Doomed!

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Last week the media expressed an inexplicable degree of excitement in the findings of a study from Singapore that concluded housework increases cognitive function as well as physical health in the elderly. Darn, the justification for recruiting a home-help in retirement diminishes by the day.

To  be fair, as we already know, exercise is good for you and housework, it seems, is just a little more of that, making up for any shortfalls in recreational activity. In fact on those rare occasions when I actually clean windows the Fitbit on my wrist automatically recognises it as swimming.

The study, however, notes the meaningful nature of housework as a key component of daily living. As Mister E and I gambol through our dust strewn and untidy home in pursuit of more stimulating projects, could meaning be missing from our lives?

Have the washing machine and vaccum cleaner released me to exercise in gym classes only to deprive me of purposeful and fulfilling action? I suspect not. There have to be more routes to toned muscles and a sharp mind than ironing clothes and washing dishes; better ways too to achieve higher contentment than mopping floors and wiping skirting boards.

Seriously, if it requires the drudgery of household chores to maintain my mental and physical capacities, then I am, quite simply, doomed.



Comments

Treaders said…
That kinda makes sense if you think about it doesn't it. Of course nobody wants to be slaving away for hours each day but there would seem to be a certain satisfaction in keeping a nice picked-up home don't you think?
5 December 2021 at 15:27
Caree Risover said…
My elderly Mum still does all her own household chores and seems to be enjoying good health, physically and mentally, without going anywhere near a gym or a Sudoku puzzle. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the proverb says.
5 December 2021 at 16:07
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