As more employees return to the office, we are losing the extra hour in bed we got from not commuting.
With the return of 6:30 AM alarms and the existential crisis that accompanies this, Drinky Coffee looked into the ways that we try to save time in the morning in order to maximize our duvet dwelling.
Morning Timesavers: Our Key Findings
Drinky Coffee surveyed 1,000 Brits and 1,000 US citizens of working age (18-65) to find out what their most common time-saving tactics in the morning were.
Here are our most interesting findings:
- 12% of UK respondents and 20% of US respondents drink their morning coffee on the toilet.
- 55% of us urinate in the shower to save time in the morning.
- 19% of respondents do not brush their teeth in the morning if they are in a rush.
- The most common time saving tactic is packing your bag the night before work with 81% of us doing this.
The Gross List: Morning Timesavers We’d Rather Keep Private
It was surprising how many respondents would resort to unhygienic measures in order to save time in the morning.
Urinating in the shower and foregoing showering altogether was fair game for over half of respondents (55% and 64% respectively).
16% of respondents admitted to drinking coffee on the toilet. Among US respondents this figure was 20%.
Commenting on the finding that one in seven of us drink coffee on the toilet, Infectious Disease Specialist Dr Louise Verster said:
“This is a worrying finding. Toilets are often small and enclosed spaces, meaning that bacteria can undoubtedly transfer from the toilet bowl to your cup. E Coli is commonly found on human fecal matter and can cause severe stomach upsets.
There does seem to be an assumption among people that if a beverage is hot enough, it can be safely taken into the toilet as the heat will kill the germs. Harmful bacteria tends to be resilient, and can handle high heats for a short period of time.”
Full Breakdown Of Results
Unsurprisingly, innocuous time saving tricks such as packing your bag and making breakfast the night before you go to bed are the most commonly practiced.
Women are more likely to compromise on breakfast than men, with 75% of women willing to skip breakfast if they were running late in the morning compared to only 64% of men.
Men tend to opt for the more…hygienically-questionable time saving tactics. Men are more likely than women to urinate in the shower, skip showering, skip brushing their teeth and drink coffee on the toilet than women. Hardly a healthy morning routine…
Women are however more likely to sleep in their work clothes than men. Sleeping in your work clothes also seems to be an American phenomenon with less than half a percent of UK respondents doing this compared to 8% of US respondents.
Methodology
I surveyed 1,000 UK and 1,000 US people aged 18-65 on their morning time-saving habits.
The exact question I asked was: “Do you ever do any of these to save time in the morning” and then gave them a list of options seen in the second infographic here. Respondents were told to tick each box that applies to them.
51% of the respondents were male and 49% of the respondents were female. The average age of the respondents was 41, with the 35-50 and 50-65 age demographics being slightly overrepresented in the study.
As with all self reported studies, problems with selective memory, exaggeration or intentional deception on behalf of the respondents are a possibility.
