The Health & Wellness Benefits of Housework
(Including Preventing Breast Cancer According to New Study!)
by www.SixWise.com

There's more to housework than just keeping your home clean. As it turns out, housework may benefit your physical health in a variety of ways ... excellent motivation to tidy up!

Housework May Fight Breast Cancer

A study of more than 200,000 women, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, found that the physical activity associated with doing housework protected against cancer -- even more so than playing a sport or having a physical job.

The women in the study spent an average of 16 to 17 hours a week doing cooking, cleaning and laundry. The housework reduced breast cancer risk by 30 percent among pre-menopausal women and 20 percent among post-menopausal women.

"We already know that women who keep a healthy weight are less likely to develop breast cancer. This study suggests that being physically active may also help reduce the risk and that something as simple and cheap as doing the housework can help," said Dr. Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK, which funded the study.

In fact, the results were so positive that the researchers suggested moderate forms of physical activity, including housework, may be better than less frequent, but more intense, physical activity for reducing breast cancer risk.

Vigorous Household Cleaning May Help Prevent Bowel Cancer

Research has also uncovered that vigorous housework -- about an hour's worth a day -- may reduce the risk of certain types of bowel cancer. The study of 413,000 people found that those who were physically active had a 22 percent reduced risk of developing colon cancer.

Further, those who were most active were able to reduce the risk of tumors on the right side of the colon by 35 percent, while those who were very active and had a healthy weight reduced the risk even further.

"This is a very large study which should remove any doubt about the benefits of exercise in relation to reducing the risk of bowel cancer. It is important for people to understand that they can take steps in their daily routine to reduce cancer risk. You don't need to join a gym to get the benefit of exercise ... Cleaning windows, vacuuming and scrubbing floors burn off a lot of calories. So does gardening or cleaning the car," Dr. Walker said.

Housework May be a Beneficial Form of Exercise

For those who do housework regularly, the physical activity can add up to major benefits (more so than hitting the gym once or twice a year). Just some of the benefits you can expect to receive from regular aerobic exercise include:

• Reduced risk of heart disease and high blood pressure

• mprovement in cholesterol levels

• Reduced risk of stroke

• Reduced risk of certain cancers and type 2 diabetes

• A strengthened immune system to ward off viral illnesses

"You can ... benefit from time spent doing routine aerobic activities such as gardening or housework," according to the Mayo Clinic.

And although housework may not seem like your typical aerobic activity, experts are finding that a little bit of activity, such as five hours of housework a week, may go a long way.

A study published in the Journal of Medical Science and Exercise found that most of the benefits of exercise occur with the activity it takes to burn 1,000 calories a week. Such activity is enough to reduce the risk of dying by 20 percent to 30 percent.

"All the evidence shows it doesn't take that much," says Tim Church, medical director for the Cooper Institute in Dallas.

Get the Benefits of Housework Without the Risks

While the physical activity of housework is quite healthy, breathing in chemical household cleaners is not. Cleaning products contain toxins including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), petroleum distillate, alkylphenols, and more. These chemical solvents have been linked to everything from cancer to reproductive problems to organ damage.

Now, since toxins reside on surfaces and in household dirt and dust, which is swept up into the air for your family to breathe in with every step you take, keeping your home as clean as possible is essential to keeping toxin levels down. But just using ordinary cleaning rags will only push dirt and dust around -- not pick it up and get it out of your home (and if you're using chemical cleaners, they're just introducing even more chemicals into your home!).

At Sixwise.com we highly recommend cleaning your home efficiently and safely with PerfectClean Mops, Cloths and Dusters.

Every item is built with PerfectClean's revolutionary ultramicrofiber construction that enables them to reach deep into microscopic crevices (NO other cleaning tool available even comes close!) and remove everything in their path: all forms of dirt, dust, hair, dander, and the biological contaminants too small to see with the naked eye. That is because at an astonishing 3 microns, the ultramicrofibers are even smaller than most bacteria (each cleaning cloth contains over 300 miles of actual cleaning surface!)

Plus, PerfectClean cleaning tools can be used dry or dampened with only water (NO harsh chemical cleaners are needed!) and can be used over 100 times before needing to be replaced, so they're incredibly economical and environmentally friendly. It's an ideal way to have your home squeaky clean without sacrificing your own, and your family's, safety.

Recommended Reading

Volatile Organic Compounds: The Health Dangers of VOCs, Where They are Hiding & How to Avoid Them

How Your Endocrine System is Being Harmed by the Top 5 Home Toxins

Sources

Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention Vol. 15, 2398-2407, December 2006

L&T Health and Fitness

MayoClinic.com

Medical News Today December 29, 2006

BBC News December 29, 2006