FEELING GREAT: Housework might be able to keep you healthy and active!

Doing housework has the ability to delight, frustrate or anger you and, as well as all of those feelings, it can even cause physical injury.
By Paul Gough
Published 24th Nov 2021, 00:00 BST

Yes - some of the most common and simple injuries that we see at the Paul Gough Physio Rooms occur as a result of someone trying relentlessly to maintain a clean and tidy house. But have you ever considered that housework might be a legitimate addition to a weekly exercise routine? Is a vigorous spring clean (where you REALLY go at the house) capable of reducing your waistline, if you were looking to trim it? I’ve heard it said by many ladies that housework is their best form of exercise. But here’s something to consider: as the years have progressed, it seems housework and waistlines are heading in opposite directions and doing the housework isn’t as good for you as it once was.

Why? Because of things like lighter vacuum cleaners, and new, advanced cleaning products designed to make scrubbing easier.

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All these mean you’re not likely to be burning as many calories as you might have hoped or once did.

As a general rule of thumb, the experts predict that you can burn up to 200 calories with a typical one-hour clean of an average-sized house. To put that into context, if you see somebody out jogging, hoping to burn some off fat off, that person running is going to have to keep going for 20-25 minutes just to match the same calorie burn as you’ll be getting from doing your house clean.

So, as you look to keep active, maybe even trim down, bear in mind there’s an alternative to going to the gym. Keeping your house ultra clean and tidy can provide the very strong incentive of reducing your waistline at the same time. It can still produce the feel-good chemicals that you experience after a power walk or run.

Those 200 calories burned might sound great - and it is – but picture yourself after finishing your cleaning with your feet up (shoes off), on your clean couch with a hard-earned glass of wine and watching TV - you’ve just put all those 200 calories back on in an instant!

For more tips and advice, please get in touch for a FREE copy of my book The Healthy Habit. I have 3 available to the first readers to get in touch. Call 01429 866771 or visit paulgoughphysio.com.