The 8:8:8 rule could give us the perfect work-life balance. So why aren't more of us following it? | Adrian Chiles

Eight hours each for work, leisure and sleep feels a sensible balance - yet with home working, and long-hours culture, it can seem like an unachievable goal

A woman who grew up in the former Yugoslavia told me how they used to live their days by the three eights: eight hours of work, eight hours of free time and eight hours of sleep. Nice. I assume weekends were free. It's odd how quaint this 8-8-8 notion sounds, but eight-hour working days add up to 40 hours a week, which was once standard here, wasn't it?

I suppose there are two reasons you would work for longer than that. It could be that you need to do so to put food on your table, which is fair enough - or most unfair, if you see what I mean. On the other hand, you could be doing punishing hours because your employer, or your industry, demands it, in the interests of making the company as much money as possible and, in some cases, enriching yourself along the way. Either way, it's no good. You need non-working waking hours for your own sanity, your family's sanity and the good of the community.