More Work, Less Sleep: How Life in Lockdown Evolved

by Martin Armstrong, Jun 25, 2021

Life has changed substantially since the first lockdown was introduced and although most have adapted to the ‘new normal’, the ever evolving situation has also seen changes to how we spend and organise our daily lives since that first major adjustment last March. New analysis by the ONS shows how the average amount of time we spend on activities each day has shifted when comparing survey data from March/April 2020 with March 2021.

The two largest differences have been to work and sleep. Focus increasing on the former, and decreasing on the latter. On average there was an increase of 18 minutes per day on working from home, while sleeping got a whole 23 minutes less dedicated to it. On the plus side, people were finding more time for socialising in 2021, and despite the loss of sleep, resting or doing nothing saw a jump up of 6 minutes. Favourite lockdown pastimes watching TV and playing video games also took a hit, falling by eight minutes each.