Britons graze, shop and socialize Sundays

COLCHESTER, England, June 19 (UPI) -- Sundays in Britain are no longer quiet days of religious reflection, but days to do chores, shop and socialize, a study found.

Essex University sociologists have dissected the typical British Sunday and found Britons get up later and do fewer chores than they did 40 years ago, and are more likely to go out shopping or socializing than to make a big family dinner.

Researchers at the university's Institute of Social and Economic Research asked 10,000 people to keep a detailed diary of how they spent two Sundays in 2001 and compared it with similar data from 3,500 diaries written in 1961, reported the Observer Sunday.

In 1961, U.K. adults spent an average of 20 minutes a day shopping; by 2001 it was 50 minutes. Britons don't sit down to a big meals on Sunday any more, but prefer to graze all day.

"Men now stay in bed longer, and get up not, as previously, to work around the house, but rather to shop or to pursue other outside leisure activities," says Jonathan Gershuny.

Women do considerably less household chores than they did 40 years ago.