Housework can be one of the most tedious and hated obligations for most people, but all that can change if you look at it from another point of view: from that of alliance with your well-being . And cleaning furniture, sweeping, or tending to the garden can help you burn calories , and even save you gym fees . It is also a 2×1 option to maintain a minimum of fitness while having the house disinfected and protected against coronavirus and other respiratory viruses.
There are some studies that have focused on this topic in order to know which tasks are performed every day at home, or weekly, that burn the most calories. One of them, carried out by the Good Housekeeping Institute , determined that just two hours of cleaning the house could burn an average of 602 kcal, which, according to what they say, would be almost double the energy required in a five-kilometer run.
10 household tasks that help you stay in shape
Keeping the house clean , therefore, can make us spend about 1,500 kcal a week with little effort, but this depends a lot on the effort put into it and, of course, on the age, weight and height of the person. Furthermore, as you can already imagine, not all domestic tasks require the same energy, and for example ironing will not be the same as cleaning the floor or furniture, for which you have to be on the move all the time.
In two hours doing household chores you could burn about 602 kcal, in addition to helping you tone the muscles of practically the entire body
For this reason, we have prepared an indicative list with the household tasks that consume the most calories so that you can make your own training table at home and know what their approximate and generalized equivalence would be in sports, thanks to the study by StarBrands , a brand manufacturer of Cleaning products:
Tending the garden (213 kcal)
It is, according to the study by the Good Housekeeping Institute (GHI), one of the tasks that burns the most calories. If your house has a garden, a good way to stay in shape is to personally take care of it. Bending down to cut the roots, prune the leaves, rake, or pick the fruits of a small tree can keep your body in shape, burning up to 213 kcal in half an hour of activity, something similar to 15 minutes of running.
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Clean the windows (115 kcal)
It is the most dangerous task on our list, because if they cannot be disassembled to clean them you will have to climb a ladder. Of course, always do it carefully and with maximum safety. Leaving your crystals shiny will help you burn 115 kcal every 20 minutes, according to the GHI, and although it is not necessary to do it daily, it can be an extra on the day it is carried out, with a similar equivalent to that of 25 minutes of a training circuit.
Mopping the floor (107 kcal)
This home activity is one of those that you can do daily, so you will keep your floor free of bacteria and dirt that adhere to the shoes we wear on the street, and you will also be able to burn up to 107 kcal for every 20 minutes of exercise, which which would be equivalent to 45 minutes of swimming when scrubbing the entire house, although obviously this depends on the size of your home. It is a task in which you go through all the rooms moving your legs, and both arms are strengthened, necessary to move the mop, clean it and wring it out.
Clean the bathroom (100 kcal)
Along with the previous one, it is one of the tasks that requires the most movements, and in which about 100 kcal are burned every 20 minutes of cleaning. And, for example, cleaning the bathroom screen, or even the surface of the bathtub or shower, can make you end up sweating more than in a 20-minute spinning class , especially if that cleaning also includes of the wall tiles.
Doing laundry (148 kcal)
This task includes several subtasks, such as separating the clothes, putting them in the washing machine and then hanging them, a set of activities that require different efforts. A study published in The Lancet showed that washing clothes by hand can involve an exercise similar to taking a walk and could make you burn about 148 kcal for every half hour of scrubbing. We know that with the washing machine this would be solved but, for example, you can do it by hand with those garments that are more delicate; You will leave them perfect and keep your arms in shape, as if you did 40 minutes of weight training.
