Regular movement, like cleaning, tidying or cooking, helps to keep your body strong and steady, especially as you get older. Housework can improve memory and focus, help with sleep, reduce feelings of tiredness and support your mental health.
Become a hoover groover and make housework more fun. It’s great for your heart and lungs!
Lifting things, hanging out the washing, scrubbing, polishing and getting up and down from the floor are all good strength exercises.
All activities that use your arms whilst standing help balance, like hanging washing, or reaching high shelves.
Yes, absolutely! Housework is a form of physical activity. It can help you work towards the recommended 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, and it can also build strength.
Moderate household activities include:
These movements help to get the heart pumping, strengthen your legs and improve balance, which can lower your risk of falls and support your independence.
Can housework help my brain and mental health?
Yes. Housework has been linked to better memory and sharper thinking. It also helps reduce stress and can give you a real sense of purpose and satisfaction.
It can be hard to know where to start when trying to move more. Everyone begins at a different point, depending on how active they are, how easily they move, and how strong they feel.
To get started, choose the option that best matches what you usually do on an average day in each column below. Look at your daily activities, mobility, and strength to find a sensible place to begin. Then click on the ‘see results’ button to reveal where you should start.
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Start gently. Try seated activities like ironing, peeling vegetables, or folding clothes. Practise standing up from a chair without using your arms, and do simple balance exercises.
Try light standing tasks such as dusting, cooking, or tidying up. Break up long periods of sitting with short bursts of activity. Keep practising sit-to-stand movements, aim for up to 10 times in a row. Keep going with those balance exercises!
Add more movement. Try squatting to reach lower cupboards, or dancing around while vacuuming. Walk up and down the stairs briskly if it feels safe.
Take on more active tasks like lunging with the vacuum cleaner, cleaning the bath or shower, scrubbing floors, or dusting skirting boards. These jobs use many muscles and count as strength-building activities.
Take on more active tasks like lunging with the vacuum cleaner, cleaning the bath or shower, scrubbing floors, or dusting skirting boards. These jobs use many muscles and count as strength-building activities.
Yes, many tasks can be adapted. You can try seated activities like folding laundry or chopping vegetables, and adjust your movements based on what feels comfortable.
Find out how everyday chores like vacuuming, scrubbing, and gardening can contribute to your fitness and overall health.
Discover We Are Undefeatable’s workout videos, including workouts designed to be done from your kitchen, garden and bedroom.
This site has been put together by specialists in exercise medicine and supported and funded by Nuffield Health Charity. In collaboration with academic experts, specialists in behavioural change, medics across a wide spectrum of specialties, physiotherapists, nurses and most importantly, people living with the symptoms of long term conditions. Through our rigorous academic process we have carefully ensured that all the information on this website is trustworthy and evidence based.
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