Not all hours are equal: could time be a social determinant of health?

Abstract

Time can be thought of as a resource that people need for good health. Healthy behaviour, accessing health services, working, resting and caring all require time. Like other resources, time is socially shaped, but its relevance to health and health inequality is yet to be established. Drawing from sociology and political economy, we set out the theoretical basis for two measures of time relevant to contemporary, market-based societies. We measure amount of time spent on care and work (paid and unpaid) and the intensity of time, which refers to rushing, effort and speed. Using data from wave 9 (N = 9177) of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia Survey we found that time poverty (> 80 h per week on care and work) and often or always rushing are barriers to physical activity and rushing is associated with poorer self-rated and mental health. Exploring their social patterning, we find that time-poor people have higher incomes and more time control. In contrast, rushing is linked to being a woman, lone parenthood, disability, lack of control and work-family conflicts. We supply a methodology to support quantitative investigations of time, and our findings underline time's dimensionality, social distribution and potential to influence health. A video abstract of this article can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=5__HOxgdldk&feature=youtu.be

Day-to-Day Pattern of Work and Leisure Time Physical Behaviours: Are Low Socioeconomic Status Adults Couch Potatoes or Work Warriors?

“…cooking, cleaning, and childcare) [45,46]. Accordingly, "lack of time" has been reported as the primary barrier for leisure time physical activities among this population group [45,47], which our result further supports. Thus, interventions and policies aiming to increase leisure time PA among low SES adults ought to consider how time-related constrains might act as a barrier.…”

“…A plausible reason for this is that low SES typically have low control over work hours and lack nancial resources to outsource domestic work (e.g. cooking, cleaning, and childcare) [45,46]. Accordingly, "lack of time" has been reported as the primary barrier for leisure time physical activities among this population group [45,47], which our result further supports.…”

A autoconfrontação com o próprio tempo como perspectiva analítica no estudo das relações entre o tempo e a saúde

“…Consequences of the "shortage of time" refer to both, time quantified in hours and minutes, and to the way it is felt, since people need time to work, construct relations, exercise, take care, consume, finally, a group of actions fundamental to health. Thus, shortage of time and the so called pressure of time have been associated with symptoms of physical and mental illness [15][16] .…”

“…The group investigated, nurses from a public hospital, frequently have more than one professional bond, which results in long weekly work hours 17,18 . With the premise that time is an organizing dimension of life in society 1 and considering time as a "resource for health" 16 , we worked with the perspective that when expressing their time experience workers would bring up health issues.…”

Time strain among employed and self-employed women and men in Sweden

“…Nevertheless, working, resting, and caring for children require time, and the use of time, like that of other resources, is socially shaped (Strazdins, Welsh, Korda, Broom, & Paolucci, 2015). In general, knowledge about differences in time use between self-employed individuals and employees is limited, particularly from a gender perspective (Brush, Carter, Gatewood, Greene, & Hart, 2006).…”