Walk beats vacuum in workout stakes

It's exhausting, time consuming and although it counts as physical activity, housework does not improve health or help to shed those excess pounds, British researchers say.

Brisk walking is a much healthier option and a better way to keep fit than mopping floors, dusting and cleaning windows, particularly for women between the ages of 60 and 79.

"Older women need to be doing more physical activity. Housework probably does cut the mustard," said Dr Shah Ebrahim, an epidemiologist and expert on ageing at the University of Bristol, in southwestern England.

In a survey of more than 2300 elderly women in Britain, 10 per cent said they enjoyed brisk walking, one per cent did more than 2.5 hours of gardening a week and more than half reported doing heavy housework.

But Dr Ebrahim and his colleagues said that although housework required physical activity, it did not seem to have any health benefits.

"When we look at things that we think would go along with being physically active and fit, like pulse rate and obesity levels, they don't show any relationship with housework,"said Dr Ebrahim, whose research is reported in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Women in the survey who walked vigorously for 2.5 hours a week or did an equal amount of gardening were less likely to be obese and had a lower resting heart rate, which is a sign of physical fitness.

Although housework required effort, Dr Ebrahim said more research needed to be done on its long-term benefits before it could be included as a health-promoting activity.

- REUTERS

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