Scientists have designed the perfect day. So I tried it

Telegraph

04-07-2025

According to the Lou Reed song, the ultimate perfect day involves sangria in the park, feeding animals at the zoo and a movie. And possibly heroin. But that was the Seventies and things have changed. Feeding zoo animals is generally frowned upon nowadays, as is smack.
Instead, researchers at the University of British Columbia have created the formula for a perfect day using AI analysis (admittedly, not as exciting as Spanish booze or narcotics). The boffins used data from the American Time Use Survey, in which participants recorded how much time they spent on 100 different activities and rated each.
According to the science, the 'perfect' day consists of six hours of quality time with family, two hours with friends, one-and-a-half hours of socialising, less than six hours spent working (with a brief 15-minute commute), two hours of exercise and no more than an hour's worth of screen time.
Sounds lovely, doesn't it? That's if you enjoy interaction with other people, because it involves a lot of that. If, on the other hand, you're an introvert, it could well be hell.
Personally, I have reservations. Six hours of family time sounds excessive. And surely it would depend on which members of your family that time is devoted to. Do pets count? And two hours of exercise? I'm an avid gym-goer but would struggle with that amount of exertion.
Consider, then, the opposite. What constitutes the 'worst' day? While there's been no definitive studies into this, I decided to try and build a non-scientific template by flipping the formula for the perfect day and substituting the 'good' activities with their 'bad' opposites, adding a few of the unhealthiest habits for good measure, such as sleeping in, being sedentary, excessive screen time, drinking alcohol, stress and isolation.
Helpfully, the study also lists some of the lowest scoring activities, which includes gardening, looking after other people's children and time spent with spouses, which confusingly, may sound like fun ways to spend time (I love spending time with my wife, obvs).
So, is the perfect day really perfect, and could the imperfect day be just as fun? I tested which was better…
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The perfect day
Two hours spent exercising
Normally I'll wake at 6am, get to the gym for around 7am and then spend an hour working out. I like to start work by 8.30am so the logistics of a two-hour session don't suit me. Instead, I set the alarm for 5am and get up straight away, which is a struggle, then head out for a light run, before heading to the gym for some weight training and a Blaze HIIT (high-intensity interval training) class. This is achievable in the summer when the weather is kind, but must be miserable in the cold and dark. By the end of this early morning marathon, I'm exhausted. It's much more than I'd normally do.
One-and-a-half hours spent socialising
The study distinguishes between socialising and time spent with friends and family, so I take socialising to mean social interactions. Luckily, I am friendly with many of the regulars in the gym and today I ramp up the chattiness. I stop to talk to the receptionist, then chat to the staff in the café while they try to set up for the day.
On the gym floor I am that annoying person who wanders around and talks to everyone, and in the HIIT class I have plenty of banter with the instructor, monopolising the session. I then chat absently to people in the changing room in various stages of undress. As I don't work in an office, I've always valued these small interactions with different people during the day and I feel good about the connections I've made, but judging by some of the body language I fear I may have been a nuisance today. Nevertheless, I'm at my desk by 8am, happy in the knowledge that by 2pm I'll have finished.
Six hours of work
Normally I work 10 hours or more a day, often on weekends too. Being self-employed means if I don't work, I don't get paid. So a six-hour day should feel like a treat. Instead, I finish at 2pm weighed down by guilt and anxiety, knowing I'll have to start early and work late the next day just to catch up. Not exactly the perfect start to an afternoon off.
Six hours of family time
According to the study, spouses don't count, which is a shame, because I really enjoy my wife's company. Besides, she's busier than I am anyway. Luckily, my mother, who lives in Australia, is visiting. It's a great chance to spend time with her and also catch up with my son and daughter, now 18 and 23.
I haven't seen my mother in several years, so it's wonderful to be together again. Even so, after a couple of hours, the conversation slows, thankfully, she's great at filling the gaps. After a long lunch, I then meet up with my children, whose company I always treasure.
