All work and no play: Why our well-being hangs in the balance
THE 24-HOUR WORK DAY
Twenty-five per cent of us are working around the clock, thanks to longer hours at the bank, the grocery store and the gym. Not to mention the BlackBerry. We’re more stressed; less rested and have less time to devote to our kids.
OUR AGING PARENTS
About one in four of us care for an elderly dependant and one in five is responsible for both a child and a senior. That means less time for leisure, more personal days at work and increased levels of illness and depression.
BUSY KIDS
More than 80% of 6-9 year olds are taking pal in an organized extracurricular activity. At the same time, less time with parents means mort time in front of screens – two-thirds of teens spend more than 2 hours a day on TV.
LEISURE TIME? WHAT LEISURE TIME?
We’re spending less time on social activities and only about 5% of us engage in arts and culture activities. Although many of us still make time for exercise, trips to national parks are at their lowest point in 15 years.
BY GLORIA GALLOWAY Ottawa
AND JOSH WINGROVE EDMONTON
The number of Canadians who squeeze in at least one meal a day with their teenage kids is on the decline. Visits to parks occur less often. And the window of time for attending plays and concerts is shrinking.
Caught between caring for children and elderly parents, stressed by jobs that require weekend and evening work, the average person is more likely to turn to the television or the computer for entertainment than to take a walk in the woods or play pick-up hockey.
In short, the hours that Canadians spend refreshing their minds and their bodies through leisure and cultural activities – and moments shared with family – are being condensed and it’s affecting their well-being.
Those are the findings of a report to be released Tuesday by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing called Caught in the Time Crunch: Time Use, Leisure and Culture in Canada.
It’s a crunch that the Grunlings of Edmonton, like many Canadian families, know well.
Sit-down family dinners are rare in the Grunling home. Myles, 16, and Colin, 14, play soccer on teams coached by their father. Crystal Grunling and her husband, Manfred, work full-time jobs, and the boys, in Grades 11 and 8, attend different schools.
“We’re running every night of the week,” said Ms. Grunling, 44, a program director at the Edmonton Minor Soccer Association.
Night work, rotating shifts cut into family time
“We have practices for one or the other, games for one or the other. It just never stops.”
The family does carve out some dinner time – on Saturday afternoons, the only day they often all have off. Otherwise they make do with leftover, quick meals and takeout, and “dine and dash” many large family gatherings. Hanging in their kitchen, next to the fridge, is a calendar with little blank space to be seen.
“I said if the house burns down, bring the calendar,” Ms. Grunling said with a laugh, as her sons diligently devoured leftovers Monday evening before soccer practice at a nearby school.
“You have to make it work. Is it the best situation? No. But you have to,” she said.
Even if most families find ways to deal with the pressures, the report paints a bleak picture Of the balance that Canadians try to strike between their working lives and their moments of relaxation.
It’s not that they are working longer hours. In fact, the report says the number of people spending more than 50 hours a week on the job declined between 1996 and 2009, a drop that began before the economic downturn.
But Canada has become a society operating 24 hours a day and, as a result, more people are working odd hours weekends, nights, rotating shifts. That has cut into the time they would normally spend with their spouses and their children and doing the things they really like to do. And that can lead to burnout.
“If we are on this treadmill, we will end up being less productive, less contributing to society, less knowledgeable,” said Roy Romanow, the former Saskatchewan premier who is the chair of the Index of Wellbeing’s advisory board. “And therefore, not only is our well-being being affected, but so might our productivity be affected.”
One in five Canadian adults reports being caught in a time crunch, with slightly more women than men saying they feel like they are perpetually under the gun. At the same time, the report says the average proportion of our waking lives devoted to social and leisure activities dropped by 20 per cent between 1998 and
2005. But it also offers a number of recommendations. Among other things, it suggests a need for more family friendly work policies such as flex hours and more vacation time, better supports for people caring for children and parents, more walk able neighborhoods, and increased engagement of volunteers.
It’s the good fortune of flexible work hours that allow Edmonton residents Mike and Krista Long to regularly have a sit-down meal with their children, ages 14 and 11.
Mr. Long, an employee with a local power company, often starts dinner preparation in the morning. Ms. Long, a teacher, and the children finish it in the late afternoon. Even while juggling work and regular football practices, the family sits down for dinner nearly every evening – though it often requires early mornings and late evenings, working from home.
“It’s crazy. Football season is horrible,” said Ms. Long, 42, who nevertheless believes in the value of regular family dinners. “Even if it’s hot dogs, I think it’s important we all check in.”·
Volunteerism can help people stay socially connected and contribute to their emotional and sometimes physical well-being, the report says.
Mr. Romanow would also like to see a federal conference on the issue. Families and individuals, he said, need to be told: “Look, this is just not good for your own health, for your family’s health, or our economic well-being to see us continually running on a treadmill and having a time crunch. It catches up with you.”
REPORT FINDINGS
Research by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing suggests Canadians are increasingly sacrificing satisfying leisure time to attend to the pressing demands of work, childcare and looking after dependent seniors. A report issued by the Index on Tuesday says there is a need to strike a better balance:
• Working in the labor force is strongly and positively associated with individual and family wellbeing. But there is compelling evidence that excessive time spent in paid labor leads to poorer health. Long hours have a significantly negative impact on life satisfaction
• Non-standard work hours are associated with health problems, higher levels of stress, psychological distress, greater relationship conflicts for’s dual-income couples, less time spent with children and lower life satisfaction.
• Unpaid caregivers for adult family members are more likely to report poor health, depression and high-risk health behaviors.
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