<p>[What</a> Housework Has to Do With Waistlines - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/what-housework-has-to-do-with-waistlines/]What”>What Housework Has to Do With Waistlines - The New York Times)
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<p>What excuse do overweight American men have?</p>
<p>Less getting up to walk to the TV to change the channels… it’s those darn remote controls!</p>
<p>Overweight men are doing less vacuuming also.</p>
<p>So if you hand wash your gym clothes does that give you bonus workout points?</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing, GMT. I do agree that women (and men) are less physically active now. As the article points out, we spend much more time sitting in front of some sort of screen. I’m certainly guilty of that. However, I do believe the major reason for weight gain is how our diets have changed over the past 40-50 years.</p>
<p>I believe most of the weight gain is do to both inactivity and the types of food we eat. So much of the foods we eat today were not the foods of our grandmothers generation. We have genetically modified so much of our food supply and without any testing to make sure they are even safe. </p>
<p>Now one part of this article is really true fo me. I am sitting here killing time so I don’t have to clean my house. Well now I am so motivated to clean now. I will leave and clean my house from top to bottom, so that I will use up some of my fat storage. lol Maybe I will take off an ounce or two. A girl can only hope. Oh and it better be off my waist.</p>
<p>Hard to say though isn’t it, about foods and lifespan. In our grandparents’ generation life expectancy was 65 or so.</p>
<p>Good luck with that one;] BTW-Who said good journalism was dead?</p>
<p>Although I do agree diet is a part of the problem with the portion size being the main culprit, I think lack of activity is the major part. I don’t recall my mother ever sitting down. She was doing chores all day long. I rarely see kids outside playing now. My nieces and nephews sit in front of a screeen of some kind most of the day.</p>
<p>Based on the title, I first thought this was a joke thread. I thought it was pretty funny until I clicked on the link and realized there is an actual article.</p>
<p>The good ole days…
<a href=“Saskatchewan | GO Yellowhead”>Saskatchewan | GO Yellowhead;
<p>Years ago (like at least 15 years) *Prevention Magazine *did an article about the calories we no longer burn because we don’t use manual transmissions, manual typewriters, and a host of other really tiny things. I don’t remember the numbers, but my recollection was that it might account for a pound a year.</p>
<p>Be nice if the author could just present the data- which is very interesting- without all the groveling and couching for the negative philosophy warriors who are going to attack it because they dont like the results. </p>
<p>Housework time went from 25.7 hours to 13.3 hours. And TV time went from 8 hours to 16.5 hours. </p>
<p>Thats got to have an effect.</p>
<p>I’ve always done the laundry at our house and it is some amount of work. Our daughter does help out in hanging up the clothes to dry. Laundry used to be washing and then carrying them to a place to hang them to dry. Today, I think that most people just move the wet clothes from the washer to the dryer. About half of our clothes are tech clothes today so we hang dry them because they dry very quickly.</p>
<p>Carrying a basket of wet clothes around can be a major strength-training exercise.</p>
<p>If you have a Roomba, do you need to vacuum that often?</p>
<p>BC, I’m impressed that you do the laundry in your house. I would bet that in most households, it’s the wife who does that particular chore. I don’t think my H has ever done any laundry since we’ve been married. I probably spend a couple of hours every week doing laundry and ironing. Yes, I iron a lot of our clothes. Wrinkles annoy me! A couple of years ago, I got tired of ironing his dress shirts. Now they go to the cleaners. I’ll gladly pay someone $1 to wash and iron them for me.</p>
<p>The original material, which I read, was clearer that this is correlation, not causation. So for example, that we now produce some 400+ calories a day more per person also correlates with weight gain. And general movement seems to have decreased but it’s shocking how few studies actually look at how far people move in a day. For example, pedometer studies have been few and far between, generally not rigorous and of small size and yet they’re quoted as “real”. I think, in fact, we tend to accept stuff if it fits our preconceptions as real more easily when it isn’t studied. When we study it, we introduce doubt and argument. </p>
<p>But to look at movement, I think some things are what people call “nudges”. So for example the remote control changed the relationship with TV - and now with all sorts of devices - in a way that makes you more active as the chooser but less active physically. I think these nudges can add up to a big result but it’s tough to figure out how that exactly happens in each case.</p>
<p>I can easily accept that “less activity” is a contributor to obesity. Haven’t we been saying “diet and exercise” forever? But I find offensive the notion that the cure for female obesity is to do more vacuuming and ironing. I think scrubbing the kitchen floor burns a lot more calories than vacuuming. Actually, the vacuum cleaner as an invention is probably a cause of obesity, not the cure. And what about childhood obesity? (hint… diet and exercise?) Do away with the automobile and make people run everywhere.</p>
<p>The cure for male obesity might be to forgo the power lawn tools, use the reel lawnmower and fewer power tools, wash the car by hand, etc. If you are looking at traditional gender role work as a reason for obesity. </p>
<p>The ironic thing is that doing things by hand is far better for the environment as well. If only our time stressed lives allowed more of it!</p>
<p>I’m doing less laundry and vacuuming because I’m out exercising more. Which causes more laundry to do, but less vacuuming to do because I’m spending less time on the floors in the house. Vicious circle, it is. :)</p>
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<p>I don’t let anyone to do laundry in my house. I like my clothes too much for that. And I like to avoid yelling. Once, when I was pregnant (at the end of the last trimester), my husband washed my suede skirt with other clothes. What a waste!</p>
