Get dusting... housework can help you live longer!

JUST half an hour of housework a day can cut your risk of premature death by over a quarter, a major study has found.

Doing the chores, walking or any other regular activity that raises the heart rate for 30 minutes could help prevent one in 12 of all deaths.

It could also prevent one in 20 cases of heart disease, the research shows.

The study, the largest of its kind, looked at more than 130,000 people in 17 countries. It found the more active they were, the lower their risk of early death.

Benefits could be gained from any type of regular physical activity – housework, gardening, walking to work or having an active job, as well as sport and gym visits. Experts said the findings, published in The Lancet, showed exercise is ‘the best medicine at our disposal’.

Researchers led by a team from McMaster University in Canada followed people aged 35 to 70 from high, middle and low income countries including Canada, Brazil, China and Pakistan. They provided information about their health and activity levels and were checked for signs of heart disease.

Over a seven-year follow-up period, 5,334 died, of whom 1,294 died from heart disease. Another 1,987 had a heart attack, 2,086 a stroke and 386 heart failure.

Researchers found that those who exercised for 30 minutes, five days a week had a 28 per cent lower death rate and 20 per cent lower risk of heart disease than those who were less active.

Lead author Dr Scott Lear said: ‘Going to the gym is great but if we can walk to work, or at lunchtime, that will help.’

Heart disease kills one in four Britons and more than 7million people suffer from it.

Professor Metin Avkiran, of the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘Weaving physical activity into our daily routines has never been more important.’