We are now more stressed out at home than at work because of the rising demands on our personal lives, a study has found.
Getting the family ready in the morning and cooking dinner in the evenings leaves us so anxious that we find it hard to cope.
But being in the office by comparison seems like bliss because we feel appreciated by our colleagues.
The U.S. study found that men reported feeling happier overall at home – but women said by a significant margin that they were most comfortable behind their desks.
The researchers said this is because women are still doing a bigger share of the housework than men – despite advances in equality.
The findings suggest that rather than dreading going back to work on Monday morning, many people could shudder on a Friday afternoon – when they have to spend the whole weekend at home.
Some 122 men and women were asked to swab their saliva six times a day for three days to test cortisol levels, which is a biological marker of stress.
They were also asked to write down their stress levels at various parts of the day.
For the majority of the test participants, cortisol levels were higher at home than at work.
Sarah Damaske, a professor of labour and employment at Pennsylvania State University, said: ‘This is across gender, across education level, across occupation level, so, a pretty strong finding.’
Professor Damaske said the cause could be because the daily routine with a family is exhausting.
Getting the kids up for school, making sure they have had breakfast and getting their lunch together means that mornings are a stress.
When you come home it can be a constant juggling act of cooking dinner and making sure they do their homework before you collapse in bed with no time for yourself.
Professor Damaske said that women reporting being happier in the office because after that they are ‘leaving work and then cooking dinner and doing the dishes’
She said: ‘Even though men are doing more (housework) than they did 30 years ago, it’s still not an even distribution.’
The only exception to the overall trend were high income workers who had equal levels of stress at work and at home, though previous research showed that high status jobs are more stressful.
Arlie Russell Hochschild, a renowned sociologist with the University of California, Berkeley, said that it was only in the office that people felt really valued these days.
She said: ‘Where do you feel really good at what you do? Relaxed? Appreciated?”
‘People would say: ‘Actually, if I’m doing the right thing at work, chances are my supervisor’s clapping me on the back’.
‘But if I’m doing the right thing at home, with my teenager who wants the car and is mad at me, I’m doing the right thing but I’m not appreciated.’
