TIME is our most precious resource, but few of us really know where it all goes.
Average British man, who lives to the age of 76, and a woman, with a life expectancy of 81
EXERCISING
Women – one year: All those hours working up a sweat in the gym or at PE in school takes up a full 12 months of a woman’s life.
Men – two years: Playing football, rugby and pool clocks up two years of a man’s existence.
SHOPPING
Women – two years: Nationally, women spend an average of 22 minutes a day shopping. That’s 651 days in the average lifetime, says Visa and the Future Foundation market research think tank. And surprise, surprise – it’s much more than the men.
Men – one year: The survey doesn’t say how much of men’s time in stores – an average of 370 days – is spent being dragged around by women.
GETTING READY
Women – two years: Working women take an average 90 minutes to get ready. That’s made up of 10 minutes showering, 30 minutes applying make-up, 24 minutes doing their hair and 26 minutes deciding what to wear and getting dressed. The research was by lastminute.com
Men – six months: A quick shower, shave and slick of hair gel takes 11 minutes: five minutes in the shower, two minutes shaving, one minute on their hair and three minutes getting dressed. That rises to 32 minutes when a bloke prepares for a night out or a date.
HOUSEHOLD CHORES
Women – two and a half years: Dusting, vacuuming and washing the dishes seriously eats into a woman’s time. She spends 12 days a year, or five and a half hours a week, in the domestic doldrums, according to broadband supplier Bulldog.
Men – 18 months: Shocked that men spend so much less time doing household chores than women? No, neither were we.
COOKING
Women – three years: Hard-working women spend 19 days every year slaving over a hot stove, says oven firm Stoves.
Men – one and a half years: Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay aside, most British men prefer the ping of a microwave to spending hours delicately preparing dinner. They are in the kitchen for around 514 days throughout their lives.
DRIVING
Women – three years: Commuting, ferrying the children around and driving on family holidays adds up to 20 hours a week behind the wheel.
Men – three years: Men clock up just as much time behind the wheel, says Lloyds TSB Insurance.
WATCHING TV
Women – 13 years: According to a poll of 30,000 people by NOP World, women spend 18 hours a week glued to the box.
OK, so Desperate Housewives and Corrie are addictive – but just think how else you could spend all that time.
Men – 10 years: The average bloke spends less time watching soaps and more time watching sport. But women have hold of the remote control more often.
QUEUING
Women – four years: Standing in line at the lottery kiosk, bus stop, supermarket or post office seems like a major waste of time – and is. The average adult spends 68 minutes a day standing in a queue.
Men – four years: A larger chunk of men’s queuing time is spent standing in line at the bar – as much as 11 months for the average bloke.
EATING
Women – four and a half years: Time spent sitting down at the table to eat is fast diminishing as many busy women eat on the go.
Men – four years: Long lunches and scoffing snacks eats up a long time in a man’s life.
INTERNET USE
Women – four and a half years: The amount of time spent surfing the net is increasing steadily each year, and now women spend an average of 11 hours a week online.
Men – six years: Checking up on sport and emailing mates seems to be a big hobby for men. They have even grown fond of online shopping. Well, it saves time in stores, doesn’t it?
ON THE PHONE
Women – five and a half years: Over a lifetime we will make or receive 283,126 calls – 155,928 work-related and 127,198 domestic phone chats.
Men – four years: It may come as no surprise that women spend 18 months longer than men nattering on the phone.
WORKING
Women – eight and a half years: Working between the ages of 16 and 60, and taking time off to raise children and at weekends and holidays, clocks up a whole lot of hard labour for women.
Men – 10 and a half years: Slaving away at work from the age of 16 to 65 notches up more than a decade of the average busy man’s life.
SLEEPING
Women – 27 years: Eight hours’ sleep a night may sound luxurious. But according to a survey by bed makers Silentnight that’s how long most women spend dozing when the endless hours spent sleeping as a child and the amount of shut-eye you take through adulthood is averaged. Five years of this time is spent dreaming.
Men – 25 and a half years: Women may not believe that men spend less time in the pit, but in reality it has more to do with their shorter life expectancy than with laziness.
GOING TO THE TOILET
Women – six months: It’s a quick in and out of the lav for ladies. Few spend any time reading magazines in the bathroom.
Men – three years: Spending an amazing 40 minutes a day on the loo certainly clocks up over a lifetime, chaps.
(source)
