Men, Women And Leisure Time: Men Win Again

First, the score: men 19, women 10.6. Those are the percentages of time at home spent in leisure activity, as defined by researchers at the University of Southern California, who were trying to identify the peaks and causes of stress in the lives of working married couples. The LA Times reports on the study, which tracked the rise and fall of the stress hormone cortisol at the end of the day. The bad news? The researchers found that a married mother’s cortisol levels decline most steeply at the end of the day when her husband pitches in with the housework. Unfortunately, a working man’s end-of-day cortisol levels won’t likely dip to recovery levels unless he spends more of his end-of-the-day time relaxing and his female partner spends less time relaxing.

Read more in the LA Times.