What makes women happy

Socialising, eating and exercising have a much bigger impact on women's happiness.

A new study conducted by University of Michigan suggests that women enjoy sex most and commuting least. Activities such as socializing, eating, exercising, and watching TV have a much bigger impact on women's happiness on a daily basis than general circumstances, such as income, religion, or marital status.

The researchers led by Norbert Schwarz tested a new tool, called the Day Reconstruction Method, which is designed to assess how people spend their time and how they felt about those activities on a given day.

900 women answered general demographic questions and then were asked to create a short diary of the previous day by thinking of the day as a film containing a series of scenes and episodes.

They then answered a series of questions about each episode, including what they were doing, with whom, and how they felt. The average number of daily activities was 14 and each lasted about an hour.

The most enjoyable activities included: sex or intimate relations, socializing, relaxing, praying or meditating, eating, exercising, and watching TV. The least enjoyable activity was commuting, followed by working and doing housework.

Interactions with friends were rated as most enjoyable, notably more enjoyable than interactions with relatives, spouses, or children. "When people are asked how much they enjoy spending time with their kids they think of all the nice things -- reading them a story, going to the zoo," Schwarz said.

"But they don't take the other times into account, the times when they are trying to do something else and find the kids distracting. When we sample all the times that parents spend with their children, the picture is less positive than parents expect," he added.

They also found that the quality of women's sleep had a major impact on their enjoyment of life. Women who slept poorly, on average, enjoyed their day as little as the average person enjoys commuting. But those who slept well enjoyed their day as much as most people enjoy watching TV.