Commissioned by Perrigo to mark International Self-Care Day on July 24, the poll of some 2,000 adults found that six out of 10 persons were acutely aware of the importance of dedicating time to themselves. (Source: Getty/Thinkstock)

The pandemic has restricted people’s movements and has confined them to their houses, so much so that the lines have all blurred and people are ending up spending more time figuring out where and how to draw the line between work and leisure. And this has been happening in many countries around the world. But, a recent poll has found that many ‘self-aware’ adults in the UK are now focusing on ‘me-time’, which is lasting up to three hours every day.

Commissioned by Perrigo to mark International Self-Care Day on July 24, the poll of some 2,000 adults found that six out of 10 persons were acutely aware of the importance of dedicating time to themselves. In fact, one-third of the respondents were found to have developed new self-care habits like exercising more, eating healthier, and taking more care of their skin. Additionally, it was found that self-care was a priority for seven out of 10 adults in their daily routines. But despite this, 50 per cent of people said they were still not able to get as much of self-care time as they would have liked.

The poll also revealed there were many barriers that stopped people them from spending time with themselves. These included having “too many commitments” (as said by 43 per cent of respondents), “being a parent” (39 per cent) and “having trouble switching off” (37 per cent). Thirty-five per cent people said long working hours were also a factor, along with the guilt of prioritising some ‘me-time’ (30 per cent).

The poll found that people had taken some specific measures to improve their well-being. While prior to the lockdown 21 per cent of respondents smoked, post restrictions, 19 per cent of them got rid of the habit. Similarly, one in four adults who exercised prior to the restrictions had been exercising even more, and 12 per cent of those who did not exercise at all before the lockdown, have now started.

“The past few months have been a challenging time for all of us in so many ways. But the promising outcome from the experience is that we have learned to better listen to our bodies and minds to take better care of ourselves. The UK has seen the positive impact of having to switch from ‘healthcare’ to ‘self-care’ over the past few months which has, in turn, highlighted the important role of self-care and community pharmacy on our vital health system,” Laure de Brauer, spokesperson for Perrigo UK & Ireland, was quoted as saying by The Independent.