The French Sleep and Eat Better Than Anyone

May 4, 2009

In addition to producing great literature and perfume, the French can now boast that they they also have the most sated sleepers and eaters. Among the world's wealthiest nations, France has a populace that sleeps and eats longer than anyone, including Spaniards, Italians, and Americans.

The average French person sleeps almost nine hours every night, and more than two hours a day are spent eating. Wow. Maybe if I eat a lot of amazingly stinky cheese with bread and red wine (slowly, of course), I can catch up on my zzzzz's!

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22 Comments

Witchy Ways 4 years 1 week

They really do have a different work-life balance. I know a lot of french people who work between 40-60 hours a week and yet they still know when to cut back and just take a week off. Even in Paris, I always get the feeling that everybody's more relaxed and that things go "slower". It's a pace that I could live with...

reesiecup 4 years 1 week

This makes me want to visit France again. I loved eating all the pastries and at least I could walk it off afterward :)

4 years 2 weeks

The French lifestyle is lovely and as an American living in France it's a nice change especially as far as the food is concerned, the general quality and standards are much higher. Dining out is a regular occasion for many people and the highlight of their weekend, and meals are always sold in combination with aperatif and dessert so it's always an entire experience with different complementing components. However as far as the workweek is concerned, it really does depend on your job. Not all people have 30 hours a week and 6 weeks of vacation. There are many hardworking people here, my boyfriend works more than 50 hours a week not including some work from home. Also the pay in France is truly significantly less (less than half in some cases) than that of the same position in the US or Canada. But yet, they really will take care of you if you have any medical problem no matter if you are a French citizen or not. It's just a really different way of life, nicer in some senses and not so much in others.

CaterpillarGirl 4 years 2 weeks

I know people who are canadian and say the healthcare system sucks, so there you are "anonymous"

4 years 2 weeks

I also love France and the French lifestyle, but then again, I'm American and I prefer the European lifestyle so much more. Totally agree with nevaeh regarding the fresh produce, etc.

4 years 2 weeks

I really, really miss DearSugar ... although I enjoyed this article. I loved the relationship q&a's, advice, etc. There is almost nothing love and relationship focused here anymore. I appreciate the changes and work being put into all the Sugar sites, but this is one thing I hope is coming back.

miriah15 4 years 2 weeks

I miss Dear Sugar. I'm not interested in any of these articles.

4 years 2 weeks

"Its not free healthcare in canada, and its darn sure not a good system for patients." This is what your government wants you to think. I am Canadian, and I don't know anyone who has had any problems with our healthcare system.

CaterpillarGirl 4 years 2 weeks

"they know how to 'relax' and the long lunches, sumptuous dinners, the meal made from scratch, their appreciation for fresh ingredients, etc" they do that here too.

kurniakasih 4 years 2 weeks

Ahh...I love the general lifestyle of the French because they know how to 'relax' and the long lunches, sumptuous dinners, the meal made from scratch, their appreciation for fresh ingredients, etc. Sure, no way of life is completely perfect, but I enjoyed those things because I was raised like that when I was growing up, and I miss that a lot now.

POPSUGAR Beauty 4 years 2 weeks

Oh and Leslievanhouten, I once worked at a similar place. Yeah, it's great that they provide a gym, food, and a spa... but that's because you're pretty much expected to NEVER LEAVE. Not good.

POPSUGAR Beauty 4 years 2 weeks

I love the way the French live. Is it perfect? No, what is? But the French definitely have a better concept of work-life balance than Americans do.

Symphonee 4 years 2 weeks

Most Americans could eat better and get 9 hours of sleep if we cut out some extras like hours of TV, surfing the web on Facebook and Sugar, making calls, etc. Doesn't make France better, just different.

CaterpillarGirl 4 years 2 weeks

Its not free healthcare in canada, and its darn sure not a good system for patients.

Chouette4u 4 years 2 weeks

"We preach about wanting a better life for the US, yet we can't even do the simple things which would make life better -- better or free healthcare (hello, Canada) a shorter work week (Hello, France). Seriously, is it THAT hard to do?" It's not free healthcare, the tax payers pay for it. And a shorter work week doesn't mean you get to work less for the same amount of pay. Just be careful what you wish for, because these socialized countries aren't all flowers and ponies. You'll end up payer MUCH higher taxes and get more government bureaucracy in return. I'm not saying that Canada or France are "bad", but it's naive to assume that socialized medicine and a 30 hour work week are good ideas for the US.

mamasitamalita 4 years 2 weeks

j'adore les Francais

Chrstne 4 years 2 weeks

We're all going to die. The US should stop taking itself so seriously and let their citizens just live. Do we really need to work that many hours and get paid decently? Do we really need to fire an employee if they have been sick for three days? It's so dumb. We preach about wanting a better life for the US, yet we can't even do the simple things which would make life better -- better or free healthcare (hello, Canada) a shorter work week (Hello, France). Seriously, is it THAT hard to do? Is it that hard to promise a reform for those areas? No, it's not. But we're the United States, we're not functioning human beings who work for what they want if we have good health care or a shorter work week. We suck so much, it's unbelievable. And those are only two reasons why.

leslievanhouten 4 years 2 weeks

My BF used to work at Google, and boy, those people are stressed. A lot of that fun stuff is for show and all the amenities: free food everywhere, dentist on campus, gym on campus, dry cleaning and laundry service...is so people never leave.

Chouette4u 4 years 2 weeks

Between having a 30 hour work week and 6+ weeks of PTO per year, I am not surprised that the French are able to eat and sleep so much.

Chrstne 4 years 2 weeks

The thing about a lot of European countries is that they don't put as much of an emphasis on work, work, work, make all the money you possibly can. They advocate living a good, fulfilling life. So, obviously when you take time to enjoy life, and you aren't so stressed out because you are pretty much forced to, you can definitely take much better care of yourself. If you don't work for Google or Apple or Microsoft -- with awesome offices, nap time, being able to PLAY, bring your pets to work, and then work if you feel like it, when you are relaxed -- then obviously you're going to spend more time being stressed and staying up all night doing paperwork, and even for teachers...grading tests -- and not getting 9 hours of sleep. European countries are also taught different eating habits than we are, and they eat more of the foods we do not eat -- since we are obsessed with fast food rather than real meals. Of course they sleep and eat better than everyone -- especially here in the US. We don't even rank on that list.

aimeeb 4 years 2 weeks

I'd like 9hrs of sleep. :(

itsme3683 4 years 2 weeks

But they also work less than anyone. They have young people spending more time and energy petitioning the government so they can't get fired from their jobs then they actually spend AT their jobs. I don't like to generalize and I'm sure there are people who are fantastically hardworking, but everybody I know in France leaves because nothing gets done! So, clearly something is going right for them, but there's a reason they have so much time to be eating and sleeping...

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