Housework and Health

Filed in archive General Health on February 25, 2007

Sick of the continual round of housework? Day after day the same thing? Wash dishes, sweep and vacuum, make the beds. scrub the bathtub. Well, maybe we shouldn't knock it. New research has shown that housework is actually good for your health. (I wonder how many men worked on that study.) Anyway, KATV Channel 7 tells us:

Researchers tracked more than 200-thousand women from nine European countries over a six-year period and looked at the types of activity they did - recreational, household and occupational.

They found housework more likely to protect pre and post menopausal women from breast cancer - than job or leisure based physical activity.

If housework is becoming a bit much, you can find lots of help online. Minutes for Mom has a section called Tackle It Tuesday where folks post ways to fix particular problems. Middle Age Spread takes a humorous look at cleaning house, with comments like:

Cobwebs artfully draped over lampshades reduce the glare from the bulb, thereby creating a romantic atmosphere. If your spouse points out that the light fixtures need dusting, simply look affronted and exclaim, "What? And spoil the mood?"

Jennifer Fallon, in her blog, offers some excellent ideas to avoid housework. For instance:

Fake a terminal illness until someone else in the house does the housework for you.

But, all joking aside, someone's got to clean the house. It may be a tiresome chore, day after day, but if it keeps us healthy, we may as well get at it.