When I was a boy, we made frequent overnight visits to my grandmother and uncle on the family ranch in Hornbrook, Calif.
It was not much over 110 acres, but for decades including the Depression years, it sustained my mother, her parents, and her siblings with its hog pen, dairy cattle, beef cattle, sheep, chickens, and two big plow horses. The fields gave alfalfa, wheat, and barley for the livestock. And of course there was a large vegetable garden.
My favorite activity was to follow my Uncle Charles as he did the chores necessary to keep it all productive. Three of the four siblings lived into their mid-90s, likely a testimonial to the benefits of a life of dawn-to-dark hard physical work.
I thought of my uncle recently when the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association released national data demonstrating that exercise reduced the negative effects of chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. Using data from claims, the information showed that if a person took advantage of a gym discount that comes with certain health plans, good things happened. The health improvement was demonstrated with five or more trips to the gym a month.
And that's when I thought of my Uncle Charles. I am quite sure he had never been inside a gym, and I am also quite certain that no one has studied the exercise benefits of slopping hogs or escorting five dairy cattle into the barn for milking, shoveling the fresh manure that presented itself during the milking, or pushing the small wooden milk cart. Yet he benefited from all his hard work.
Most of us don't milk cows, but all of us have chores at home. As the Centers for Disease Control states: "Housework and Yardwork Count!" Vacuuming inside or sweeping the porch outside: It helps our fitness.
Here's some more wisdom from CDC: "Move More, Sit Less!" Pushing a stroller, grocery cart or lawn mower is good exercise. If you like chasing pigs or cows, do it; but chasing a toddler in the yard is movement. Going to a gym is great, and strolling across the street to see the neighbor's flowers helps too.
And what are some of the benefits? Less cancer, less heart disease and strokes, less diabetes, less high blood pressure, better quality of life, stronger bones and muscles, fewer hip fractures, less anxiety and depression, and better sleep. And people with chronic disease, not just healthy folks, can benefit from more activity and movement.
There is a flipside to this failure to count activities and chores at home as exercise. Many of us right now have great limits on the amount of time we are spending away from home, and we may be failing to recognize that some of what we are missing is movement. When I am at my normal work location, I walk a few blocks from my parking deck to my office. I walk to lunch. There are places within walking distance of my office that I sometimes go to. All that movement and walking is no longer occurring in my life. We may be failing to make up for the missed activity that comes from those run-around-town errands.
Life offers a menu of movement: slop the hogs, go to the gym, chase the grandkids, pick some roses. It's all good. Move More, Sit Less!
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Vic Snyder is the corporate medical director for external affairs at Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield.