in the World Trade Center, Monday, Nov. 18, 2019 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Easter is around the corner, and it's time to start thinking about how to decorate your eggs.

Whether you're dying eggs for your table spread or planning to hide them for an egg hunt, it's important to follow food safety guidelines to minimize germs and maximize your egg quality.

Eggs are remarkably long lasting, so there needn't be a giant rush to eat them.

“Stores usually do turn over eggs pretty quickly, so the recommendations is you should consume eggs three to five weeks after you purchase them,” said Kara Lynch, food safety educator with Michigan State University Extension.

There is also a benefit in letting eggs age just a bit, as older eggs can be easier to peel. That's because eggs shrink over time within the shell, creating an air pocket between the egg and the shell.

Egg processors clean eggs before they reach store shelves, but it also is important to thoroughly cook eggs to reduce the risk of foodborne illness, especially salmonella. That bacteria lives naturally in the gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts of chickens, said Kimberly Baker, associate extension specialist at Clemson University.

To cook your eggs, place them in a saucepan, fill it with water and bring it to a boil. After that, put the lid on, turn the heat off and let it sit for about 12 minutes. Some also favor turning down the heat and simmering eggs.

You can vary the time in the hot water depending on a desire for harder boiled or slightly creamier eggs, but the yolk should be pretty solid to be safe. Boiling them for too long can risk creating green sulfur development on the outside of the yolk.

After that, Don Schaffner, food science department chair at Rutgers University, said there are two options.

You can run your eggs under cold water to reduce the temperature. From there, you can color them right away or place them back in the fridge until you're ready. Or, after you've boiled them, you can let them air dry until they've cooled.

The boiling process sanitizes the eggs, and as long as they are kept out of water, Schaffner said, they will remain safe to eat.

“You’ve boiled the egg, you’ve gotten rid of any bacteria that might be in the egg. And now you’ve air-cooled it, right? So it’s going to cool more slowly, it’s probably going to cook more,” he said. “But most importantly, you don’t have to worry about any bacteria from the water getting internalized into the egg.”

Either artificial or natural food dye is OK as long as the dye label says it's food grade. For those keeping track, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been updating its guidance and regulations regarding certain dyes.

And no, it's not a problem if the dye seeps through the shell.

“Eggs kind of naturally have their own abilities to absorb only so much,” Baker said.

As you're decorating the eggs and have the eggs outside, she suggested keeping your eggs in an ice bath, so they can stay at a cooler temperature while you're decorating.

Eggs should generally be kept at or below 40 degrees (4.4 degrees Celsius) to minimize the risk of contaminants.

Cooked eggs that weren't air-cooled should spend no more than two hours at room temperature. And that's cumulative, including the time spent decorating and the time spent hiding during the Easter egg hunt.

But if it's particularly warm, then that two-hour rule may be shortened to one hour, Lynch said.

Hard boiled eggs are generally good for about a week in the fridge.

Be careful with your eggs as you handle them.

One of the biggest concerns is making sure your eggs haven't cracked during an Easter egg hunt, making them vulnerable to contaminants. And once the egg has been hard boiled, there's no way to kill bacteria that get inside, Baker said.

“We don’t want to be putting them in the soil or in lawns where pets have gone to the bathroom,” she said.

Whether the eggs are hidden outdoors or in a corner of your home, you should rinse them in cool water before you peel them. And wash your hands, too, just in case the eggs have picked up something.

If the Easter egg hunt means your eggs will be at room temperature for longer than two hours, experts recommended using plastic eggs for the hunt instead of real ones to minimize food safety risk.

“If it’s an outdoor Easter egg hunt at any time, I would say go with the plastic eggs and be safe,” Baker said. “And use your dyed Easter eggs as your centerpiece on your table or your buffet, and enjoy them that way.”

FILE - Painted Easter eggs hang from an Easter Tree in Saalfeld, central Germany, March 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)