{"id":276236,"date":"2021-01-20T11:05:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T11:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/why-doing-the-housework-really-can-keep-you-fit\/"},"modified":"2021-01-20T11:05:26","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T11:05:26","slug":"why-doing-the-housework-really-can-keep-you-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/why-doing-the-housework-really-can-keep-you-fit\/","title":{"rendered":"Why doing the housework really can keep you fit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like millions of others at New Year, you may have dedicated yourself to a new exercise regimen.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re already under way with it \u2014 devoting 30 minutes or an hour a day to following a home workout video, or heading off for a run \u2014 you will reap many health benefits, from improved heart function to better sleep.<\/p>\n

But what if you haven\u2019t managed to get going? Perhaps you don\u2019t have time, or can\u2019t manage a formal programme because of pain or another physical impediment. Or maybe you just struggle with the idea of \u2018doing exercise\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Research \"Research <\/p>\n

Research shows that reducing the time we spend sitting by incorporating short bouts of activity can have far-reaching health benefits [File photo]<\/p>\n

Well, emerging evidence suggests there is another way to improve your health that involves almost no formal exercise.<\/p>\n

The answer lies in shifting your focus from \u2018exercising\u2019 to \u2018active living\u2019. Essentially, this means spending less time sitting down each day and more time moving.<\/p>\n

These short bursts of activity, even if the movements are low-intensity \u2014 doing housework, walking upstairs and moving heavy bags of shopping all count \u2014 could be as effective, or even more so, than a single formal workout.<\/p>\n

You may associate short bursts of activity with HIIT \u2014 high intensity interval training \u2014which involves exercise conducted at maximum capacity for 30 seconds or so, then a minute of rest, for several rounds \u2014 similar to the online workouts by Joe Wicks.<\/p>\n

Can being stuck at your desk ‘undo’ an hour at the gym?<\/h3>\n

Dr Leandro Garcia, a lecturer in complexity science in public health at Queen\u2019s University Belfast, suggests that sitting could \u2018cancel out\u2019 some of the benefits of exercise.<\/p>\n

\u2018The effect on health depends on the balance between physical activity and sedentary behaviour,\u2019 he says. \u2018We recommend all adults reduce sedentary behaviour as much as they can.\u2019<\/p>\n

Experts increasingly believe it may be more beneficial to move little and often rather than doing one 30-minute workout, say, then staying sedentary for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n

\u2018Whether sitting can \u201cundo\u201d some beneficial effects of exercise is a question that needs further research,\u2019 says Dr Paddy Dempsey, a medical research scientist at the University of Cambridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The effects of sitting are conditional on the intensity of and how much physical activity people do.<\/p>\n

\u2018But if we spend most of our day sitting, meeting current physical activity recommendations alone may not be enough and we may need to significantly exceed current exercise recommendations to counteract the negative effects.\u2019<\/p>\n

And that is where little incidental bouts of movement could really help.<\/p>\n

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While no doubt good for you and great for those who want to condense the time they spend exercising, it\u2019s different from what we describe here, which is the benefit of short \u2014 and most importantly, frequent \u2014 bursts of low or moderate activity.<\/p>\n

Recent research on this subject even inspired the World Health Organisation to tweak its published guidelines on physical activity last November. It stopped recommending ten-minute bouts of exercise and instead urged people that every movement counts. In other words, don\u2019t sit still for too long.<\/p>\n

The WHO and the NHS encourage people to aim for at least 150 minutes of \u2018moderate activity\u2019 a week. The difference is, the WHO now says that if you reach this two-and-a-half-hour total minute by minute rather than in longer sessions, it will be equally beneficial.<\/p>\n

Research shows that reducing the time we spend sitting by incorporating short bouts of activity can have far-reaching health benefits.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just about burning energy. The principle known as NEAT \u2014 non-exercise activity thermogenesis \u2014 explains how all the incidental movements you make during the day (including fidgeting) can raise your calorie burn. But more importantly, it is now thought that non-exercise activity can keep your whole body ticking over optimally.<\/p>\n

\"The \"The <\/p>\n

The answer lies in shifting your focus from \u2018exercising\u2019 to \u2018active living\u2019. Essentially, this means spending less time sitting down each day and more time moving [File photo]<\/p>\n

\u2018When people spend too little time moving, many different systems in the body are not functioning as they are designed to and will deteriorate,\u2019 says Dr Paddy Dempsey, a medical research scientist at Cambridge University, who co-authored the WHO guidelines.<\/p>\n

\u2018When we sit, the large muscles of the lower body [such as the thighs and glutes] are essentially switched off and the amount of blood circulating to our lower limbs slows dramatically.<\/p>\n

\u2018Excessive sitting is a bit like turning on your Ferrari, then leaving it to idle all day \u2014 it gets \u201cgunked up\u201d. And that can be the case whether or not you jog for half an hour each day.<\/p>\n

