Housework is good for you!

Did they ask any men? Presumably that's why we live longer.

Galaxy

Did they ask any men? Presumably that's why we live longer.

??

Four hours housework a day ?
What planet are they on? If I do (a total of) 4 in a week I feel like a Mrs Mopp.

Well, the newspaper headlines were all sexist enough to talk about 'housework' but the report seems to have spoken of it as being active, on your feet and moving around. They included showering, un/dressing, gardening etc. Probably includes looking for your glasses, keys.

The sample was all women but the researchers add that they thought it would apply to men as well.

I was quite cheered about the including men bit, because DH is resistant to anything that suggests it might be Exercise, but spends most of the day on his feet and pottering around doing bits on the extension, I thought we were paying other people to do. Today he resurrected an old table from the shed and began sanding the top, preparatory to a couple of coats of button polish and putting it in the next auction.

? Galaxy!

It seems to have worked for my mum. She’s 94, lives totally independently in her own home and does all her own housework still.

Galaxy

Did they ask any men? Presumably that's why we live longer.

Well both my DSIL will have a good long life.

Oh no it isn't! Well, I certainly don't feel like it's good for me, personally - really I don't. I sometimes do some, in a bad-tempered, huffy sort of way and I'm sure I can feel my blood pressure rising!

Oh - but I do love gardening and endless pottering too - so (along with all the dog walks) perhaps I'll be ok?

Hmm, how convenient that no experiment seemed to get done on men and them doing housework. Quite frankly the blatant sexism hacks me off and yet another lot of rubbish designed to keep women in their place. Who funds this sh***?

I feel confused at many of the replies. The survey was on Women and the activity of housework not
the activity of housework
Surely it's interesting to many, women, who do the housework to know that it's as good as going to the gym.
It didn't appear to me to be a question of who does this housework but more on the benefits of it as exercise for women.

I knew that I littered about in the house all day doing this and that but once I bought a Fitbit I could see how much. On my laziest day I did 3000 steps a day. If I can go out when it's not pouring I can get that up to 1100 especially if I can get a game of golf. The course has been flooded for weeks.

I think all this 'moving around' stuff has been known for years. Otherwise why would Fitbits have that 'you haven't moved in the last hour' function?

Hmm - house work is good for you....Well, to quote Mandy Rice Davies (as I do, regularly) - they would say that, wouldn't they ?

There ought to be a ‘potter-work’ term, which could include e.g. going upstairs for something, forgetting what you went up for, and having to go again 2 minutes later.

Ditto looking everywhere for the glasses which were on your head, or the TV remote after visiting Gdcs have put it goodness knows where.

Whatever....... I still need more convincing. It may be 'good' for my body but, boy, does the thought make my head ache!

I still hate housework even if it has the ability to prolong my life.

Perhaps it just makes life seem longer

I think this is another example of fake news.

I remember similar news back in the 70/80’s. It was shown that (in general) women came straight from work, cooked a meal, sat down last to eat and were first up from the table to clear away/wash up whereas (in general) the men simply walked from one chair to another in front of the tv, which led to increased heart attacks/stroke.
I believe they were genuine observations and the results of such activity were proven. I suppose this was before ‘equality’ and being aware of day to day exercise/movement being more beneficial to health and not just as part of a once a week past time?

The sample was all women but the researchers add that they thought it would apply to men as well.

I did immediately wonder why men weren't studied too but at least it makes a change from the usual - which is to study men then say 'yes, we expect this applies to women too' with no actual evidence.

Perhaps this study was intended as a small counter-balance to the usual male-centric studies.

Housework is definitely not good for me! There are many other things that I would rather be doing, being a domestic goddess is not one of them.

The other day I fell over the clothes airer and really bruised my back. I think housework is positively dangerous!

Witzend

There ought to be a ‘potter-work’ term, which could include e.g. going upstairs for something, forgetting what you went up for, and having to go again 2 minutes later.

Ditto looking everywhere for the glasses which were on your head, or the TV remote after visiting Gdcs have put it goodness knows where.

There is such a term as "bungalow legs".

We I have been searching for a bungalow but I'm hesitant now.
There might not be enough room to potter and there wouldn't be any stairs.

OK, I used 'housework' in the lead to this thread, but made clear that what the study was essentially saying that just pottering round your house andgarden was immensely advantageous for your health, compared with those who wer pottering for 2 hours or left.

So often when we talk about older women, they are limited in what they can do and I thought it would be an interesting discussion to consider how those of us who have limitations on mobility, could find ways of improving their health by just being on their feet for longer when at home. may be not 4.5 hours.

It can be done in penny numbers, 15minutes here, 30 minutes there over the day. It jsut struckk me as such a positive and helpful idea.