Me time: The average adult will spend 416 days in the bathroom, survey finds

EASTLEIGH, England — The bathroom is a sacred place for many people. It’s where we go to prepare ourselves for the world, make sure we look our best, and often times it serves as a quiet place to take a breath during a busy day. On a daily basis, time spent in the bathroom feels fairly insignificant, but a new survey out of the United Kingdom finds that the average adult will spend well more than a year of their lives beside the toilet.

According to a survey of 2,000 British adults, the average person will spend 416 days of their life in the bathroom. More specifically, men will spend 373 days, or 23 minutes per day; and women will spend 456 days, or 29 minutes per day.

A good chunk of that bathroom time will be spent getting ready, with adults spending about three months of their lives preparing for work, according to the survey, which was commissioned by U.K. home-goods outlet B&Q.

Unsurprisingly, the survey also found that most adults want their bathrooms all to themselves, with seven in 10 adults calling sharing a bathroom with one or more people “frustrating.” Additionally, 17% of adults say they cant stand it when someone else is hogging the bathroom.

So, what do people get annoyed by most in the bathroom? One third of respondents dread running out of toilet paper, while one fifth hate finding loose hairs in bathroom drains. Men appear to be more careless in the bathroom as well; 29% of respondents say their boyfriend or husband is the source of most of their bathroom frustrations.

Besides its more traditional uses, many people report using the bathroom as an escape of sorts. A total of one in six adults say they have hidden in the bathroom for some “peace and quiet.”

Perhaps one of the survey’s most interesting findings is that many adults say they’ve experienced significant life moments in the bathroom. In all, 10% say they’ve given themselves a pep talk, another 10% say they have had arguments, and 8% report having an intimate heart-to-heart with a loved one. Additionally, 1.4% of respondents say they have given birth in a bathroom.

Above all else, the survey illustrates just how important a role bathrooms play in our lives. More than half of respondents say having a comfortable and great bathroom at home is “key” to their overall happiness. On top of that, 51% say renovating their bathroom has tangibly improved their happiness at home.

“While it isn’t the biggest room in the house, it’s clear that we still expect our bathrooms to work incredibly hard,” explains B&Q bathroom category manager Christopher Webb in a statement. “Our new research shows 30 percent of us are dissatisfied with how our bathrooms work for us, yet the average Brit hasn’t spruced up their bathroom in five years.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *