Toronto, ON - March 8, 2001 - A national Ipsos-Reid public opinion survey released today indicates that the majority of Canadians aged 19 to 54 (55%) feel they do not have enough free time in their lives. The results also indicate that young adults are most affected, with 64 per cent saying they have less free time now than 5 years ago.

"The balancing act among work, family and leisure is a difficult one for Canadians to manage and can present many challenges," says David Posen, M.D., Stress Management and Lifestyle Counsellor and the author of the best selling books, Always Change a Losing Game and Staying Afloat When the Water Gets Rough. "Canadians need sufficient energy for the four key areas of their lives; family, work, community and time for themselves. We need to have fun, relax and enjoy social interaction and also make time for ourselves."

According to Posen, the lack of free time is having a serious effect on the physical and emotional well being of Canadians. Those who feel a lack of free time are finding it difficult to integrate work and life demands. Survey respondents most frequently identified the negative effects of insufficient free time to include less time spent with family and friends, increased stress and feeling fatigue or exhaustion. In addition, the survey revealed that almost six-in-ten (58%) Canadians would prefer a good night's sleep to a good night of sex. Interestingly, seven-in-ten women (72%) chose sleep compared to 44% of men.

The feeling of a lack of free time appears to have escalated in recent years. The Ipsos-Reid survey indicates that the majority of respondents aged 19 -54 (52%) and 41 per cent of all Canadians say they have less free time than five years ago. A Conference Board of Canada report from June 1999 (Is Work-Life Balance Still an Issue for Canadians and their Employers? You Bet it is!), states that half of all Canadians experience a moderate to high level of stress as a result of trying to balance their work and home lives - 10 years ago, only 27 per cent felt this way.

The Conference Board report also cited that when respondents experienced difficulty balancing their lives, they were most likely to look after their family and work responsibilities first, and give up free time for themselves. In fact, 60 per cent indicated that they didn't have enough time for themselves, and alarmingly, about 54 per cent said that when they need more time, they cut back on their sleep.

"The Ipsos-Reid survey showed that people would rather sleep then have sex. When we sacrifice time for ourselves - including rest, relaxation, exercise and socializing - we enter a vicious cycle. The very things we are depriving ourselves of are also the things that energize us. As a result, we are less productive at work, we put a strain on our relationships and increase the amount of stress in our lives," says Dr. Posen.

Looking to the future it seems that the trend toward longer work hours and an increasingly competitive work environment will continue. Data from the General Social Survey at Statistics Canada 1999, indicated that one third of Canadians aged 25 to 44 identified themselves as workaholics and more than half admitted to worrying that they do not have enough free time to spend with their friends and family. Alarmingly, only about one-quarter of these individuals said they planned to slow down in the coming year.

Compared to our European counterparts, Canadians seem to be accepting of increased workloads. For example, France has adopted at 35-hour workweek, Norway just added a fifth week of paid vacation and Denmark a sixth.

"Through my work as a consultant and in my private practice, I've seen the enormous and sometimes debilitating effects that a lack of free time has on a person," said Dr. Posen. "We have to address this issue because the struggle for work-life integration affects almost all of us as individuals, but also has an impact on society as a whole."

The Ipsos-Reid poll was conducted on behalf of Blue Light between January 30, 2001 and February 1, 2001. The poll is based on a randomly selected, representative sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within ± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been if the entire adult Canadian population been surveyed. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to 1996 census data.

Please note: Dr. David Posen is available for media interviews

For more information, please contact:

Nicola Moore / Ron Christianson
Weber Shandwick Worldwide
(416) 964-6444

John Wright
Senior Vice President, Public Affairs
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900