Lack of Housework is Making Women Fat

I came across this topic while watching Bill O’Riley.  Yes, I watch the Fox News channel occasionally and I am not ashamed.

Anyway, the topic came up about a study that was conducted that concluded that over a 45-year trend that women have become obese or fatter because of the decrease in household chores.  The study was published in PLOS One.

Results of the Study

The results of the study found that the time that women (19-64 years old) spent on household management decreased from 25.7 hours per week in 1965 to 13.3 hours per week in 2010, with non-employed women decreasing by 16 hours per week and employed women by 6.7 hours per week.

The results also found that time women spent in screen-based media use increased from 8.3 hours per week in 1965 to 16.5 hours per week in 2010, with the non-employed women increasing 9.6 hours per week and employed women 7.5 hours per week.

 Conclusion of the Study

“From 1965 to 2010, there was a large and significant decrease in the time allocated to household management.  By 2010, women allocated 25% more time to screen-based media use than household management (i.e., cooking, cleaning, and laundry combined).  The reallocation of time from active pursuits (i.e., housework) to sedentary pastimes (e.g., watching TV) has important health consequences.  These results suggest that the decrement in household management energy expenditure may have contributed to the increasing prevalence of obesity in women during the last five decades.”

My Thoughts about this Study

My goal is not to dispute the study, because the results from the study does mean something, but I believe there are more underlying reasons why women are heavier now then they were back in 1965.

First, household chores would decrease because the number of children that women are having per household has decreased.

Both my mother and father come from large families which meant that there were many household chores that had to be done.  My grandparents and parents worked in the fields picking cotton and doing other farm related activities, which meant that they burned calories.

Second, people are eating more food than they are burning off, which results in weight gain and obesity.  People are not as active as they used to be, and how can one expect to not gain weight, it is inevitable.

Third, people are eating more processed foods than ever.  My grandparents and parents rarely ate processed foods because most of what they ate was grown by the sweat of their own brow and they knew what they were getting.  These days we do not know what we are eating, especially if we are eating more processed foods than whole foods.

Fourth, in this age of technology, more people are sedentary than ever.  There are so many things that take our time away from being active (TV, computers, cell phones, etc.)

Fifth, if people would stop eating so much and start being more active, we would not have such a problem with obesity.  People are literally digging their own graves with their own knives and forks.

Eat less, eat healthy, get active!

Discussion:  What do you think about this study?  Do you think less household chores has resulted in the spreading of women’s waistlines?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tags: fitness, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, overweight, physical activity

Category: Health News