In a study funded in part by the charity Cancer Research UK, 218,169 women from nine European countries were followed for an average of a little over six years to track the benefits of different kinds of exercise in preventing breast cancer.Pre-menopausal women who did housework were found to be about 30% less likely to develop the disease than post-menopausal women who did none.Actually, all exercise has been linked to lower rates of breast cancer in women, but it seems that housework shows the greatest benefit. And, while other activities reduced the risk in post-menopausal women, only housework significantly reduced the risk for pre-menopausal women.
Meanwhile, post-menopausal women who did housework were found to be about 20 per cent less likely to develop the disease than post-menopausal women who did none.
As with all studies, this raises as many questions for me as it does answers. Is there something specific about housework which brings about these results? Or is it that daily, light exercise is preferable to the two to three times per week rigorous exercise routines recommended by experts to "keep in shape?" Or, is the cause something else entirely? Perhaps there is something else about the lifestyles of women who do housework that leads to these results.
At any rate, next time one of your young ones runs through the house with muddy shoes moments after mopping, thank him for your health and the years he has added to your life. And if your children are so helpful that you worry you aren't doing enough housework, Combs has kindly offered his home in the interest of preventing breast cancer. He won't even charge for his preventive therapy.
Related Tags: health, sahm, cancer prevention, cancer
