Can A Little Light Housework Lower Blood Glucose?

Scientists at the International Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia have completed a study that indicates that substituting light intensity activities for sedentary activities like watching television, can still lower blood glucose levels.

• University of Melbourne Study: Measuring Effects of Light-Intensity Physical Activity on Plasma Glucose

This piece of news may come as a welcome surprise to people, like me, who think that health benefits can only come with grueling effort and expensive gym memberships. Of course moderate exercise is still recommended for the most heart healthy effects, but it's nice to know the light stuff counts too. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) describes light intensity activities as...

• Walking slowly
• Golf, with powered cart
• Swimming, slow treading
• Gardening or pruning
• Bicycling, very light effort
• Dusting or vacuuming
• Conditioning exercise, light stretching or warm up

The study was a comparison of people who did nothing but sit and watch television, and people who got up to put their laundry away. The conclusion was that anything is better than doing nothing, and even doing the dishes will lower blood glucose levels better than laying around with the Sopranos.

So, there you go. My mom was right. She always said, "Stop watching that dang television and go clean your room."

More from your Diabetes Guide...

• List of Light, Moderate and Heavy Activities from Calorie-count.com
• But I Hate to Exercise
• When Exercise Hurts
• Exercising When You Have Diabetes

Photo by Cathy Kaplan