Simple as That! Wash Dishes and Live Longer, Scientists Claim

While cleaning the dishes might be not your favorite household chore, cheer yourself with the thought that it’s making you live longer, according to new research.

You don't necessarily need to exhaust yourself in the gym to keep fit — say researchers at the University at Buffalo, in a report published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Regular chores like doing the laundry or the dishes have potential health-improving effects and can significantly lower the risk of death.

For a long time it was thought that domestic chores aren't physical enough to maintain a healthy body. "Current public health guidelines require that physical activity be of at least moderate or higher intensity to confer health benefits," said the study's lead author, Michael LaMonte, research associate professor of epidemiology and environmental health in UB's School of Public Health and Health Professions. "Our study shows, for the first time in older women, that health is benefited even at physical activity levels below the guideline recommendations."

The study involved 6,000 women aged from 65 to 99 years. Scientists tracked their physical activity with motion-sensing devices the participants wore for a week, and after that, doctors monitored the state of the women's health for the next three years.

According to their results, the mortality rate among those who spent at least 30 minutes a day on physical activities was 12% lower than among those who led a mostly immobile lifestyle. An hour of the daily activities increased life expectancy by 39%.

"These findings are especially relevant to aging well in an aging society," LaMonte noted. "Some people, because of age or illness or deconditioning, are not able to do more strenuous activity. Current guidelines do not specifically encourage light activity because the evidence base to support such a recommendation has been lacking."