The average British adult spends 34 minutes carrying out life admin, like dealing with money and filling out forms for insurance.
Add to that another 37 minutes a day running errands, such as popping to the shops or dropping children at school.
That means most adults clock up 71 minutes a day away from work, jobs around the home or just chilling out, says a survey by insurance company Admiral.
The research calculates that the average Brit spends 13 days a year on admin – which can make up to more than a year of their adult working life.
Most people consider this admin takes too much time, especially as technology can speed up many routine tasks.
Impact on health and sleep
The firm also uncovered couples with children or older dependants can increase their lost time in a year by 2.2 days, compared with couples without any children or anyone else who relies on them for care.
Many people believe life admin also has an adverse effect on their health.
One in five complain they are run down or tired most days, while one in 10 say taking care of life admin impacts their sleep.
Unsurprisingly, most felt working was their most stressful task, while the easiest job was organising their social life.
A third disclosed they have fewer than two hours to themselves each day, with watching TV (49%) and reading (45%) the favourite ways to pass time.
Stress linked to illness
Richard Daniel Curtis, psychologist and programme director of the national leaders in mental health programme, The Root Of It, said: “Life admin and every day chores can contribute to the daily stress that a person experiences. High daily stress and our ability to cope with it can effect both our physical and mental health.
“High levels of daily stress have been linked to physical symptoms such as flu, sore throats, headaches and backaches. Parents affected by daily stress are also more likely to reduce interactions with their children, possibly in a bid to avoid being further stressed by their children or to avoid being stressed with them.
“Whilst recognising that younger generations and sandwich generations are experiencing more stress, it should also be remembered that older generations are more likely to feel the effects of lower amounts of stress, which could then have the same detrimental effects on their health.”
