Mumsnet users share with VELUX what think of the time they spend indoors and the "indoor generation"

[JustineBMumsnet]

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It’s no secret that spending time outside getting fresh air and daylight is beneficial for a variety of reasons. A new study by VELUX showed that people spend more time inside than they realise – often spending 90% of their time indoors, and they’d like to hear your thoughts on this.

Here’s what Grant Sneddon, Velux daylight expert has to say: “Whether we’re at home, in work or school or even commuting, we spend most of our time inside poorly lit and ventilated spaces. Why is this interesting? Well, if we’re spending most of our time indoors then it means we’re not getting enough fresh air and daylight, which can affect our sleep, mood and productivity. But there are simple ways to get the health benefits of natural daylight and fresh air in the home such as opening your windows three to four times a day to allow fresh air in."

How much time do you think you spend indoors? What do you think of the claims that we’ve become an indoor generation? Do you have tips for ensuring your family gets the benefits of daylight and fresh air while you’re spending time indoors?

All who post sharing their thoughts or tips below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

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We try to go out everyday regardless of the weather even if only going for a walk or to the park, also I love spending time in the garden so when it is hot that is where I would rather be instead of indoors.

It all really depends on the weather if its not to hot then we will get out as much as we can but when the weather is wet and windy we would rather just stay indoors

More time than I'd like due to a combination of long (indoor) working hours, illness and lack of time!

I'm making an effort to spend more time outdoors in the nice weather though!

Unfortunately I'm disabled & housebound although I do take a taxi to visit my family up north a few times a year. I used to spend a lot of time outside but have lots of allergies which prevent me from going out, especially in this hot weather but before they all flared up I used to spend a lot of time in my parents' garden with my great niece. She's a budding Charlie Dimmock & loves to help with the garden, she takes after me with her love of gardening & loves to ask my parents' gardeners questions ever since she was just turned 4 so she gets lots of fresh air helping with planting, weeding & watering & even has her own little section of garden & her own tools

T spend too much time indoors trying to catch up on housework washing. I do try to get outdoors at least an hour a day be that gardening or a walk down to our village for a coffee. However when it is raining (like today) I enjoy just watching the garden and the birds!

Indoors is too convenient and value for money. Shop / Cook at home and play games / watch films etc.

Nice to go out though and appreciate a day out at a theme park / shopping / cinema etc. (have a while indoors you have to let off steam!!)

Nice to have a rummage in charity shops etc.

I work full time and have an hour-ish journey time so I do get some fresh air and daylight but I prefer the indoors anyway. I get quite hot though, even during winter seasons so I constantly have windows open in my house when i'm in to let some cool/fresh air in

With commuting to work and home again I only spend a couple of hours at home before sleeping... But at weekends we are out most of the day but this is sometimes dependent on the weather!

i try and encourage my daughters to play outside as much as possible and we do go for long walks because we are blessed with beautiful countryside around where we live.

loads if I'm honest.

I spend way too much time indoors, the children love playing outside the house and we live on an estate away from the road and there are always at least 20 children playing outside. So my kids spend a lot of time out but I dont .

I work from home and spend a lot of time indoors. Also my skin is very sensitive and I react badly to the sun.

Most of the time - having been diagnosed with skin cancer some years back I find it safer being out of the sun.

in the nice weather outdoors as much as possible, but probably spend too much time indoors over the autumn and winter months

Too much during this heatwave! It's been too hot to do anything outside as our garden gets the full sun from about 10 until dusk. We have had fun playing lots of board games though!

We spend most of our time indoors. Unfortunately I do not drive and I live in a small village!

We try and get out for a long walk every day whatever the weather but I hate sitting in the sun so would rather be indoors.

i try to get outside with the kids as much as the British weather will allow. whether its a trip to the park or even to shops lol

I work long hours so I try not to stay Indoors as I love to have fresh air, I feel sluggish If I dont have at least one full day out In the day time

We spend a lot of time indoors, when the weather is bad, but we always open up our windows every morning!

We are camping fans so spend a lot of time outdoors in spring and summer, even if it's just somewhere half an hour up the road for the night. In winter, we have to force ourselves sometimes but a country walk, even in pouring rain can be good fun - get the wellies on and hit a forest track where you'll stay a little drier, all good.

Our home has massive windows so when we're indoors we have those open, but honestly we spend very little time indoors. We usually go out every day, to the park or my aunts or for a walk, anything that's free or cheap to do, we're lucky enough to live within a stones throw of a theme park so we go there quite a lot, it's very child friendly with play areas, play centres, and lots of childrens activities going on.

It's really hard to spend time outside when you commute and work long hours, just taking your lunch outside in your break and finding a nice spot to sit and have a stroll after makes me feel so much better

Most of it , maybe 2-3 hours actually outside. Would spend more time outside though if I had a garden

I have chronic fatigue syndrome which makes it really difficult for me to find the energy to get outdoors. I feel guilty that my kids spend so much time at home but they're now at the age they can go to the park with their friends so they've been out there enjoying this amazing summer but I'm ashamed to admit I've barely stepped foot outside