Breaking down the professions, the report highlighted that almost half of legal professionals surveyed said they have less than two hours of leisure time per day, while one in four reported having less than one hour per day – putting them as the group that collectively dedicates the least amount of time to leisure.

This comes after Your Law Firm CEO Meda Royall sounded off the many benefits that a healthy work/life balance presents to legal professionals.

She said it’s imperative that legal professionals across the board place value on the importance of spending time out of the office.

“Lawyers need to embrace the trend of work/life balance that is emerging across the workforce, whether it be by proactively enabling change within their firms, or finding a business model that better suits their career goals and family life,” Ms Royall said.

“Flexibility makes for a more engaged, passionate, motivated and driven lawyer, which in turn results in better work and more opportunities for career advancement."

Across all professions, the World Play Shortage Report found that 70 per cent of survey respondents do not rank playing sport or going to the gym/exercising as one of their favourite leisure time activities and 30 per cent of people admit they never exercise.

Other key findings revealed women have three hours less playtime per week compared to men (19 hours vs 22 hours) on average; young people in the early years of their career are particularly affected, as 22-year-olds are the most likely age to cancel evening leisure plans due to work (42 per cent); and 38 years old is the age when people most crave the chance to have more playtime in their lives, with 63 per cent wishing they had more leisure time rather than more money.

“The World Play Shortage Report stands as a powerful indication of how modern life is shaping our wellbeing and highlights the lack of playtime,” said John Brown, managing director, Beko Australia and New Zealand.

“The report shows people lead busy, often unplanned lives, and this is having a critically negative impact on our leisure time.

“At Beko, we understand how busy people’s lives can be and their everyday needs, and our goal is to provide meaningful time-saving solutions, so that people can simply enjoy their unpredictable, busy lives. Hopefully, these findings will act as a reminder to us all that we need ‘play’ to live our lives to the fullest.”