The new report studied the morning home habits of New Yorkers. Credit: Getty Images
For New Yorkers, rising early and rushing off to work might cost them precious moments of epiphany and less time to bond with significant others according to a report by furniture giant IKEA and Swedish consultant agency United Minds.
The IKEA Life At Home Report surveyed the home lives and morning routines of 8,292 people between 18 and 60 years of age in New York, Berlin, London, Paris, Shanghai, Mumbai, Moscow and Stockholm. The report looked at eight categories of behavioral trends through online panels in each city.
Citing a 2011 study by psychology journal Thinking and Reasoning, the report said thatpeople tend to think more creatively when they’re sleepy. So it’s not the early bird who gets the worm but the one who hits the snooze button. This is good news for 56% of New Yorkers who say they aren’t ‘morning people’.
New Yorkers are also a stressed out when they wake up, a third of New Yorkers report being stressed when they wake. They spend 16 minutes on average getting dressed in the morning, compared to 14 minutes for other cities. And while 57% feel that self-reflection in the morning is important, only 13% manage to find the time to do it.
The daily grind of life in the Big Apple can also affect parent-child relationships. Most New York parents, 83%, feel that it’s important to hug or kiss their children on weekday mornings. But the reality, according to the report, is that more than half are likely to be on their phones or computers rather spending time with their children.
With the fine line between work and home blurring, more New Yorkers work and study at home more than other urbanites, except in Mumbai. New Yorkers also multi-task more, working from the bedroom (40%), dining table (35%) and even the bathroom (16%). But they also tend to be more practical than those in other metropolitan cities and prepare well in advance for work on previous evenings.
The report’s online interactive Data Mixing Board compares the different cities on various parameters.