\u2018Movement, especially short bursts of it, engages our muscles, increases metabolic demand [the rate at which we use oxygen and burn off energy] and boosts blood circulation, which brings important health benefits,\u2019 he adds.<\/p>\n

Activity keeps your blood sugar even<\/h2>\n

Increasing evidence suggests that the hours we spend sitting can disrupt our ability to control our blood sugar, high levels of which are linked to chronic inflammation in the body and a range of diseases, from type 2 diabetes to dementia and some cancers.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, much of this evidence indicates that taking frequent breaks from sitting and spending that time doing light activity \u2014 even pacing the room or doing squats on the spot for a couple of minutes every half an hour \u2014 helps us to control our blood-sugar response to food and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n

Get your steps in at home<\/h3>\n

While you can\u2019t go to the gym or play team sports, consider these tips from Lindsy Kass, an exercise physiologist at the University of Hertfordshire. As well as increasing your activity levels at home (see main article), aim to do the following:<\/p>\n

Your weekly exercise quota \u2014 150 minutes of moderate exercise such as brisk walking or dancing, or 75 minutes of running \u2014 can be broken up into ten-minute chunks to make it more manageable.<\/p>\n

Incidental exercise counts, too, from housework to hanging out the washing. For a more vigorous workout, try skipping \u2014 and if you prefer to follow an instructor, there are lots of free fitness videos on YouTube.<\/p>\n

Stretching is just as important as exercise, particularly if you are working at home on a computer.<\/p>\n

Take breaks every hour, move about and perform gentle stretches, such as lifting your arms as if you are trying to touch the ceiling.<\/p>\n

Stretching your shoulders \u2014 by pulling them back and imagining you\u2019re trying to hold a pencil between your shoulder blades for ten seconds \u2014 will help counter that hunched-over screen position.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

An analysis published last month in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes found that accumulating physical activity in three short bouts of ten to 15 minutes over the course of a day was better than a single bout of exercise for a longer time when it came to blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes \u2014 and that frequent brief bouts of one to five minutes throughout the day also aided blood sugar control.<\/p>\n

This supports the findings of an analysis in the journal Obesity in 2015 which concluded that interrupting sedentary behaviour with short periods of light-intensity activity helps to control blood sugar levels after eating.<\/p>\n

\u2018In people who are seated continuously, we have seen that the peak of glucose in their blood after eating is higher than if we ask them to sit for the same amount of time overall but break it into smaller chunks,\u2019 says Professor Sebastien Chastin, a senior research fellow in physiotherapy at Glasgow Caledonian University. \u2018If I do my physical activity all in one go, it\u2019s less good for maintaining glucose levels than if I were to chunk it through the day.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, the jury is out on whether these results are replicable on a long-term basis, as most studies so far have been carried out within a single day or few days, says Professor Chastin.<\/p>\n

He stresses that moving about itself is the most important thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moving improves arteries and veins\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Staying active is essential for our cardiovascular system \u2014 and not just the heart, which we know benefits from moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise. Frequent low-intensity movement is just as vital for stimulating the repair and maintenance of blood vessels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Our arteries need what is called \u201cshear stress\u201d to maintain their tone and optimal function,\u2019 says Dr Dempsey, who researches the role of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and diet in preventing and managing chronic diseases.<\/p>\n

\u2018Exercise and any kind of movement means blood is pushed around in the circulatory system in ways which stimulate many processes that are good for the health of our blood vessels.\u2019<\/p>\n

Even more important is the role of bursts of activity \u2014 specifically walking \u2014 on vein health, says Professor Mark Whiteley, a consultant venous surgeon at the Whiteley Clinics in Surrey and London.<\/p>\n

The risk from too little activity is varicose veins, which can cause discomfort and complications such as clots (or deep vein thrombosis).<\/p>\n

\u2018What we have evolved to do as humans is walk and run,\u2019 he says. \u2018Once you start doing your rowing or cycling, sure, it\u2019s good exercise and better than nothing \u2014 but it\u2019s always healthier to do bits of movement regularly, rather than one blast, then sitting doing nothing for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n

\u2018Vein health suffers if you don\u2019t move. It\u2019s not really about \u201cexercise\u201d as such but about moving little and often.\u2019<\/p>\n

For this reason, Professor Whitely is particularly concerned about what lockdown could be doing to our veins, as the lack of a commute and other reasons to get up and move around in offices or shops during the working day mean less of this incidental, but essential, walking around.<\/p>\n

\u2018For veins in the legs, the only real exercise that helps is walking, where you squash the muscles in your leg, which push blood through your foot and into your calf. The muscles in your calf then push it up into your thigh \u2014 so walking on the spot, walking up and down stairs, step ups, anything like that is good for these veins.\u2019<\/p>\n

Professor Whitely urges us to take half-hourly breaks to walk up and down stairs or do step-ups or squats for a minute, whether we have a workout planned for later or not.<\/p>\n

He suggests that older people can help keep their veins in good order by walking around the home or doing a few minutes of foot-tapping every half hour.<\/p>\n