许多人把做家务当成锻炼身体，但英国一项最新调查显示，做家务较多者反而更容易超重。研究人员认为，这是由于多数人会高估做家务的运动量，从而忽视身体锻炼。
英国北爱尔兰大学研究人员在新一期《BMC公共卫生》上报告说，他们对4563名成年人的身体锻炼、做家务习惯及体重等状况进行了调查，并询问了他们如何评价做家务的劳动强度等问题。结果显示，妇女和中老年人做家务较多，也更倾向于把做家务归为他们“中度到剧烈运动的重要组成部分”。然而，这一人群中身体超重的比例也较高。
领导这项研究的玛丽·墨菲教授说，“我们发现做家务的多少与超重风险成正相关，这并不意味着做家务不利于身体健康，而可能是因为人们往往高估做家务的运动量。”
英格兰公共卫生局专家凯文·芬顿指出，健康建议是，每周至少进行150分钟中等强度的身体锻炼，包括快走、健身等，但这项研究结果再次表明，多数人倾向于高估自己的运动量。（生物谷Bioon.com)
生物谷推荐的英文摘要
BMC Public Health doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-966
Does doing housework keep you healthy？ The contribution of domestic physical activity to meeting current recommendations for health
Marie H Murphy， Paul Donnelly， Gavin Breslin， Simon Shibli and Alan M Nevill
Background
Recent lifestyle approaches to physical activity have included the promotion of domestic physical activities such as do-it-yourself or home maintenance， gardening and housework. Although it is acknowledged that any activity is better than none， there is a danger that those undertaking domestic `chores may assume that this activity is moderate intensity and therefore counts towards this 150 minute per week target The purpose of this paper was to report the contribution domestic physical activity makes to total weekly physical activity and the relationship between domestic physical activity and leanness in the Northern Ireland population.
Methods
4563 adults participated in this cross-sectional survey of physical activity behaviour. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using computer assisted personal interviewing. Gender and age group differences in domestic MVPA activity and the ratio of domestic to total MVPA were explored using non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests. Self-reported volume and intensity of physical activity (in bouts of 10 minutes or more) in the home and self-reported height and weight were used to determine the association between domestic physical activity and leanness using an ANCOVA having controlled for age， gender， socio-economic and smoking status.
Results
42.7% of the population report levels of physical activity which meet or exceed the current United Kingdom recommendations. Domestic physical activity accounts for 35.6% of the reported moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). For women， if domestic physical activity was excluded from total MVPA， only 20.4% would be deemed to meet current recommendations. Time spent in domestic physical activity at moderate or vigorous intensity was found to be negatively associated with leanness (P=0.024)， [R Squared=.132 (Adjusted R Squared=.125)].
Conclusions
Domestic physical activity accounts for a significant proportion of self-reported daily MVPA particularly among females and older adults however such activity is negatively associated with leanness suggesting that this activity may not be sufficient to provide all of the benefits normally associated with meeting the physical activity guidelines.
