Have you ever thought of household physical activities as a type of exercise? They help not only maintain your life and living surroundings, but also seem to contribute to your brain health.

According to a recent small study, older adults above 70 years old, who spend more time on household physical activities, have a greater brain size, which is a strong sign of a healthy brain. The household duties in the study included tidying, dusting, meal preparation and clean up, shopping, heavy housework, yard work, home repairs and caregiving.

The greater brain size was observed in the hippocampus (responsible for our memory and learning), and the frontal lobe (which is involved in many aspects of cognition), regardless of how much exercise the participants did.

So how do our day-to-day household activities promote our brain health? According to researchers, this type of activities have a similar effect on our blood vessels that deliver oxygen to our brain as low-intensity aerobic exercise. They also involve planning and organization skills that promote the formation of new neural connections even as we age. And, as any type of activity, they let us spend less time sitting, which on its own leads to poor health, including brain health.

These findings motivate us, don’t they? All we need to promote our brain health in older years is just to spend more time enjoying our household duties!

Curious? HERE is the source