During a recent WLL interview with award-winning chef, British food expert and owner of Kensal Green’s Parlour, Jesse Dunford Wood, he revealed he enjoys nothing more than eating at a greasy spoon on his day off. Another chef once admitted to me that he caves in to McDonalds cravings every now and then.

For the likes of Jesse Dunford Wood, who has slogged out a few 19-hours days in the kitchen, a complete antidote is probably essential but many of us no longer differentiate between work and leisure time. We used to think work should be productive, challenging and efficient while leisure should be pure relaxation with nothing to achieve.

Now, flopping out in front of the TV after a hard day’s work can make us feel guilty and like a failure, according to a recent scientist’s study published in the Journal of Communication. Switching on used to help us switch off but ironically, what was once considered relaxing now stresses us out.

Are we being too hard on ourselves or is active leisure time what we really need? Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s research shows that the most enjoyable moments of our life are the ones where we are most engaged. He proved this with a device that pinged at random points in time. The subject then filled out a form based on their feelings, thoughts and current activity. What he found was people have more enjoyable experiences from work than from their time off.

We should probably upgrade our leisure time rather than become workaholics, though. ‘What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are,’ American innovator George Eastman once said.

And we should stop feeling guilty about slumping on the sofa to watch the latest film release or the next episode of Orange Is the New Black. It might not be what Seneca considered high culture but as he said, ‘As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit.’