apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hey that's my pal Eric who did the spot illo.... yay!
No Cure for me this time around. Instead I am sloooowly repainting my place and planning a new wee kitchen for 2008 (or 2009). Prepping for painting *has* prompted plenty of purging though!

Hmmm -- europeans work 35 hour weeks, have shorter commutes, and get 4 - 6 week vacations every year -- yet they seem much thinner. Maybe we are working too hard -- I know now that I'm putting in a 9 - 10 hour work day, I don't feel like doing much else by the time I get home.

Are Americans being wasteful when they increase the amount of time they spend with their children? (Has the author even seen his kids lately?)

Interesting. But what's his source for saying we're working less hours?

I know that for the time my husband was in management he was only "allowed" to claim his 7.5 hours--though he often worked fourteen.

And, in a way, if you look at the population "blip" created by the over-abundance of retirees in North America, then yes, "total" work hours for the whole population will go down--for quite some time.

And, I wonder, did his "figures" include children too?

I'm always suspicious of claims like this: everyone I know must be in that 18% bracket who is working harder.

Sure, except that obesity is genetic and not controlled by "laziness."

I'm not sure about this article either. First of all, I've seen a lot of data that says Americans are working longer hours than ever, have longer commutes, and have the highest productivity per capita of any country (even Japan). I've also seen data that showed a strong link between length of time commuting in a car and obesity. When you fight for an hour to get home, it's quite tempting to eat a convenient, processed meal and then sit in front of the idiot box, wouldn't you say?

Also, the author has a terribly narrow definition of "lazy." By his definition, a single mother who works 35 hours a week, and spends an untold number of hours on housekeeping and childcare, is lazy. Please!

And yes, it is hard to argue against spending time with your family and having ample leisure time (if what you do with your leisure time leads to obesity, well, that's your problem). There's life beyond work ... maybe not for the author of the article, but for most of us.

A large reason for the spike in obesity is due to fast food and processed convenience foods. Which mainly seem so attractive because they are marketed as being quick and easy, designed to fit into busy lives.

If people worked less, they would probably cook more, and take the time and effort to learn more about how to lead healthier lifestyles.

I wouldn't say that American's are getting lazier exactly, but we are doing is substituting one thing for another. We work longer hours than we used to so that we can live in nicer houses further away from the city and drive nice cars. By the time we get back from our long work day, we don't have the energy nor the time to put into working out for an hour or so (most of us anyways).

By the way, being fat is not an excuse you can put on your family genetics. If you're fat it's because you probably eat poorly, have a skewed version of what a true portion size is, and you don't exercise as much as you need in order to burn the food you consume.

I was very fat as a kid growing up. I was fat because I ate crap and never exercised. I get so upset when I hear people say they are fat because their family is that way and that they are genetically "cursed". Being fat is a condition that you yourself can control with diet. Some people have to work harder than others and that's just the way it is. There are a few people who have true medical problems for thier obesity (such as thyroid issues) but those are a VERY small part of the population.

That said, I know a few people who are extremely careful about what they eat, have killer workout regimes, and are still what most people would call "fat" or at least "big" (a lot of these people's mass is really muscle, but they're bulky in a way we associate with being fat). So there is a point at which, no, not everybody can look like a supermodel.

Though I generally agree with most of what II said.

I find it odd that longer commutes make people do less when they get home. By the time I get home after a 45 minute commute I feel like I have to get out and do stuff or I'll have done nothing but work all day. Hopefully that won't change when the new bus service that goes straight to my job starts next week and I can read the whole way.

Obesity is NOT genetic. That's bull. It is basic math: calories in/calories out.

It is however tied to mental and emotional health (ie; using food to either medicate yourself or avoid things you'd rather not deal with, like sex).

All of which is complicated by the fact that the manufactured food supply in this country is such crap.

Clutter does tie into it though, because the clutter can be a symptom of the same issues. Clearing out yor space can help you clear out your head and get yourself on a healthier way of living.

Americans are simply living unhealthy lifestyles: lots of abstract busyness to avoid dealing with issues of self and how unhappy they are. And this is America, so they think they are supposed to be, entitled to be happy. But they are living cluttered, obese lives because they are trying to fill themselves and their spaces with food & stuff, to make up for emptiness that they are trying to avoid dealing with.

Obesity is not purely caused by genetics. Yes, some people are predisposed to be heavier than others, but the vast majority of obesity in this country stems from bad eating habits and too little activity. People need to start taking responsibility for their circumstances, not making excuses.

I know too many people who wouldn't be able to take the time to read the article, or this discussion. They are too crazed from work/commute/life clutter of all kinds.

The point about hours reported at work vs. actual hours worked is an important one--just about everyone I know is under-reporting their hours because if you are salaried, it's understood you work "as many hours as needed" to get the work done.

Take a look at the study he cites, "Working Time Around the World," here.

Far from condemning the U.S. for laziness, the study defined working more than 48 hrs/wk as "excessive." It therefore found that almost 20% of Americans work excessive hours.

Sounds different when you put it that way, huh?

Thank you Wende!

and, ooh, ouch, Gotham Tomato.

