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136 days women spend getting ready

Applying make-up, having a shower and dressing up for a night out uses up a total of 3,276 hours in a girl's lifetime, says a study by body wash firm Skinbliss.

99,117hrs at work

The average British bloke spends all this time grafting at work, according to recent Government statistics. That''s the equivalent of 11 and a half years of solid slog.

23,214hrs washing clothes

It's a dirty job - and now Newstrategist research shows we spend three years of our lives washing our smalls.

115 days laughing

We spend six minutes a day laughing, but we're more miserable than we used to be - in the 50s we spent three times as long having a chuckle, says an Ocean Village poll.

9hrs, 18secs male orgasm

German research found that a man's orgasm lasted for 12.4 seconds - in a lifetime that adds up to nine hours and 18 seconds of sexual ecstasy. Phew!

1hr, 24mins female orgasm

The same research shows that women really do get a rougher, er, ride than men. The female orgasm lasts 1.7 seconds - that tots up to under an hour and a half overall.

2,170hrs sunbathing.

We spend the equivalent of 13 weeks of our lives on a beach, trying to top up our tans, according to a TripAdvisor survey . And still we're left with white bits!

653hrs waiting for trains

Hanging around on platforms waiting for your train, or queuing at bus stops, takes up 27 days - although it often feels much longer than that.

160 days on fag breaks

Smokers really are shortening their lives - by wasting more than five months on average popping out for a crafty ciggy, says the Benenden Healthcare Society.

7yrsof insomnia

Canadian health experts have worked out that this is how long we spend lying awake at night waiting for Mr Sandman.

6mths queuing

No wonder it seems to take ages getting to the front of a queue. We spend nearly three days waiting in them over a year, and six months over a lifetime, according to a survey by auction site madbid.com.

20wks on hold

That's 60 hours a year listening to muzak while waiting to speak to a human in a call centre.

4yrs on the phone at work

And this doesn't include calls at home for office workers, according to

Working Lives researchers at London Metropolitan University.

658hrs getting romantic

British couples will snuggle up and watch the sunset or enjoy a cosy drink on holiday for the equivalent of almost a month during their lifetime, according to TripAdvisor.

3,000hrs shaving

Mr Average might bristle to discover just how much time he will waste shaving - 3,000 hours in a lifetime, reckons a Readers' Digest survey.

366 days off sick

The average Brit spends a year of their working life off sick, says the Confederation of British Industry.

11 years in front of the TV

If you are stuck in front of the goggle box for the average of four hours a day that adds up to 11 years. And in all that time you still you won't find much worth watching.

5months complaining

We spend eight minutes every day moaning about bad service, according to a poll by Hilary Blinds.

38,003hrs eating

You can't rush a full English fry-up, a light lunch, a hearty dinner or even a few snacks. No wonder eating consumes so much of our lives.

5yrs on the net

Log on for the average of 11 hours and 20 minutes a month and, says Nielsen, over a lifetime that is 10,000 hours spent surfing the net!

46,800hrs of housework

The average married woman spends five-and-a-half years dusting, hoovering and keeping the house spic and span.

26yrs sleeping

Over a lifetime you'll spend 227,468 hours tucked up in bed and sound asleep, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

46 days men spend getting ready

Preparing for a lads' night out can't be rushed - and men spend 1,092 hours at it, according to Skinbliss.