Feeling bad because you are not going to the gym?

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Well folks don't despair, maybe you are in fact doing the 150 minutes of moderate activity each week recommended without realising it. A set of volunteers at England's Birmingham University performed a variety of household tasks while attached to special heart rate and movement monitors to see whether they could count as moderate physical activity. The list of chores tested included mopping, vacuuming, mowing, car washing.cleaning windows , planting flowers, ironing and dusting . All but the last two would count towards the total and even ironing and dusting use more than twice as much energy as sitting still! These volunteers spent an average of 37 minutes a week vacuuming and mopping and a further 72 minutes doing outside chores. So they are already doing about two thirds of the moderate activity advised to reduce the risk of heart disease,cancer and obesity. Other tasks which would count but did not feature in the survey include brisk walking, cycling, carrying shopping and hanging up laundry, The doctors suggest that this housework is spread through the week as the benefits of some activities may only last for 12 or 14 hours. Additional benefit can be gotten if you do some simple exercises throughout your day, but that will be another discussion. Is this good news for you ?