Rick Wells Learns Housework Health Benefits

It's Go Red for Women month. The idea is to focus a little attention on heart disease and its effect on women.

We all know housework is not just women's work, but a lot of times they end up doing most of it.

One woman said there are a lot of cardiovascular benefits to house work, no matter who ends up doing it.

Amy Bates owns Merry Maids of Tulsa Metro and they've put together some healthy facts about the work they do.

“Vacuuming for 30 minutes burns about 90 calories, and if you vacuum a whole house it can take 30 minutes," she said.

She said adding some lunges could increase the benefits too.

The serious side of all this is heart disease, and for women it's a killer.

More women than men die of heart disease every year, and fewer women survive their first heart attack.

The maximum benefit of vacuuming, dusting, stretching and scrubbing, is that you can burn a minimum of 250 calories an hour – leading to, perhaps, a healthier heart and maybe even some weight loss.

National Wear Red Day is Friday.

If you'd like more details on house cleaning as exercise, you can visit Merry Maid's Facebook page.