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COVID-19 Lockdown: 7 Household Chores Which Are As Good As Workouts

COVID-19 lockdown is beginning to affect our physical health. With restrictions on movements (except for buying essentials and medicines), people are unable to fulfil their daily fitness routines.

COVID-19 Lockdown: 7 Household Chores Which Are As Good As Workouts

While fitness freaks and celebrities are still on with their daily workout regime, many people are substituting daily workout by doing household chores. Well, this may look surprising but doing household chores are equally effective as doing cardio workouts. Take a look at a few household chores which you must do during the lockdown to keep yourself fit.

1. Washing Clothes

Doing laundry without using washing machine helps you do a full-body workout. Washing clothes require bucket lifting, brushing and wringing clothes and drying them. These are not easy tasks and need a lot of handworks. Lifting heavy buckets make your hand muscles strong while brushing and wringing clothes is good for your forearms and palms. Also, washing clothes for an hour helps you burn around 116 calories.

2. Sweeping Floor

Floor sweeping is a kind of workout that will help you burn a lot of extra calories which you might have gained during the lockdown. It helps promote metabolic fitness and strengthens muscles. No, we are not talking about vacuum cleaning but sweeping with a broom. As you have to perform continuous arm movement, sweeping makes your arm muscles very strong. Also, it makes your backbone flexible when you bend them during sweeping. Half an hour of floor-sweeping can help you burn around 80-100 calories.

Household Chores As Good As Workouts

3. Mopping

We might have seen our mom or grandmother squatting and mopping the floors. This may seem to be an old-school way of cleaning floors in the age of mops or fancy vacuum cleaners, but the fact is squatting and mopping for an hour helps you burn around 170- 238 calories. It makes your thighs, back muscles, ankle and calves stronger. So, what are you waiting for? Go and do some mopping workout and make your mom happy.

4. Washing Utensils

According to a study published in the journal Mindfulness, dishwashing is a kind of therapy that helps reduce stress and anxiety and boost the immune system. Washing utensils helps you clean away dirt and germs as well as burn a decent number of calories.
As more pressure is applied to your palms and fingertip while rubbing dishes, they get stronger. Also, if you stand and do dishes, your backbone will become flexible while squatting in a poop position and doing dishes helps reduce belly fat and strengthen hands and legs muscles.

5. Preparing Dough

Dough making strengthens your arms and shoulders and carries away all your stress. When we prepare the dough, we put a great effort into our palms and shoulders which makes them flexible, strong and help burn a few calories. On the other hand, when you punch dough to make it soft, your stress gets released which is quite good for your mental stress. So, the next time when you see your mom kneading dough, you know what to do.

Household Chores As Good As Workouts

6. Gardening

It helps you stay physically as well as mentally fit. According to the Journal of Health Physiology, gardening is a type of therapy that helps boost our mental health and relieve stress and anxiety.

Gardening requires, patting of soil, sowing seeds, lifting heavy pots and watering plants. All these involve a large group of muscles including thighs, backbone, arms, ankle and legs. When you pat soil or sow seeds in a squat position for long hours, your thighs and calves become strong. Also, watering plants helps cut a few of your pounds.

7. Organising Room

Lockdown is the best time to organise your bedroom or living room which you have been ignoring for months. . Organising rooms require a lot of effort as you have to lift many heavy things as well as get involved in pushing and pulling stuff.

Organising room includes changing bedsheet, dusting, sweeping, lifting tables and placing everything as planned. This may sound easy but setting up every item in their specific position requires planned work and a lot of physical effort.

To Conclude

Lockdown doesn't have to be a stressful and confused time. Household chores help you get involved more with your family members and share love among them. This is also the best time to help your mom and clear all her complaints about your lack of skills.

Story first published: Monday, April 20, 2020, 19:11 [IST]