Researchers asked 900 women with an average age of 38 what they do each day and how they feel about it, analysing their answers to produce the perfect daily routine.

 

After eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, next on the list was what the researchers termed 'intimate relations', followed by spending time on the computer, at 98 minutes, and socialising, on 82 minutes. The day was further broken down into 78 minutes relaxing, 56 minutes of shopping and 57 minutes talking on the phone.

 

The study concluded that variety was the most important thing – which perhaps explains why the list also includes 68 minutes exercising and 36 minutes working.

 

The researchers also analysed data from a US Time Use Survey, which measures the amount of time men and women spend on different pastimes（消遣）, to help produce their perfect routine.

 

It would include 16 different activities, each taking between 33 and 106 minutes. But if women could be entirely¹ self-indulgent and hedonistic, their day would be rather different. Then they would spend 619 minutes a day with their partner, 103 minutes socialising and 74 minutes relaxing.

 

They wouldn't spend any time working or commuting², and only two minutes on housework, and another two minutes with the children. The researchers, from the University of Bremen in Germany and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US, said: 'Greater wellbeing includes spending a little more time with friends, a lot more time with relatives, and a lot less time with the boss and co-workers.

 

'A likely, but short-sighted, reaction would be to fully³ maximise the time spent with intimate relations and minimise the amount of time we spend commuting.

 

'But the joy we get out of the first hour of shopping is likely to be greater than during the fifth or sixth hour. Another problem is that certain activities are attractive because we do them so rarely.

 

'Scarcity⁴ can therefore be expected to be a central feature of why we enjoy intimate relations more than work.'

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