Reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes and death... The benefits of men doing housework are beyond your imagination

Reviewer of this article: Chen Haixu, Deputy Director and Master Supervisor of the Second Medical Center of PLA General Hospital

When it comes to housework, women should not "take all the power" but "decentralize" and let their husbands and children take part in it. This can not only reduce the burden on women themselves, but also bring many benefits to men!

1. Reduce the risk of death

A study from the Chinese University of Hong Kong titled "Doing Housework Can Reduce All-Cause and Cancer Mortality Among Chinese Men" published online in the academic journal PLoS One in 2013 found that if men do more heavy housework, they can reduce their all-cause mortality and cancer mortality.

Researchers divide housework into "heavy housework" and "light housework":

Heavy household chores: vacuuming, mopping, washing windows, washing the car, moving furniture, moving gas tanks, etc.

· Light housework: dusting, washing dishes, hand washing clothes, ironing, hanging clothes, cooking, grocery shopping, etc.

For women, however, participating in heavy housework actually slightly increased their all-cause mortality rate, by about 13%.

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2. Reduce cancer risk

The above study shows that for men, doing heavy housework regularly every week can benefit more. Their risk of all-cause mortality can be reduced to 71% of the original mortality rate, and the risk of cancer death can be reduced to nearly half, about 52%;

The cancer mortality rate for men who participated in light housework was reduced to 67% of the original rate.

3. Reduce the risk of diabetes

A study published in the journal Public Health in 2018 found that people who have nothing to do but have everything provided for them are more likely to develop diabetes, while doing more housework can help prevent diabetes.

In a study of more than 13,000 men, researchers found that after considering relevant influencing factors, compared with men who do not do housework, men who do housework ≤ 2 hours a day have a 20% lower risk of diabetes; those who do housework > 2 hours a day have a 40% lower risk of diabetes.

In addition, doing more housework can significantly improve weight, waist circumference, and blood lipid levels.

4. Exercise and lose weight

Xu Kai, associate professor of the School of Sports and Health at Nanjing Institute of Physical Education, said that reducing energy intake and increasing energy expenditure is an important rule for weight loss. In fact, doing housework can consume a lot of calories. Studies have found that men consume more calories doing housework than women.

When men mop the floor, they consume about 3.5 kcal of energy per kilogram of body weight per hour, while women consume 2.2 kcal of energy per kilogram of body weight per hour. Based on a 60-kilogram man and a 50-kilogram woman, a man consumes 210 kcal of energy per hour mopping the floor, while a woman consumes 110 kcal of energy.

So, men who claim they don’t have time to exercise should do more housework.

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5. Exercise the brain and enhance memory

Doing housework also helps exercise the brain. In November 2021, a study published in the British Medical Journal Open confirmed that people who often do housework have higher cognitive scores than those who rarely do housework.

The attention scores of heavy workers were about 14% higher than those of others, while the memory scores of light workers were 8% to 12% higher. This shows that housework is beneficial to clear memory and sustained attention.

6. Relieve mental stress

Men's participation in housework can improve their mental health. Studies have shown that men's participation in housework can reduce mental stress and improve happiness, and these mental benefits can also help improve survival rates.

7. Promote family harmony

In addition to reducing the burden on other family members, sharing housework among family members also has an important function - interaction with family members. The verbal and physical interactions generated by doing housework will make the wife feel the love and care of her partner.

Not only that, men doing housework also has a positive impact on children. Children's behavior and thoughts are influenced by their parents. Fathers who are not highly involved in the family are psychologically far away from their children. Extremely unbalanced parental involvement will also make children's future family life full of hidden dangers. At the same time, it will plant the idea in children that only women should do housework.

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In fact, men don’t need too many reasons to do housework. Housework is indispensable to maintaining family happiness, and it is also a career that both men and women need to manage throughout their lives.

Doing housework is not only because it is your own home, but also a manifestation of love for your home and family.

Source: Health Times

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