Two hours with friends
In the evening I head off to the pub to meet a friend for an easy two hours decompressing after family time. To start with, the amount of social time looked daunting, but having spent it with a selection of my favourite people the time passes easily. The trick, I think, is to choose your company carefully. Some people are effortless company, others drain energy.
One hour of screen time
Another easy win. An hour of Clarkson's Farm to round off the day is time well spent and leaves me lifted before bed. I read for half an hour before drifting off.
The imperfect day
Late waking and zero hours exercising
Forcing myself to stay in bed until 8am on a weekday felt vaguely criminal. I tried to do something positive with the time and scrolled through the newspapers online, but still felt guilty. And the no-exercise rule was hard to adhere to. I wanted to go for a walk at least but instead headed to my desk in the home office.
Eight hours of work
According to the study, when individuals worked for more than six hours, the positive effects rapidly turned negative, so I set myself an eight-hour working day. I have a love/hate relationship with my WFH set-up. I share the home office with my wife, who often presents seminars and workshops online, while I try to concentrate on writing. And when she is away, which she is a lot, I find the office isolating, so I work in a café or in the pub in the evening where the hum of life is comforting.
Today my wife is away so, in keeping with the spirit of the experiment, I work in the home office with just the cat for company. And he whines all day. As expected, I find the solitude soul-crushing. The only bonus is that an eight-hour day, while detrimental in terms of the study data, is still shorter than my normal working day, which allows me to fit in the other unhealthy activities.
Two hours of gardening, plus online shopping
In the study, time related to consumer purchases indicated a 'zero effect' on whether participants would have a good day, as did gardening. I love my garden, but am no fan of gardening. I do as little as possible, and we have gardeners. I choose the unpleasant job of pruning away aphid-infected leaves from the apple tree. The bugs excrete a liquid called honeydew and, as I chop away haphazardly, aphid excrement drips down on me. Ninety minutes later I head for a shower, then spend 30 minutes online shopping for summer clothes and pesticides.
One-and-a-half hours of drinking alone
I'm lucky enough to have two pubs within yards of my front door. I head to the Brewery Inn for a couple of pints alone. I take my laptop too and cram in a bit more work. This is a regular early evening thing for me. My wife thinks it's sad; I think it's one of the best things you can do with your time. I'm comfortable with my own company, and the pub serves excellent beer and plays excellent music. Ninety minutes later, I emerge comfortably lubricated.
Five hours spent watching television and eating junk food
Another surprising finding of the study was that time spent relaxing was negatively associated with having a good day. The authors make the presumption that this is because most of this time was devoted to watching television, 'which would not necessarily make for a better day'.
In this spirit I settle on the sofa with crisps, biscuits, beer and wine. I try to watch programmes with no intrinsic value, but, after a trio of Eastenders, Coronation Street and Love Island, I begin to lose the will to live so switch to Shōgun, which is very good – although by this point I'm feeling the effects of the alcohol and the subtitles are challenging. I opt for something educational and watch the first episode of Adam Curtis's new social history, Shifty, which is excellent, but my brain struggles to keep up with the high-brow concepts. For light relief I head to Noel Edmonds' Kiwi Adventure, which requires no energy, unlike the show's protagonist.
Late night TikTok and doom-scrolling
I finish the day in bed scrolling through TikTok, X and Truth Social, and drift off dreaming of cats and hatred.
The verdict
Perfect Day
Not as perfect as it would appear, especially if you value 'me time', or time with your spouse. It depends on who you spend your time with and what you do. Meanwhile a six-hour workday seems impractical for anyone with a full-time job.
Imperfect Day
For me the most detrimental elements were the lack of interactions with people and the lack of exercise. This is not a prescription for good health, and it was easy to see how this sort of lifestyle could be damaging in the long term.
As a one-off, however, parts of it were enjoyable, such as slobbing out on the sofa and sinking a few pints in the pub. The only ill-effect was a fuzzy head the following morning.