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Spring Clean For A New You

© Gretchen Malik

We have been overlooking an opportunity for a convenient, cheap in-home workout...cleaning. You may not see to many men donning brooms or vacuums at your local fitness center, but you can turn your home into a personal fitness center. And as a side benefit, put a sparkling shine in your home. I guess you never believe housework could benefit your body.

Over the past decades, a women's work time has increased while time spent doing housework has declined. Washing machines, dryers and housekeepers have all helped lessen the housework burden. While freedom from such chores may appear to be a good thing, it has increasingly mechanized a stress-filled society. Today, about 22 percent of adult Americans are active at a level recommended for any meaningful health benefits, but fewer than 10 percent of adults exercise vigorously at an intensity that is sufficient to improve cardiovascular fitness. This is where housework can help?

Of all the health habits you might adopt in your life, beginning and maintaining a lifetime of physical activity is the single most important change you can make. Even if you don't have the time or the money to spend on a fitness club, you can still improve your fitness by engaging in daily activities such as housework. Engaging in any regular activity at all can provide significant health benefits for those who have sedentary jobs which involve sitting for a large part of the day and who do not participate in any regular physical activity or sports in their leisure time.

Recent research recommends spending at least 60 minutes each day in a "on your feet" activity. This type of activity uses the large muscle groups of the legs in walking, stair climbing, gardening or housework. Housework combined with walking the dog, yard work and using stairs can help form a foundation upon which you can build your fitness program.

How much energy can you expend doing housework? For example, someone weighing 130 pounds will expend about 1.0 calorie per minute while sleeping, 1.2 surfing the Internet and 10.3 calories per minute while running at a 10-minutes-per-mile (or 5 mph) pace. Housework usually falls somewhere between these values. Here are some per-minute calorie-expenditure estimates for a 130-pound person:

Making the bed: 2.1 Ironing: 2.4 Dusting, straightening, vacuuming, changing bed linens, and carrying out trash: 2.6 Carrying an infant: 3.6 General carpentry: 3.6 Sweeping floors: 4.1 Washing windows or walls: 4.6