[LifeStyle] Our lifestyle is becoming more routine

[#Steeven.™]

The results of a study, in which researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the University of Alicante have participated, confirm a clear global pattern towards a less dynamic lifestyle throughout the world since the 1960s.

According to the answers offered by millions of people in the countries for which data are available, the lifestyle in the world since the 1960s has been less and less dynamic. This is the main conclusion of an investigation with global data from time use surveys in which scientists from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and the University of Alicante (UA) have participated.

These experts have developed the Lifestyle Dynamics Index® (abbreviated as LDI), a novel index that captures lifestyle dynamics based on activity information provided by daily time uses.

“From the results, the trend shown by the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and, especially, the US is that there is evidence in favor of less dynamic lifestyle worldwide. This means that, since the 1960s, an individual seems to be carrying out fewer activities and more repeated routines in daily activities”, they point out in a statement from the UPM.

The Lifestyle Dynamics Index could be an effective instrument for making relevant socioeconomic decisions. Said term has been used in relation to family and environmental studies and refers to how it evolves over time, where lifestyle is how we refer to the way people live. Likewise, this concept shows socioeconomic and domestic implications, as well as effects on public health or household energy consumption.

From the calmest day, to the most chaotic day
In the study, published in the journal Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, the novel LDI index has been applied to the contents of the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS).

The index orders the activities on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is a lifestyle in which only one activity is done in the whole day, and 100 where all are done. Specifically, it tells us the position in order of an average day within a country: from the calmest day, to the most chaotic day possible.

"Spain only has two surveys on time use at a national and official level, and it does not collect data on time use from 2008 to 2009," says Raúl G. Sanchis, the UPM researcher who has participated in the work. “As more time-use survey data is published around the world, the potential use of the Lifestyle Dynamics Index for welfare and socioeconomic policy purposes can be better exploited,” he concludes.

The paper analyzes the case of the USA because it is the only country in the world that officially collects statistical data annually through the ATUS. In the 21st century, the American country also shows a general drop in the index in the decade from 2003 to 2012, with an annual drop from 2008.

https://www.agenciasinc.es/Noticias/Nuestro-estilo-de-vida-es-cada-vez-mas-rutinario