When you retire, you gain eight or more extra hours of leisure time each day. Retirees are generally using that extra time to linger¹ a little longer over meals, sleep, do household chores, and watch a lot more TV, according to recently released American Time Use Survey data for 2011. Here's how people age 65 and older are filling their days:

Relax.

As you might expect, retirees have a lot more time for leisure activities than people who are still working. People age 65 and older spend an average of just over seven hours per day on leisure and sports, compared to just over five hours among the overall population.

"These are people who have fulfilled the dream of having the complete choice of anything they want to do, and the things they choose are surprising," says John Robinson, a sociology² professor at the University of Maryland and coauthor of Time for Life: The Surprising Ways Americans Use Their Time.

"The three things that retirees spend the most extra time on are reading, resting, and TV."

Retirees spend twice as much time relaxing and thinking (0.6 hours) and reading (0.7 hours) compared to the overall population (0.3 hours for both activities). And senior citizens are equally as likely as younger people to surf the Internet for leisure and spend time socializing with friends, and only slightly less likely to exercise.

Watch TV.

Americans watch an average of two hours and 45 minutes of TV per day. Retirees watch even more, averaging 4.2 hours of TV-viewing each day. Men age 65 and older watch an hour more of TV daily (4.73 hours) than older women (3.74 hours). And people age 75 and older watch more TV than any other age group.

Sleep.

The only thing seniors spend more time on than leisure activities is sleep. Retirees spend nine hours per day sleeping, compared with 8.7 hours daily among the population as a whole.

Household chores.

Retirees took an average of 2.4 hours per day to tackle³ household chores, compared to 1.8 hours among all Americans. People age 65 and older spend slightly longer on housework, food preparation and cleanup, and lawn and garden care.

Eat and drink.

The typical American spends about an hour and 15 minutes each day eating and drinking. Retirees linger slightly longer over meals, for an average of about an hour and a half each day.

Work.

Not all people age 65 and older are retired⁴. The typical senior citizen spends nearly an hour each day working. But seniors are less likely to work than the population as a whole, which spends just over 3.5 hours per day working. "Older cohorts of individuals are less likely to be employed, so they spend less time working," says Rachel Krantz-Kent, program manager of the American Time Use Survey. Retirees also seldom spend any of their time persuing formal education, compared to an average of about a half hour per day among the entire adult population.

Shop.

Retirees have plenty of time to research and comparison-shop for their purchases, and they spend 0.87 hours per day doing so. Americans overall spend 0.72 hours acquiring goods and services.

Volunteer.

Retirees spend very little time caring for household members (0.07 of an hour) and helping⁵ people outside their household (0.2 hours). In contrast, Americans overall spend half an hour per day caring for family members, primarily children, and about the same amount of time as retirees caring for people outside their household. However, retirees spend slightly longer than most Americans volunteering and pursing religious and spiritual activities, doing each for an average of almost 15 minutes each day.

当你步入退休生活后，就会至少拥有8个小时的额外休闲时间。根据近来发布的美国居民时间支配调查数据显示，一般而言，退休党们会将这些额外的时间用于多玩一会儿、吃饭、睡觉、做家务以及看更多的电视。以下便是在65岁及其以上年龄段的老年人们打发时光的做法：

休闲放松。

如你所想，退休人员比工作人士拥有更多用于休闲活动的空闲时间。同所有居民每天5小时的运动时间相比，65岁以上的老人每天花在休闲运动上的时间至少就有7个小时。

马里兰大学（University Of Maryland）社会学教授，《生命中的时间：美国人消遣时间的奇异方式》的合著者约翰·罗宾逊（John Robinson）表示“这是一群做出了所有令人震惊的选择并实现了自身的梦想的群体。”

“退休党们将额外时间大都花费在阅读，休息和看电视上。”

退休党们将花费超乎所有公民2倍多的时间去轻松自我，思考人生（0.6个小时）以及阅读书籍（0.7个小时），而普通大众却仅仅在这方面花费0.3个小时。同年轻人一样，老年人也会选择上网休闲的方式轻松自我，并花时间同朋友相聚交谈，而在锻炼方面仅会花费很少的时间。

看电视。

美国人平均每天看2个小时45分钟的电视。退休党们看得更多，平均每天4.2个小时。65岁以上的男性每天看电视时间为4.73个小时，比同龄女性（3.74小时）多1个小时。75岁以上的老年人看的电视比任何其他年龄段的人都多。

睡觉。

老年人在休闲活动上唯一花费最多时间的便是睡觉。同大多数人8.7个小时的睡眠时间相比，退休党们每天要花费9个小时的睡眠时间。

做家务。

与全美所有公民1.8个小时的家务活时间相比，退休党们每天便要花费2.4个小时来处理各种家务劳动。65岁及以上的人们将花费更多的时间用以家务、烹饪、清扫、草坪和花园的护理上。

吃吃喝喝。

典型的美国人每天将花费75分钟的时间用于餐饮。退休人员们在这方面花费得略微长久，平均合计下来每天共90分钟。

工作。

并不是所有65岁以上的人们都会选择退休。典型的老年人群每天将花费1个小时的时间用于工作。但是同整体公民相比，老年人又不会在工作方面花费太多的时间，平均每天仅有3.5个小时。美国人时间使用调查的项目经理雷切尔·肯特（Rachel Krantz-Kent）表示“老年群体一般不太容易就业，所以他们的工作时间也就相对较少。”与成人群体每天花费半小时用于学习，退休党们也很少在接受正规教育上花费时间。

购物。

退休党们拥有足够的时间去做“市场调查”并通过商家之间的对比来购买物品，这样算来，每天光在这些事儿上他们就要花费0.87个小时而全体美国公民仅会花费0.72个小时来购买商品和享受商家服务。

志愿者。

退休人员们一般花很少的时间（0.07个小时）来照顾家庭成员但却花费0.2个小时来照顾家庭之外需要帮助的人士。相比而言，全美公民每天将近花掉半个小时的时间来照顾家人、小孩，这同退休党们照顾外人所花费的时间大大相同。然而，退休人员却比大多数美国人更致力于志愿服务和宗教信仰等精神活动之中，在这些活动上他们每天便要花费15分钟的时间。