Full time jobs are not conducive to optimal health

[Anonymous]

You're not a parent, are you?

8-9 hrs of sleep - my kids are grown but I can only sleep about 6.5 hours, menopause
3 hrs of cooking/eating - 3 hours a day? dinner takes 30 minutes to cook, 20 minutes to eat. Breakfast and lunch are eaten while doing something else
1.5-2 hrs exercise/cool down - you're dreaming. I run 3X a week and work while I cool down. Get in a 30 minute walk most other days.
30 mins-1 hr sex/physical pleasure -15 minutes once or twice a week for sex, read before bed
1 hr errands - daily? Nope. I spend an hour or so each weekend
2 hrs of community/socializing - this is done while watching the kids' practices or while doing other things

4-6 hrs working max is what someone can do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everywhere that has experimented with 4 day work weeks has found health benefits

This wouldn't work for me. I already pay for 50 hours a week of childcare. I would have to pay even more overtime to work 4 9 hour days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. I have thought this my whole adult life. I have only had jobs that are flexible enough that I can still exercise. Not surprisingly, I don't make a lot but luckily I'm married. However I think my DH health is suffering because he works at a demanding in-person job with a 30 minute commute.

30 minutes is a demanding commute? I drove 53 miles a day round trip, 40 minutes in the morning, between an hour and 70 minutes at night, and before I got a job with a shorter commute, had two small children in daycare. This generation is so incredibly spoiled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t necessarily relate to OP’s exact breakdown of hours spent. But I do feel like a 40 hour per week job makes it difficult to do all the things I want for my health: time for long walks, healthy meal prep, medical appointments, etc. Not to mention the mental stress of trying to keep up with everything.

It’s why I have a flexible remote job. Even still it feels like a lot (I also have 3 kids and a DH who works full time). We have to outsource some things like cleaning. I wish I had more time for a hobby or volunteering at the school. I sometimes feel resentful that we as a society have picked 40 as the totally random a$$, arbitrary number for a work week. It’s not like there is any science to support this is an optimal productivity timeframe. And since employers would try to squeeze every oz of work out of us as possible, we can’t really rely on them to cut hours. I don’t know what the answer is, but I feel a societal shift coming in how people expect to balance work/life.

I'd kill to work only 40 hours. I work 55-65 now. But then again I wouldn't want to work full time for five figures either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. I have thought this my whole adult life. I have only had jobs that are flexible enough that I can still exercise. Not surprisingly, I don't make a lot but luckily I'm married. However I think my DH health is suffering because he works at a demanding in-person job with a 30 minute commute.

30 minutes is a demanding commute? I drove 53 miles a day round trip, 40 minutes in the morning, between an hour and 70 minutes at night, and before I got a job with a shorter commute, had two small children in daycare. This generation is so incredibly spoiled.

None of this is the badge of honor you think it is. You’re working harder but not smarter. Congrats, you played yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. I have thought this my whole adult life. I have only had jobs that are flexible enough that I can still exercise. Not surprisingly, I don't make a lot but luckily I'm married. However I think my DH health is suffering because he works at a demanding in-person job with a 30 minute commute.

30 minutes is a demanding commute? I drove 53 miles a day round trip, 40 minutes in the morning, between an hour and 70 minutes at night, and before I got a job with a shorter commute, had two small children in daycare. This generation is so incredibly spoiled.

This sounds like a horrible quality of life. That much time in the car is bad for your health and bad for the environment. And let’s be real, kids shouldn’t be in daycare 10 hours per day while you work/commute long distances. I say this as a working mom who used daycare but always staggered hours with my DH (and had WAH/short commutes for hybrid days) so kids were there 7 hours max. Now I mostly work from home and my family only has 1 car. We walk our kids to school and have a short metro ride to our offices when we do go in (we live right near a metro station so no driving to get to metro).

Spending nearly 90 min a day in a car sounds awful, that is more than I spend driving in a week! Maybe even a month. Like truly truly awful way to live and you seem proud of it.

[Anonymous]

I work 2 days a week as an independent contractor and make twice as much as I did in my 40-60 week corporate job. It's awesome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're not a parent, are you?

