If you could create your ideal day, how many hours of it would be devoted to work? Some would definitely never work another day in their lives, given the chance, but most of us need that paycheck to keep paying the bills, so off to work we go. But new research suggests that’s not a bad thing, as working for a specific amount of time every day can actually contribute to having a happier life.
In a new study, experts from the University of British Columbia in Canada and the University of Basel in Switzerland wanted to discover what a “good day” really looks like.
- The researchers used data from the American Time Use Survey, which has tens of thousands of adults across the country record what they do every day, then evaluate the type of day they had, whether it’s typical, better than typical, or worse.
- The team analyzed which of the more than 100 activities were most commonly associated with having a good day, and it turns out, work is a part of that.
- The ideal amount of time to spend doing it is six hours a day. Any more than that leads to a “decreased likelihood of having a good day.”
- Seeing friends “almost always” led to a better day, but there’s a time limit there, too. Socializing with loved ones was only found to be strongly linked with having a good day when it’s capped at two hours.
- Exercising for up to four hours a day is also associated with having a better day, most likely because it gives you endorphins, which make you feel happy.
- Bad news for anyone whose ideal day includes being lazy on the couch with remote in hand, as no amount of relaxing and watching TV was linked to having a good day.
- Unsurprisingly, no amount of housework helps to make a day better either.
But don’t go running to your boss’ office to demand a six-hour workday just yet. Dunigan Folk, one of the researchers in the study, points out their findings aren’t an exact formula for a good day, they just “highlight a pattern of activities that differentiate better days from typical ones.” He notes that one key takeaway is that people would benefit from spending less time on “passive leisure” and more time on being active.
Source: Metro