A New Study Says Washing Dishes, Sweeping, and Folding Clothes Can Prolong Your Life

05/03/2019

Remember back in the day when we were children, one of the things we hated the most was washing dishes or cleaning our rooms. It’s no wonder since there is nothing fun or pleasant about household chores. And we were able to somehow avoid these activities in childhood and still have everything in apple-pie order (thanks to our parents). But this trick doesn’t work anymore since we are grown-ups now. However, we’re sure you won’t want to avoid these anymore once we tell you that mopping the floor can actually help you live longer.

We at Bright Side hope that after reading this article, you will look at all your boring chores from a new angle and change your attitude toward them.

Here’s the news we have all been waiting for. It seems that you don’t have to exhaust yourselves at the gym anymore for the sake of living longer. For a good while, people believed that household chores were not enough to maintain their health, but this was caused by a lack of information. American scientists reported that even light activities like folding clothes or sweeping the floor can contribute considerably to helping you live longer.

The study involved 6,000 participants, and all of them were women, ages 63 to 99. They collected data about their daily physical activity for a week and then doctors monitored their health condition for 3 years.

According to the results, women who spent about 30 minutes on light physical activities like folding clothes had a 12% lower risk of death compared to those who almost didn’t move. The mortality rate was even lower among those participants who regularly engaged in 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity. The increase of the life expectancy rate in this case was about 39%. The researchers reported that the results were similar for women of any age, culture, and weight.

This is a remarkable finding since it shows that people can still experience health benefits, even if their physical activity is lower than any guidelines recommend. “Doing something is better than doing nothing,” noted the lead author of the study. According to his words, the current recommendations do not encourage simple activities because the evidence base was lacking before.

The researchers highlight that, although the study concentrated on older women, it applies to the younger generation as well. For example, it is crucial to develop healthy habits while you are still young. In this case it will be easier for you to maintain them throughout your whole life. And now you know that there are some pretty easy options to help yourselves ultimately live longer.

Bonus: Washing dishes is also a perfect stress reliever.

There are plenty of studies that confirm the link between high stress levels and mortality. So, here is one more reason to start doing at least some household chores. It turns out that people who wash dishes mindfully (they focus on the process, smell the soap, and feel the temperature of water) are able to up their inspiration by 25% and lower their anxiety level by 27%. Hence, this also helps you prolong your wonderful life.

An important thing to note here is that you have to really focus on the process. People who didn’t pay attention to it and washed the dishes just because they needed to, experienced no health benefits.