The majority of Brits only get 45 minutes of time to themselves each day

In a bid to continue our research into the habits of the British family, our team of researchers has found that most Brits are so busy that they get very little time to themselves a day. In fact, many of those that participated in our study claimed that they struggle to find more than 45 minutes a day relaxing and spending time doing what they wanted to.

Our research found that people are now busier than ever. Juggling work and family lives takes up the majority of their time, and as a result they often neglect themselves. The study asked 2,351 UK residents, “How much time do you have to yourself a day?” The majority of respondents stated that they only had 45 minutes a day to themselves, falling to just 30 minutes a day for those aged between 45 and 55.

Participants aged between 18 and 24, and those over 65 tended to have the most relaxing lifestyles, stating that they had over 2 hours of relaxing ‘me time’ a day.

With the majority of respondents not able to find a lot of time for themselves, our researchers wanted to find out why. They asked the participants with the shortest amount of free time, “What is your biggest distraction which stops you from having time to yourself?” Respondents were asked to choose from a list of options, here are the results:

• Family and friends – 37%
• Work – 29%
• Technology – 21%
• Pets – 13%

Our researchers asked all of the participants, “What is your favourite way to relax?” and asked people to choose from a list of options, the top five answers are listed below:

• Take a bath – 31%
• Listen to music – 27%
• Read a book – 23%
• Have an alcoholic drink – 11%
• Meditate – 8%

Our very own Peter Gregg commented on our latest study saying, “We are all aware of the responsibilities of modern life and how time can easily escape us, however time is precious and it is important that people are able to take time for themselves. We are not surprised that people take a bath to relax after all, our previous research shows that the bathroom is where a lot of people choose to go to get some peace and quiet away from family.”

He added:

“Taking time for yourself can offer you a number of benefits, allowing you to fully relax and your body to recover. There are many distractions in life, sometimes it can be hard to say no to family and work; however unplugging from technology is much easier to do than people think and can have many proven health benefits. “