Expert reveals how to burn 500 calories cleaning your house, with minimal effort

Exercising and doing all the household chores can be a challenging task.

But if you know how to clean your house, you might be able to do both at once, according to experts.

Scientists refer to activities like this as unintentional exercise or NEAT, which stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis.

The most popular way is to take 10,000 steps a day, but all other ways can help you burn adequate calories to stay healthy, along with a balanced diet.

While decluttering your home, there are two ways to turn activities into a workout.

You can add gym moves like lunges and squats, or simply be more deliberate in the way you approach household tasks and put more physical effort into them.

Dr. Duston Morris, a professor of health promotion and healthy behavior at the University of Maryland Integrative Health, says consistency is key: “If you use house cleaning as a way to increase movement and physical activity “Do 20 to 30 minutes each day.” ‘

Dr. Morris also recommended changing tasks to promote muscle balance. “Focus on laundry and dusting one day, bathrooms the next, and vacuuming and sweeping the other days,” she said. Washington Post.

Experts advise starting a complete house cleaning by removing dust. If done for half an hour, an average 175-pound person can burn 80 calories.

Mopping floors and carpets with your hands and knees will burn much more energy than with a mop and will do a more thorough job.

Stephanie Thomas, a certified personal trainer based in Annapolis, told Mail dust affects the shoulders and arms, especially in high and difficult to access places.

If you want to add an extra challenge, Ms. Thomas suggests adding lunges or squats as you move around the room. Studies show that approximately eight calories are burned for every minute of squatting, so even 10 minutes can consume up to 80 calories.

You can also add standing lateral leg raises while dusting high shelves to make it a full-body workout.

Dr. Morris also emphasized that people should switch arms room by room to make sure they’re not just exercising their dominant side.

Going to the bathroom, scrubbing floors, showers, bathtubs, mirrors, and toilets can make you sweat.

Mopping bathroom tiles for half an hour will burn 100 calories and exercise the muscles in your hands, arms and shoulders.

Standing squats and calf raises can also be added, and squats will give you an extra burn.

In the kitchen, washing dishes is a surprisingly effective way to get exercise. Washing dishes by hand will burn about 160 calories per half hour, while those with a dishwasher can still spend about 105 loading and unloading for the same amount of time.

Like mopping and scrubbing, moving heavy dishes will exercise your upper body. You can also try doing push-ups leaning against the counter.

By resting on an elevated surface, they are a little easier to do than traditional push-ups.

Doing laundry is another opportunity to get your heart racing. You can also incorporate push-ups when folding clothes, against the bed or a couch to lean over. Mrs. Thomas suggests five push-ups for every five folded items.

Clothing can burn up to 50 calories per half an hour, with actions such as bending down when loading and unloading the washer and dryer, carrying loads around the house and putting away clothes.

Cleaning floors is another mini-workout in itself. Vacuuming engages the core muscles and can burn 80 calories in half an hour. Arms and shoulders will also be involved.

Changing the position of your hands on the vacuum cleaner or on a mop or broom will mean that you will target different muscle groups.

Moving larger objects, such as sofas, beds and coffee tables, will not only activate your biceps, triceps, chest and back, but will also ensure that you don’t miss any bits of dust hiding underneath.