Friday, June 25, 2010

exercise tip - clean up!

we know exercise is important for a healthy lifestyle - the heart and stroke foundation recommends 30-60 minutes most days of the week.  but who has that kind of time??  or the money for a gym membership or yoga classes or home equipment or, or, or...

not every form of exercise needs to be super structured or costly.  there are lots of ways you can work a few minutes of exercise into an otherwise routine day, without spending any extra cash.  one of the easiest ways is to clean your house!

mopping, vacuuming, and scrubbing the blasted tub (not my favourite) can all be pretty high energy and get the heart pumping.  changing the sheets, doing the laundry, and wiping the counters take more moderate energy, while dusting, doing the dishes, and tidying up would be considered low energy.  whether it's daily or weekly, you should be able to get a decent 30-60 minute workout just by taking care of your home!

as an added bonus, a clean house is a pretty good stress reliever, at least for me.  it's much easier to relax in a tidy environment when i know everything is where it should be.  and the physical exertion of cleaning will help relieve stress too - especially if you take all your frustrations out on that blasted tub instead of on whoever caused them!

and, if you need more incentive, i reluctantly read this article yesterday on the BBC news site.  apparently a recent european study concluded that "housework cut breast cancer risk by 30% among the pre-menopausal women and 20% among the post-menopausal women".  after sharing this with the dear husband, he smiled and said "so, for your health, i should leave all the housework to you?"  he  quickly got himself out of swatting range and immediately volunteered to vacuum the living room.  what a guy.  :)


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