In older, more traditional households, typical housework tasks are usually reserved for women. However, it seems that getting included in these tasks and sharing the workload isn’t only considerate towards women, but could actually be healthy for men.
In this article, we will be going over some studies that demonstrate how men should take on more housework.
How the Elderly Spend Their Time
The study that first explored this phenomenon is MTUS – the Multinational Time Use Study done by the Oxford University in the mid-1980s. This study examined the way people over 65 spend their time on leisure activities and work.
Decades later, a new study would analyze this data to see how much of their time the elderly devoted to 41 different daily activities like cleaning, cooking, and similar household chores. Most importantly, this study also examined how these activities combined with sleep affect our health.
Why Men Should Take on More Housework
The study found a big difference in hours spent on household chores between men and women. While women spent an average of 4.7 hours on chores, men spent 3.1. The main activities for men were household maintenance and gardening, while women were in charge of cooking, cleaning, and shopping.
The study also found that more than two hours of housework per day was strongly connected with better overall health. In women, these effects were negated with too little or too much sleep. However, sleep duration didn’t affect the health benefits of housework among men.
Conclusion
Staying active as we age can be a good way to preserve our health. According to these studies, men should take up more housework not only to help their partners, but also to improve their health.
