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Women See Increase In Work Commitments At Expense Of Sleep, New Government Report Says

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Women are working more at their jobs and at home, according to a new government report. With only so many hours in a day, they're also losing sleep and not spending as much time with the fun stuff.

With so many commitments at work and home, women don't have as much time for relaxing, socializing, exercising or getting enough rest.

Working women and sleep – talk about multi-tasking. Women are working longer hours, spending more time taking care of children and doing more work around the house, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's annual American Time Use survey.

The survey shows the average work day for women is seven hours and 20 minutes, compared to seven hours and 54 minutes for men.

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It found bigger differences between men and women when it comes to household activities and childcare.

With housework, 49% of women did things such as cleaning and laundry, compared to 20% for men.

For cooking, 69% of women take care of meals compared to 46% of men – but a growing number of men are cooking.

When it comes to childcare, working mothers spent about two hours each day caring for kids. Dads? Less than an hour-and-a-half with the kids.

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The report says the growing work commitments women have come at the expense of time spent relaxing and exercising.

Working women spend three hours and 45 minutes per day with leisure time. Men had four hours and 40 minutes.

Working women also saw their hours of sleep slip in 2018 to slightly more than eight-and-a-half hours per night. Working men got slightly more sleep than in previous years, but are still sleeping less than women on average.

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Doctors say it can be difficult to get a good night's sleep during the summer because of the extra hours of daylight.

Friday is the summer solstice, when there will be more sunlight than any other day of the year. All that light can throw off your circadian rhythm, which controls sleep patterns.

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