Before Good Bath Day, which is celebrated on November 26, Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Masaki Yamazaki, hereinafter "Sinanen Holdings") a comprehensive energy, housing, and daily-life services provider, and its subsidiary Melife Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Fukio Tsukagoshi, hereinafter "Melife"), which sells LP gas, electricity, kerosene, and other energy products in the Kanto area, conducted a survey on bathing habits participated in by roughly 1,000 child-rearing women throughout Japan. Results of the survey are as below.

■ Topics

・54.5% of mothers were satisfied with bathing in their daily lives. The number one reason given for being satisfied was that they were "able to enjoy a proper bath" (44.7%).

・Around one-third of mothers take a bath every day (32.6%). High levels of sleep satisfaction were seen among mothers who took baths frequently (60.8% of mothers who took a bath every day were satisfied with their sleep).

・Among mothers who take baths, a high percentage of working mothers responded that they take a bath "to enjoy time alone." (Working mothers: 61.0%, Housewives: 48.6%)

・Over 70% of both working mothers and housewives felt that energy costs associated with baths were high. However, roughly 10% more working mothers responded that they "do not want to reduce consumption" compared to housewives.

■ Survey overview

・Survey Method: Survey conducted on self-service online research service Fastask

・Survey Period: October 24-28, 2022

・Survey Respondents: 1,064 women nationwide aged 20 to 49 with children up to the age of 12 and a bath or shower in their home (including 539 working mothers and 525 housewives)

■ 58.8% of child-rearing mothers were satisfied with their lifestyles. A correlation between bathing satisfaction and sleep satisfaction was revealed.

58.8% of mothers responded that they were "satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their daily lifestyle in general. Over 50% of mothers (54.5%) were satisfied with their bathing. 69.5% of mothers satisfied with their bathing (n=580) were satisfied with their sleep, while 85.7% of mothers satisfied with their sleep (n=470) were also satisfied with their bathing, indicating a correlation between bathing and sleep satisfaction.

■ One-third of mothers took a bath every day. Mothers who frequently took baths also had a high level of sleep satisfaction.

Among mothers satisfied with their bathing (n=580), the number one reason given was that they were "able to enjoy a proper bath" (44.7%). Roughly one-third of total respondents (32.6%) took a bath every day, regardless of the season.

It was also revealed that mothers who frequently take baths experience higher sleep satisfaction: 60.8% of mothers who take baths everyday (n=347) were satisfied with their sleep, while sleep satisfaction among mothers who do not take baths everyday (n=655) and mothers who never take baths (n=62) was 43.1% and 27.4%, respectively.

■ 60% of working mothers took baths "to enjoy time alone," while housewives used bath time differently to working mothers.

Among mothers who had taken baths (n=1,002), 61.0% of working mothers responded that they take baths "to enjoy time alone" when asked whether they take baths "to enjoy time alone" or "to enjoy time with the children." 48.6% of housewives gave the same response -- a difference of 12.5%.

Differing trends were also seen in the way mothers enjoyed spending their time alone in the bath. In order of highest to lowest percentage, activities engaged in while bathing among working mothers who took baths to enjoy time alone (n=315) were as follows: listening to music (25.4%), looking at websites/social media (21.9%), reading books/magazines (18.4%). Lower figures were recorded among housewives for the same activities, with a difference of nearly 10% for each activity.

Conversely, the percentage of respondents who answered that they "think about things" in the bath was roughly 10% higher among housewives who took baths to "enjoy time alone" (n=236) compared to working mothers.

A wide range of goods have also come to be used in the bath in recent times. When asked what goods they used while taking baths, "smartphones/tablets" ranked highest (36.2%) among working mothers who took baths "to enjoy time alone." Compared to goods used by housewives, usage rates among working mothers were 17.6% higher for smartphones/tablets, 10.1% higher for bath bombs/balls, and 8.1% higher for bathtub trays, while the response for "none of the listed goods" was highest among housewives (48.3%). This revealed differing trends in the usage of bath goods between working mothers and housewives who took baths to "enjoy time alone."

■ "Talking" was the highest action (61.5%) engaged in by mothers who took baths "to enjoy time with the children." Widespread use of digital devices while bathing with children was not seen.

We also surveyed the bathing situation with children. Over 60% (the highest percentage) of mothers who took baths "to enjoy time with the children" (n=364) responded that "talking" was the action they engaged in while bathing. As for bath goods used, bath/educational toys (39.3%), bath salts (31.3%), bath bombs/balls (22.5%) had the highest usage rates, while widespread use of digital devices when bathing with children was not observed.

In addition, among mothers who responded that their child could now take a bath on their own, 34.3% (the highest percentage) answered that their child began to bathe alone between the ages of "7 to 8." This indicated that, in many families, children began to bathe alone after becoming elementary school students.

The top three concerns among mothers regarding their children bathing alone were, in descending order, unwashed head and body (57.0%), hot water wastage (30.6%), and bathroom accidents (20.3%).

■ While over 70% of respondents felt that energy costs were high, different trends were observed in the desire to reduce consumption between working mothers and housewives.

Over 70% of both working mothers and housewives responded that they felt energy costs related to bathing were high. However, differing trends were seen in attitudes toward energy consumption. While roughly 10% more housewives (working mothers 59.6%, housewives 68.0%) wanted to reduce consumption, figures for not wanting to reduce consumption were over 10% higher among working mothers (working mothers 26.9%, housewives 15.9%).

Among mothers who wanted to reduce consumption (n=678), in terms of actions taken to achieve this, 39.5% responded that family members would immediately enter the bath after each other, 29.2% did not use the keep warm setting, and 27.6% reduced the number of times they would reheat the water. In addition to these steps that can be quickly taken to reduce consumption, a higher percentage of working mothers (16.2%) had also introduced energy saving devices compared to housewives.

From the survey, differing trends were observed between child-rearing working mothers and housewives in regard to both the general lifestyle aspects of bathing and sleep as well as the ways bath time was enjoyed.

Overall satisfaction with bathing was not shown to be very high, indicating that child-rearing mothers face issues with bathing. Based on the results of this survey, Sinanen Holdings and Melife will proactively disseminate information on bath goods and advice that can enable people without much free time to improve the quality of their life. By providing this information that busy mothers can reference, we hope to improve their overall life satisfaction. 

As a general energy service group, Sinanen Holdings and Melife will continue to actively provide various information related to energy, housing, and daily life, and strive to create more comfortable and enriched lives for all consumers.

■ About Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd.
https://sinanengroup.co.jp/en/
Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd. is a holding company of the general energy service group founded in 1927. With the mission of the Group to contribute to realizing a comfortable life for all customers in their communities through energy and home & life services, we provide Retail/Wholesale Energy & Related Business for consumers, Energy Solution Business for corporations, and non-energy businesses such as building management and maintenance, bicycle sharing, and other services.

 

■ About Melife Co., Ltd.
https://www.melife.co.jp/
Melife is a business company under the umbrella of Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd. With a community-based network that spans the entire Kanto area, it provides various services related to energy, home & life services, including LP gas, electricity, and kerosene sales, renovation, and house cleaning.

[Media inquiries]
Yoshida, Kimura, and Kiryu, PR/IR Team, Corporate Planning Department, Sinanen Holdings Co., Ltd.
Tel: +81-3-6478-7807 Fax: +81-3-6478-7824 E-mail: kouhou@sinanengroup.co.jp