Do you believe that housework, gardening or slow walking will make you fit? Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), there is no evidence that housework is good exercise. Doctors used to recommend exercising thirty minutes three times a week, but over the past ten years, extensive research has encouraged doctors to shift from recommending three bouts of vigorous exercise a week to more moderate activity that fits into a daily routine. This includes activities such as housework, gardening, and slow walking. The theory is that people are more likely to achieve a goal of using small chunks of time doing leisurely activities than performing a scheduled vigorous exercise program. Many doctors felt that this would provide more health benefits to more people, especially older people.

Researchers selected over 2300 women aged between 60 and 79 from 15 British towns.* Previous research has indicated that most women in this age group are relatively inactive. This study showed that the women who engaged only in heavy housework, slow walking and gardening were terribly unfit and often overweight. Women who walked briskly for 2.5 hours a week were far slimmer than the group who did housework. The brisk walkers also had far slower resting heart rates, which is a sign of heart strength.

The authors of this study concluded that while the new recommendations on physical activity may be achievable by a larger proportion of the population, there is very little evidence that some of the suggested activities, such as housework, have any significant health benefit. Other studies confirm that you can't become fit unless you exercise vigorously enough to markedly increase your heart rate.

To become fit, you have to exercise vigorously enough to make your heart stronger. That means that intensity makes you fit and no amount of very casual exercise will make your heart strong. Your heart is a muscle. The only way to strengthen a muscle to exercise it against increasing resistance. The pumping of skeletal muscles during exercise forces a large amount of blood to fill the chambers of the heart, forcing it to contract against increased resistance from the increased blood from your leg muscles. Pumping against increased resistance makes your heart stronger and you more fit. So if you want to become fit, you need to pick up the pace of your exercise at least twice a week.

*Dr Debbie Lawlor, "Is housework good for health? Results from the British Women's Heart and Health Study" 2002; 56: 473-8, JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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