Housekeeping is good for healthy aging, especially if you don’t sit around watching a lot of TV

New research from the Nurses’ Health Study, reported in JAMA, offers some hope for those of us who are not inclined to spend a lot of time exercising. The good news, reports Alvin Powell for the Harvard Gazette: Even the little things you do each day to move your body is good for healthy aging, including good mental and physical health.

We know that people who are physically active are less likely to die early. But, these findings show that physical activity comes in a multitude of forms! You don’t have to exercise intensely to help your health as you age.

If you do housekeeping or gardening and are moving around a bunch, you are ahead of the game. Though, you should still walk 20 minutes a day and get your heart rate up periodically! People who spend too much time sitting are more likely to pay a big price for their sedentary behavior in the form of memory loss or some heinous physical condition.

Researchers at Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, among others, studied more than 45,000 people for more than two decades. Most noteworthy, they found that each incremental two hours of additional TV that some people watched, a proxy for being inactive, reduced their likelihood of healthy aging by 12 percent. But, each incremental two hours of mopping floors or tending to gardens increased people’s likelihood of healthy aging by six percent.

What’s so bad about sitting around the TV all day, you ask? Your skeletal muscles atrophy. And, these muscles are critical for metabolizing glucose, preventing inflammation and ensuring good blood flow to your brain. And, for reasons that are unexplained, sitting around the TV is particularly harmful. Driving is better, as is sleeping.

In short, almost anything you do other than watching TV, which requires only the most minimal physical and mental activity, will help promote healthy aging.

Sadly, most people do not spend a lot of time moving as they age. In the study, only about one in 12 participants were sufficiently active to be aging healthily.

Here’s more from Just Care:

• Seven tips for getting a good night’s sleep
• Best exercise for older adults? The squat
• Five exercises to improve balance for safety and health
• Aerobic exercise may be best medicine for your brain and body
• Help yourself: Think outside the box with diet and exercise