8-9 hrs of sleep - my kids are grown but I can only sleep about 6.5 hours, menopause
3 hrs of cooking/eating - 3 hours a day? dinner takes 30 minutes to cook, 20 minutes to eat. Breakfast and lunch are eaten while doing something else
1.5-2 hrs exercise/cool down - you're dreaming. I run 3X a week and work while I cool down. Get in a 30 minute walk most other days.
30 mins-1 hr sex/physical pleasure -15 minutes once or twice a week for sex, read before bed
1 hr errands - daily? Nope. I spend an hour or so each weekend
2 hrs of community/socializing - this is done while watching the kids' practices or while doing other things

4-6 hrs working max is what someone can do

not the OP but

6.5 is not enough. there are studies on this and women in peri and menopause are chronically sleep deprived.
sitting for meals is good for the family and your body/relationship with food. you are also older and have had time to learn how to cook faster/easier plus your kids are grown- you can eat whatever. I make a hot breakfast and hot dinner every day, lunch is leftovers.
150 minutes minimum is the suggested aerobic activity level=20-30 minutes per day, you should be strength training (4-6 days per week), especially for your combined age and sex, it can also help with sleep. I walk my dog for 45+ minutes every night for her health and mine.
the sex thing I cant fathom spending 30-60 per day but reading is pleasurable to me and I try to do that for 30-45 min every day
between grocery shopping, kid errands, house errands, vet, doctors appointments, pick up drop off, house cleaning, laundry, putting away laundry, trash take out, recycling take out, cleaning out the car, buying birthday party gifts, etc I definitely average 60 min per day minimum
socializing should be social/rest. It is good for the mind to just sit and be bored/relax. we are more likely to spend 4-6 hours on the weekend socializing with friends vs every day.

[Anonymous]

I feel this intensely. Like I dont have time to work out or relax.

my day--wake at 6:30 poorly rested. help get kids ready/out the door. 15 minute dog walk and then get ready to get to work
9 am-5:pm, work, rarely have time to eat.
5:30-7, drive home, or more usually pick up kid from activity. sometimes running over to my mom's assisted living.
7-8-throw together food , eat dinner, clean up
8-8:30, walk dog or attempt to control the chaos of our house or some laundry, bills, etc.
8:30-11, usually am working to catch up from stuff I didn't do scroll internet read etc.
11-3 sleep.
3-5 insomnia
5-6:30 back to sleep. (I shoud probably try to work out here but am usually too tired.

Weekends are just cleaning, errands, kid stuff mom stuff and every once in a while a social event.

If I could have from 9-12 free to work out, shower, run an errand, etc and then work 12-5 I'd be much happier. As it is I dont fit my job into my day. This weekend I'll be working sunday and monday I dont even get paid that much. However, I just did all the math and think I can retire at 62 ((Dh is older). 10 more years.

[Anonymous]

We live in a capitalist country. Its not made for our health or happiness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. I have thought this my whole adult life. I have only had jobs that are flexible enough that I can still exercise. Not surprisingly, I don't make a lot but luckily I'm married. However I think my DH health is suffering because he works at a demanding in-person job with a 30 minute commute.

30 minutes is a demanding commute? I drove 53 miles a day round trip, 40 minutes in the morning, between an hour and 70 minutes at night, and before I got a job with a shorter commute, had two small children in daycare. This generation is so incredibly spoiled.

She said the job was demanding, not the commute. Get remedial help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree OP. I have thought this my whole adult life. I have only had jobs that are flexible enough that I can still exercise. Not surprisingly, I don't make a lot but luckily I'm married. However I think my DH health is suffering because he works at a demanding in-person job with a 30 minute commute.

30 minutes is a demanding commute? I drove 53 miles a day round trip, 40 minutes in the morning, between an hour and 70 minutes at night, and before I got a job with a shorter commute, had two small children in daycare. This generation is so incredibly spoiled.

Your poor life choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:During COVID I cut back to a 6 hour work day and it was great. Even now that I’m full time I basically only really do work 9-3 with a lunch break in between. There are diminishing returns beyond that. Yeah I’m online and can respond to emails, but I run out of gas and need to save some mental energy for my family.

The 40 hour work week is very incompatible with the rise of dual income families.

This is the answer to the other thread about why people are anti-WFH. Everyone is doing the above, or even worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:During COVID I cut back to a 6 hour work day and it was great. Even now that I’m full time I basically only really do work 9-3 with a lunch break in between. There are diminishing returns beyond that. Yeah I’m online and can respond to emails, but I run out of gas and need to save some mental energy for my family.

The 40 hour work week is very incompatible with the rise of dual income families.

This is the answer to the other thread about why people are anti-WFH. Everyone is doing the above, or even worse.

NP and this is about what I did in the office. I'd go for a walk at 3, browse the internet and just wait until it was time to go. My managers are happy and I get good reviews. There's just not a solid 8 hours of work for me to do whether I'm in office or at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:During COVID I cut back to a 6 hour work day and it was great. Even now that I’m full time I basically only really do work 9-3 with a lunch break in between. There are diminishing returns beyond that. Yeah I’m online and can respond to emails, but I run out of gas and need to save some mental energy for my family.

The 40 hour work week is very incompatible with the rise of dual income families.

This is the answer to the other thread about why people are anti-WFH. Everyone is doing the above, or even worse.

There’s nothing wrong with this. Go ahead, work 50 hour weeks, have a heart attack at 60, we don’t care. But we’re not about to.