Fellow stay-at-home females, the bad news is we are more likely to become obese than working, 'juggling' females.
Working ladies, you are much safer.
So says a British study. Saw the article in the papers last week and Sharon Loh wrote about it in her editorial in yesterday's Mind Your Body.
Here are the main findings:
(The study tracked 1,200 ladies from age 15 to 54)
1. At 54, those who had been 'partners, parents and employees' had the best health, i.e., you have to have been all three.
2. 38% of those who were housewives were obese as compared to less than 25% of jugglers.
Ooops...
Actually, I always thought those who had desk-bound, indoor jobs were the worst off. You know, not enough exercise, fresh air and sunlight, etc. And I thought housework was good for calorie-burning. Especially when you look at the size of British houses compared to ours.
Anyway, I'm also worried about the health of my brain. I read somewhere that if you've spent a good part of your adult life in a fairly stressful work environment, you would have done your brain a great favour. Multi-tasking, it seems, gives your brain good exercise and can prevent, or at least delay or lessen in intensity, the onset of conditions such as dementia. I don't think the sweep-mop-wash-cook type of multi-tasking counts in the same way.
I did think last week of doing another pseudo-academic post. About democracy. You know, what with the election just over and the Thai one coming up again. I even happen to have some books which are relevant to the topic, e.g. Southeast Asian Identities, Southeast Asia in the New International Era. I myself am surprised to remember that I once bought books like that.
Then, I thought, forget it, lah.
I also bought this White Belt Sudoku a couple of months back but haven't opened it yet.
In the meantime, I've been relying on P2 math and Chinese to stimulate my dendrites. Hopefully the exercise for those parts of my brain (whatever parts they might be that deal with calculations and second language) that have been dormant for a thousand years will be of some use.
Working ladies, you are much safer.
So says a British study. Saw the article in the papers last week and Sharon Loh wrote about it in her editorial in yesterday's Mind Your Body.
Here are the main findings:
(The study tracked 1,200 ladies from age 15 to 54)
1. At 54, those who had been 'partners, parents and employees' had the best health, i.e., you have to have been all three.
2. 38% of those who were housewives were obese as compared to less than 25% of jugglers.
Ooops...
Actually, I always thought those who had desk-bound, indoor jobs were the worst off. You know, not enough exercise, fresh air and sunlight, etc. And I thought housework was good for calorie-burning. Especially when you look at the size of British houses compared to ours.
Anyway, I'm also worried about the health of my brain. I read somewhere that if you've spent a good part of your adult life in a fairly stressful work environment, you would have done your brain a great favour. Multi-tasking, it seems, gives your brain good exercise and can prevent, or at least delay or lessen in intensity, the onset of conditions such as dementia. I don't think the sweep-mop-wash-cook type of multi-tasking counts in the same way.
I did think last week of doing another pseudo-academic post. About democracy. You know, what with the election just over and the Thai one coming up again. I even happen to have some books which are relevant to the topic, e.g. Southeast Asian Identities, Southeast Asia in the New International Era. I myself am surprised to remember that I once bought books like that.
Then, I thought, forget it, lah.
I also bought this White Belt Sudoku a couple of months back but haven't opened it yet.
In the meantime, I've been relying on P2 math and Chinese to stimulate my dendrites. Hopefully the exercise for those parts of my brain (whatever parts they might be that deal with calculations and second language) that have been dormant for a thousand years will be of some use.
Comments
when one is not working, one stays home more often wearing elastic or loose comfortable clothings which don't remind one is putting on weight.
i guess housewives of bygone years had it worse than housewives now in terms of brain stimulation or trying to stay in touch with society. for modern housewives, i think the internet is a fantastic and convenient knowledge management tool!
by the way, would you be comfortable if i link u on my site?
dee from http://royalleisure.wordpress.com/
So maybe the trick is to work part-time or freelance? So we will still be motivated to look decent?
Yeah, life will be really boring if you are just doing housework (or homework!) all day with no Internet or TV.
I'm ok about linking. After all, we do have some topics in common. ;-)