Household chores are included in the 30 minutes per day of moderate physical activity recommended by the US government as part of a healthy lifestyle – but there is no evidence that it has any health benefits, say UK researchers.
Shah Ebrahim and colleagues at University of Bristol recruited 2341 women between the ages of 60 and 79 from 15 British towns to fill in questionnaires about their activity levels. The team also gathered information on the women’s weights, medical history, and heart and lung function.
Housework turned out to make a huge contribution to whether or not most women met the US health guidelines. More than two-thirds of the women were considered healthily active if housework was included, but 4 in 5 were not sufficiently active if it was removed.
Regular physical activity such as brisk walking and cycling significantly reduced average weight and pulse rate and increased fitness. But people who spent two and a half hours a week on housework scored the same on a series of health measures as those who did no exercise at all. “Housework doesn’t seem to count”, says Shah.
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Indirect benefits
“I would strongly recommend that women share the housework with their partner and use the time afforded to do some more interesting and beneficial activity,” he says.
Melvyn Hillsdon, of the Health Promotion Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine claims the more palatable activity guidelines are not really misleading. “There are many ways of measuring health, and many indirect benefits, especially to this elderly age group,” he says.
Maintaining mobility, strength and avoiding muscle wasting should not be underestimated, he adds.
Journal reference: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (vol 56, p 473)
