Study links too much free time to lower sense of wellbeing
研究表示空闲时间过多会导致幸福感降低
Research shows there is a ‘sweet spot’ and subjective wellbeing drops off after about five hours
研究显示休闲和放松也有其“甜蜜点”，而且大约五小时之后主观幸福感会下降
The lesson of Goldilocks, that one can have too much of a good thing, even when it comes to the size of a chair, has applied in fields from astrobiology to economics.
金发姑娘的故事告诉我们，即使是就椅子的大小而言，好的东西如果享用的太多，我们也会受不了，而这一原则也适用于天体生物学和经济学等多个领域。
Now, it seems it may even govern our free time.
现在，这一点甚至似乎也开始适用于我们的休闲。
Researchers have found that while levels of subjective wellbeing initially rise as free time increases, the trend does not necessarily hold for very high levels of leisure.
研究者发现尽管一开始随着休闲时间的增加，主观幸福感程度会上升，但是当休闲程度到达较高水平时，这一趋势便不再显著。
“The sweet spot is a moderate amount of free time,” said Dr Marissa Sharif, a co-author of the study from the University of Pennsylvania.
“‘甜蜜点’是适度的休闲时间”，玛丽莎·谢里夫博士表示，她是来自宾夕法尼亚大学的该研究的共同撰写者。
“We found that having too much time was associated with lower subjective wellbeing due to a lacking sense of productivity and purpose.”
“我们发现闲暇时间过多与较低的主观幸福感相关，这是由于失去了成效感和目标感。”
Writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Sharif and colleagues reported how they analysed results from two large-scale surveys, involving a combined total of more than 35,000 participants.
在《人格与社会心理学杂志期刊》中，谢里夫和同事就报告了如何分析两个大规模调查中的结果，共有超过35000人参与调查。
One was the American Time Use Survey, which was carried out between 2012 and 2013 and asked participants what they had done in the past 24 hours.
其中一个就是2012至2013年进行的“美国人时间利用调查”，该调查会采访参与者在过去的24小时内做了哪些事。
After crowdsourcing opinions on which activities would be equated with leisure time and then calculating this time for participants, the team found that while subjective wellbeing rose with the amount of free time up to about two hours, it began to drop once it exceeded five hours.
在收集大众对“何种活动等同于休闲”的观点并为受访者计算休闲时间后，该团队发现尽管在到达大约两小时之前，主观幸福感会随着休闲时间的增加而上升，但该时间一旦超过五小时，主观幸福感便开始下降。
Meanwhile data from the National Study of the Changing Workforce, carried out between 1992 and 2008, revealed that beyond a certain point, having more free time was no longer linked to greater subjective wellbeing, but it did not dip – possibly because few of the participants reported having more than five hours of free time a day.
与此同时，“全国劳动力变化研究”（1992年至2008年间进行）的数据显示，超过某个值，更多的休闲时间不再与更高的主观幸福感相关，但是这一趋势并未下降——可能是因为几乎没有受访者每天有超过五小时的休闲时间。
The team said the American Time Use Survey suggested the way people spent their leisure time mattered.
该团队表示“美国人时间利用调查”表明人们度过其休闲时间的方式很重要。
“Although an abundance of discretionary time spent on solo and nonproductive activities did produce a negative effect on subjective wellbeing, discretionary time spent on activities that were social or productive did not,” they wrote.
“如果将大量自主时间花费在独自性和低成效活动上，这将对主观幸福感产生负面影响，但是将自主时间利用在社交或高成效活动上的话，将不会产生负面影响，”他们写道。
They said the work suggested people who feel they have too little free time should not quit all of their obligations, but instead try to find a couple of leisure hours a day.
他们表示，该研究表明觉得自己休闲时间太少的人也不应完全放任自己，而是应试着每天找几个小时进行休闲。
Meanwhile those with empty days should try spending their time with purpose, be it connecting with others or doing something productive.
与此同时，整日无所事事的人应该有目的地去打发时间，可以是与他人社交，或者做一些有成效的事情。
