‘Less Housework Is Making Women Fat’ – Study

A new study has revealed not doing enough housework is making women fat as the average female now spends less time on chores compared to past years.

Daily Mail reports:

They have saved women hours from domestic drudgery but dishwashers, microwaves and other labour-saving devices may have added pounds to their waistline.

Researchers say a drop in the amount of time spent on housework has contributed to the obesity epidemic. A wide-ranging comparison of British lives today with those of 30 years ago revealed that women are spending more time at work and devoting less time to housework.

The average female now spends almost 20 per cent less time on chores than her counterpart in the early 1980s. Advances in technology also meant the housework she does do is likely to be lighter than in past. While this brings many benefits, substituting strenuous housework for sedentary office work may take its toll on the waistline.

For instance, while mopping floors burns off 200 calories an hour, roughly a bar of chocolate sitting in front of a computer uses up as few as 70 calories.

To work out what is driving the change, researchers from Manchester University and Royal Holloway, University of London, used a range of government data to crunch information on calorie counts and exercise levels. To their surprise, they found that although we eat out more, snack more and spend more on food, we eat around 20 per cent fewer calories than we did 30 years ago.

Researcher Melanie Luhrmann said this is because we are filling our shopping baskets with fruit and vegetables and other healthier foods, rather than jams and other sugar-loaded treats. Despite this, the weight is piling on, and Dr Luhrmann believes this is because we are exercising less.

Jobs have become more sedentary, people spend more time watching TV and little sport is played. Finally, commutes are longer but less active. So, while 30 years ago, someone may have had a short walk to work, today they may have a much longer journey but spend it sitting on public transport.

Dr Luhrmann, a lecturer in economics, said: ‘Basically, people are eating less but maybe they are not eating little enough, given that activity levels have declined a lot. Our research suggests that we are probably ill-advised to just look at food consumption as the main factor explaining obesity. Both physical activity and calories are important. Maybe we should spend more time on a more comprehensive approach where we don’t tell people to do more sport or eat less, but to work out how active they are and work on their diet accordingly.’