A TYPICAL Spaniard gets up between 07.00hrs and 09.00hrs and rarely goes to bed before midnight on a working day, according to a recent health survey by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS).
Only one in five gets up at around 06.00hrs or 06.30hrs to go to work, and fewer than 4% say they get up later than 10.00hrs.
Two thirds go to bed on a working day and on a night before a day off between 23.00hrs and 01.00hrs, with only 4.5% retiring for the night before 22.00hrs.
At weekends, six in 10 get up between 08.00hrs and 10.00hrs, with just 16% saying they get up after 10.00hrs on Saturdays and Sundays.
A third of Spaniards say they get less sleep these days than they did five years ago.
Generally a healthy nation, over half of all Spaniards – 56.3%, to be precise – exercises several times a week or every day if they can, for periods of 20 minutes to half an hour, in an attempt to keep themselves fit and well, and also because they enjoy one or more types of sport.
About a third say they exercise less now than they did five years ago, although 14% say they have made an effort to do so more.
Seven in 10 say they do not smoke, and 44.4% say they have never tried it, whilst just over a quarter of the total interviewed are ex-smokers who have given up within the last five years.
Only 2.1% admit to smoking more than a packet, and up to two packets in some cases, per day.
Nearly two-thirds say they never take over-the-counter or off-the-shelf pharmaceutical drugs, such as aspirin or paracetamol for headaches or medicines for coughs and colds, only ever using medication which is prescribed to them.
This is classed as 'self-medication' and is very much frowned upon in Spain.
Just over half of all Spaniards eat three meals a day, including breakfast, with slightly more than a quarter saying they eat four, but the recommended five small meals a day are only eaten by 16.5%.
Nearly eight in 10 include dairy products in their daily diet, seven in 10 eat rice at least once a day, almost two thirds eat fresh fruit every day, but fewer than half eat vegetables daily.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com