"There is one big problem in answering this question, and that is how do you define fun or leisure time. Well, a new study from the very prestigious national Bureau of Economic Research said, 'Look, we are not going to try to settle on one definition. We are going to come up with at least four or five definitions of leisure or fun time.' And they did so. They had a very narrow definition, which included only time spent by a person in relaxation or recreation. They had a broader measure of leisure time that included, for example, time with children and some household tasks.

"If we just look at the narrow definition -– that is, time spent in relaxation or fun activities -– what the study found (and this is very interesting) and that is in the last 40 years the time spent in fun has expanded, has increased by between 5 and 7 hours per week," says Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural and resource economics. "It's also interesting that when they looked at their other definitions, which were broader, they found the same result. And the increase in leisure time has come both from reductions in working at work as well as working at home on household chores.

"And interestingly further, the increase in fun time or leisure time has occurred across the income spectrum," Walden adds. "In fact, the biggest increases in leisure time have been for lower income households."