I read somewhere about someone (can't remember details) who was working over their "reported" hours and decided to stop doing it - they worked their exact allotted hours to see what would happen - and nothing did - they got the same amount of work done - nothing disastorous happened - the company didn't go under - but they were spending much less time at work and had a much better quality of personal life

Its worth trying, just to get some of your own life back - or at least thinking about why you're doing something for nothing (which is exactly what unpaid work is)

Violetsrose, I completely agree with your post. I am currently at a job that I am not completely happy with, mainly because I feel I am not properly compensated for my efforts. Therefore, I work my 7 hours per day and make it a point to have a life outside of work. I am still extremely productive and have actually gotten compliments recently on how much of an impact I have on the company. Working too many hours can cause burnout and can possible affect using your time efficiently.

Alana, your husband is being taken advantage of by his superiors. Essentially his work is worth 1.5 employees, is paid as 1 employee, and the books show that his boss has the proper amount of labor (no excessive hours). If his boss can get another person to do this (2 doing work of 3), then he doesnt have to hire another employee. Boss' costs stay low and he gets big fat bonus.

I just had a boss that would try to get us to trick the books so he would look good. "We are over budget, so don't charge your time to the job." FU, we are over budget because you low-balled the job. I got out of there.

Alana, not saying he should revolt, everybody's got to do what they've got to do. But he knows what's going on, right?

Happy working!

I think a lot of our aliments would be cured if we all would just adopt a healthier lifestyle. No more processed foods, no more pre-packaged cardboard crap that tastes like the microwave it will be cooked in.

Americans are the most medicated nation on the planet, yet we are one of the most obese. If we all collectively not only lost weight, but got healthy as well, we could get off the meds and live healthier happier lives.

Hmmm... According to the study cited by that article, more than 18% of people in Switzerland work more than 48 hours? Pray tell, where? Surely not in Geneva... This is a place where stores close by 6 (the large supermarkets by 7), and there is no Sunday shopping because the unions will not allow their members to work one minute more (oh, and all but the biggest stores close 2 hours for lunch... and office workers seem to be joining them). Must be those analysts at the ILO; no, wait, I see them busting out of their offices starting at 4 pm. Each and every service industry that I have encountered in my 6 months here in Switzerland has the same client-service attitude, so I am hard pressed to think what all these workers are doing.

I haven't gone in and had a good look at their data, but like others have mentioned, would be very surprised if they properly recognize the vast amounts of UNPAID labour done, and it seems as though they counted retirees, and their labour levels. (maybe the retired U.S. baby boomers skewed the results?) And they don't seem to account for commuting; really, commuting should be counted part of your working hours, albeit unpaid.

This study may have been used incorrectly in this article...

Sanctimonious people, who think that their lifestyle and their views on how everyone else should live are the only way, drive me up the wall. People are obese for wide range of reasons and remain obese for a wide range of reasons and are able to lose weight for a wide range of reasons. Passing judgment and saying they "should" do this and "should" do that is not helpful to the issue.

Referring to the article: I thought most recent studies have been showing Americans actually have less leisure time and companies expect more hours and less use of vacation time for the same pay? The guy that wrote this article is an editor at Forbes. The conclusion he wants us to come to is we should work more so we won't be fat and lazy. Neat trick tying it into Americans body image issues - whatever benefits the corporations, I guess.

Regardless of what we all think about obesity or how much American's work, we can all agree (thus far anyways) that the author of this book is full of it.

I would totally agree that this article is full of it. I've seen, read of too many stories and such on how Americans are working more and more hours, some people even working 2 jobs just to make ends meet. Now mind you, I do see some of the blame for this on our increased expectations of material goods as a nation and thus have often gone into debt to obtain said stuff.

That said, I do think there is a corrolation of working long hours to obesity in that too many of us simply don't have the time to exercise enough to keep reasonably fit (it doesn't help if the person is in an office type job either), however, I do see too many instances where Americans simply don't do much but sit on their butts at a computer, TV or gaming consoles for 2-3 hours at a stretch when they get home from work instead of keeping actively busy and drive themselves everywhere they need to go instead of walking whenever possible (more the case if living in the suburban/rural communities).

As obesity itself goes, and others have stated, many people are predisposed to the likely hood of being big etc and add to that, most people's metabolism will begin to slow down by their 30's and that in effect is contributing to this to some degree when people don't compensate for this in their eating. Also, it should be no surprise when one eats out the sheer amount of food served in most average priced family type restaurants is greatly contributing to this, add to that, the proliferation of pre-processed foods full of salt, sugar, fat of various types being consumed on a regular basis by so many along with the fast food chains is not helping things at all.

I am lucky in that I live in an inner city urban neighborhood and can walk all over, even to downtown since it's not far away still have a fairly fast metabolism although even it's not as fast as it was a decade or so ago and can still keep a slim profile and a weight that is currently less than 160# but was for a short time between 160-165# and of normal height and in my early 40's.

I'm currently in a job that has me on my feet all day for most of a typical 8 hour day and do actually work a full 40 Hrs a week but come home often dogged tired though most days.

But this article is just full of it I tell you.