Burn Calories While You Spring Clean!
Cleaning the house is one of the most underrated calorie-burning activities you can do for mind and body! Not only will you be left with a sparkling clean home, but an hour of housework can burn around 200 calories; the equivalent of a 25-minute jog or a Snickers bar.
Housework not only burns calories, but it can have a two-fold positive effect on your mood. In a recent study by eco cleaning brand Purdy & Figg, 92% of respondents said they felt happier when their home was clean, additionally, the physical effort of cleaning can also have a positive impact on mood thanks to the endorphins released.
With limited supply available, Zingy Spring by Purdy & Figg is a fresh and uplifting scent that’s also warm and comforting whilst eliciting a sense of renewal and wellbeing for spring. The limited edition scent will be available from £15 as part of a ‘Starter Kit’ with everything you’ll need to get you started with your natural spring clean, including a glass Bottle for Life, Zingy Spring Eco-Concentrate, premium microfibre cloth and pouring funnel.
While age, weight, and gender play a role, on average it’s possible to burn anywhere from 100-300 calories per hour doing housework. But this will also depend on the type of chore and vigour with which you do it.
Here’s how many calories a person burns doing certain activities for 30 minutes:
Scrubbing floors — 189 calories
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Getting down on your hands and knees to give your floors a proper scrub rather than using a mop and bucket will add to the intensity of the activity, burning even more calories. This burns the same amount of calories as a brisk walk for the same amount of time!
Cleaning kitchen / bathroom tiles — 153 calories
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Now this one depends on the tile area and cleanliness. If you are doing a little spray and wipe job, you’ll use fewer calories. But if you’re working up a sweat scrubbing your tiles, you can hit over 300 calories an hour.
Cleaning windows — 158 calories
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Cleaning windows, particularly if it involves climbing up and down a ladder to reach higher bits, can raise your heart rate and also give you a pretty good full-body workout. Your core, arms and shoulders will feel the burn.
Decluttering / cleaning the pantry – 85 calories
Cleaning out the kitchen cupboard may not work up too much of a sweat, but lifting dozens of tin cans or glass jars to clean your cupboard space can burn about 85 calories in 30 mins.
Cleaning bathroom – 180 calories
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If your tiles, tub, shower screen and washbasin need a good clean, then you’ll be burning calories. 63% of people said cleaning the bathroom makes them happy! Happiness and burning calories, let’s get to work!
Cleaning the oven — 100 calories
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A deep clean of the oven involves lifting of wire racks in and out of the oven as well as some seriously vigorous scrubbing on the inside walls.
Scrubbing the bath – 100 calories
Removing scum from your tub with a bit of elbow grease can burn up to 100 calories, which is the same as 300 jumping jacks. Pow!
Purdy & Figg’s cleaning philosophy is rooted in using a little and often approach with gentle natural ingredients, rather than waiting for a problem to get so bad that it requires drastic attention with strong, harsh cleaning products. By adopting natural cleaning methods, like Purdy & Figg, you’ll likely need to put in a little more elbow grease, thus burning even more calories and releasing even more endorphins.
It gets better – specific activities can also provide additional strengthening and toning benefits. For example, scrubbing the shower is great for working arms, shoulders and core whilst dusting and ironing are good for biceps, triceps and forearms. Purdy & Figg’s new eco-concentrate multi surface cleaner, Counter Clean, can be used to tackle all daily household cleaning tasks – helping to cut down unnecessary plastic waste and free up some much-needed space in cleaning cupboards!
Moira Chisholm
I'm the Health Editor on My Weekly and am always interested to hear what's new in this fascinating field. I also deal with the gardening, shopping pages, general features, our website content and the Ask Helen problem page. I have a special interest in Christmas content because I'm on the team for Your Best Ever Christmas Magazine, too!
