Housework Prevents Cancer

Does housework count as exercise?  Wishful thinking, right?  Maybe not. 

Take a look at how many calories some of your regular household chores burn.

Look at those calories burn.Calories burned per half-hour

Doing laundry - 73

Making the bed - 68

Cooking - 85

Washing the dishes - 78

Dusting - 85

Sweeping - 112

Vacuuming - 119

Scrubbing the floors - 129

Rearranging furniture - 204

Washing windows - 102

Mowing the lawn - 187

Carrying a small child (up to 15 lbs.) up and down stairs - 289

But wait!  There’s an even better perk to housework than just burning calories.  A European study published in 2006, suggests that women who exercise by doing housework can reduce their risk of breast cancer.  The study looked at both pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women and a range of activities including work, leisure sports, and housework.  After following the women for more than 6 years, the researchers found that spending 16 to 17 hours on housework a week cut breast cancer risk in the pre-menopausal women by 30% and 20% in the post-menopausal women.   

Interestingly, only housework significantly reduced the participants of both categories of women, even more than leisure sports.  The international authors said their results suggested that moderate forms of regular physical activity, such as housework, may be more important than less frequent but more intense recreational physical activity in reducing breast cancer risk.

While the study focused only on women and breast cancer, it’s easy to conclude that these findings should translate for other forms of cancer as well.  So next time you have to pick up that mop or fold copious amounts of laundry, you can think of the time spent on chores as time spent doing something potentially good for your body. 

And maybe, just maybe, you can talk your guy into helping with the dishes.  Guys need exercise (and cancer prevention), too.

Treating PMS with Exercise

Why do women call it PMS?

Because mad cow disease was already taken.

If you are like me and many of other women, the days leading up to your period may leave you believing the dryer has shrunk every last pair of your jeans. Or maybe everyone around you is suffering from a major attitude problem.  Or your husband’s head seems like an open invitation to batting practice. 

The symptoms of PMS are epic.  The typical mood swings, irritability, depression, cravings, and bloating are not only the subject of many a girls’ night out, but also fodder for stand up comedians everywhere.

Ladies, there’s help for your PMS symptoms and it doesn’t come from a bottle or cause physical injury  to your loved ones.  It’s exercise.

It’s probable that PMS leaves you wanting to curl up in the fetal position and gorge yourself on chocolate bars.  The gym may be the last place on Earth you want to visit, but exercise may be just the thing to help you break free from the clutches of normal, non-clinical PMS.

Preliminary studies have found that regular exercise eases much of the pain and stress most women feel in the week or so leading up to the start of the period.  Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in one trial, had sedentary women begin a regular running practice.  At the end of six months, the runners reported less breast tenderness, bloating, and moodiness than the control group (which remained sedentary).  Another study found that women who regularly exercised felt less pain and depression before the periods than women who did not exercise.

How does is work?  Exercise is a great stress reducer whether you are PMSing or not.  Regular exercise improves circulation, causing blood to carry oxygen and nutrients to the body’s celss more efficiently.  This increases energy levels, helping to prevent that sluggish grumpy feeling many women experience during bouts of PMS.

Also, aerobic exercise produces endorphins, a chemical that boosts mood, gives a sense of control and well-being, which could help to ease anxiety, depression, and mood swings.  Some researchers also believe endorphins can stabilize blood sugar levels and cut the monthly cravings for sweets. 

What kind of exercise is best for battling PMS?  Aerobic exercise such as jogging, biking, dancing, and swimming for about 30 minutes 5 times a week seem to work best for controlling PMS. One three-month study of 23 women found that those who participated in an aerobic exercise program saw more improvement in their premenstrual symptoms, particularly depression, than those who did strength training.  Yoga can also be a helpful form of exercise for PMS.  Yoga’s gentle stretching, calming breathing techniques, body awareness, and meditation help ease muscle tension and decrease moodiness.

So drop that chocolate bar, ease up on your husband, and get some exercise.  Your body and your family will thank you for it.

How Many Calories Does Your Body Need?

Food is not our enemy.  It’s a necessary part of living.  Think of your body as a machine and food as the fuel.  To keep your machine functioning in peak condition, you must fuel it with top-quality fuel.

 But the trick is just how much fuel our bodies need to keep all systems running smoothly.  Too often we over-estimate how many calories we should consume in a day.  This is especially true for women.  Turn over any box or can and take a look at the label.  The nutritional information you’ll find stamped on the back is based on a 2,000 calorie diet.  That may be great for your typical man, but women generally need far fewer calories, and excess gets stored in the body as fat.

 Use the Harris-Benedict Equation to calculate your individual caloric needs.  It may seem a tad confusing, but it’s the best way to figure your basal energy requirements (the number of calories needed to maintain your current weight without factoring in physical activity levels).  Notice that the equation is different if you are a male.  We ladies have very different caloric needs than our male friends.

If you are a woman:

655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

If you are a man:

66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

Now take the number you got by completing the above equation and multiply it by the number corresponding to your activity level.

1.2 for sedentary (little to no exercise)

1.375 for lightly active (light exercise 1 to 3 days per week)

1.55 for moderately active (moderate exercise 3 to 5 days per week)

1.7 for very active (hard exercise 6 to 7 days per week)

1.9 for extremely active (hard daily exercise or a very physically demanding job)

If you are severely math disabled you can plug in your weight, height, and age into this super-cool website and the wonders of computer technology do all the ciphering for you.

The number you now have indicates your caloric needs to maintain your current weight.  You can adjust this number to help you achieve your individual goals.

If you want to lose weight, simply subtract 500 calories per day from your number.  This should put you on track to lose about a pound per week, a very realistic goal.

If you want to gain weight, just add 250 to 300 calories per day to your number.

To maintain your current weight, just keep the number as it is.

Happy calculating!

Any questions?  Hit me up in the comments below.