Less housework may be leading to weight issues in women

[Redfairen]

Current obesity rates may be tied to the fact that women are doing less housework and sitting around more, a new study published in PLoS One on Feb. 20 suggests.

On average, the amount of time women spent on domestic housework dropped from 25.7 hours a week in 1965 to 13.3 hours a week in 2010. In terms of burning calories, that translates to an average of 666 calories per day in housework for women in 1965 and just 400 calories a day for women in 2010, according to the researchers.

"Those are large reductions in energy expenditure," lead author Dr. Edward Archer, a research fellow with the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, told the New York Times.

The report follows up a 2011 study that showed through U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics information that most Americans have become more sedentary at work over the last 50 years. It discovered that the average American was burning about 150 fewer calories each day at work compared to the earlier generation.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57571933/less-housework-may-be-leading-to-weight-issues-in-women/

[Arugula Latte]

1. Hoooo boy ...

[Kalidurga]

3. You simple comment made me

[Kalidurga]

2. I wonder what less housework does to men?

Or what happens to anyone that spends more time at say a gym rather than on housework. Or what happens to people who would rather play team sports and run their dishwasher instead of doing dishes by hand.

[AngryOldDem]

4. Yeah, and those bon-bons might have something to do with it, too.

** Everyone** leads a more sedentary life these days, for many reasons.

[WinkyDink]

7. Is that you, Al?

[narnian60]

5. Since I retired three years ago, I'm doing more housework than ever, and

I've gained ten pounds.

[WinkyDink]

6. Studies show that riding mowers, golf carts, and remote controls have led to male weight gains.

[msongs]

8. just a subset of an article claiming less work leads to weight gain across all groups nt

[KittyWampus]

9. Why not focus more sedentary behavior in general? Because saying "housework" gets more attention?

[HappyMe]

10. Probably.

People sit around on their behinds way more now than they used to.

[KittyWampus]

12. End of the article has an interesting quote that we've engineered movement out of our lives

really interesting. Person also says if no housework then something… so it's not as obnoxious as headline make it out to be.

[KittyWampus]

11. "We've engineered physical activity out of our daily lives,"

"The reallocation of time from active pursuits (i.e., housework) to sedentary pastimes (e.g., watching TV) has important health consequences," the authors noted.

Archer told the New York Times that he believes "we need to start finding ways to incorporate movement back into" our daily lives. He added that it doesn't mean women should do more housework, but we should all be more physically active while we're at home.

He also told CNN that because women are less active, their children are being born with more fat cells, breeding more weight issues.

"We've engineered physical activity out of our daily lives," he explained to CBSNews.com. "By no means does this mean that women should do more housework, but they're now doing less (calorie-spending activities) than they were doing in the past, and we need to integrate more activity back in their life."

[get the red out]

13. How are all the fat men explained?