Two women answer whether over-65s should do household chores for their health
- Replies 7
Aggie MacKenzie is known for presenting the Channel 4 series How Clean Is Your House?. Photo from Wales Online.
Despite her career in TV as a cleaner for other people’s houses, Ms MacKenzie used to hire a house cleaner.
“You may be shocked to hear that, despite my TV career cleaning other people’s houses, when my boys were teens, and I was working full-time, I had a weekly cleaner. After my divorce and the kids left home, I kept her on fortnightly,” she said.
But when the pandemic came, it made her realise that she preferred doing the cleaning herself.
“I also rather enjoy ironing — I find it calming. As I take the hot steam over each duvet cover, pillowslip or tea towel, it’s as if I’m smoothing out the rough patches of my day.”
Recent studies believe that there might be health benefits to cleaning and ironing, especially for people over the age of sixty-five.
The older adults that participated in the study were mostly women and were observed to be fitter, had better cognitive functions, and were less likely to be admitted to a hospital.
“I talked to a 70-something doctor friend the other day who used to have a cleaner but now does all his own housework,” shared Ms MacKenzie.
“He enjoys the feeling of organising his home, cleaning up as he goes along, and he thinks he’s much fitter and better organised for it.”
“I’m sure he’s right. Let’s face it: cleaning is an evil necessity and we all have to involve ourselves in it in some way or another."
“There’s something hugely empowering about being in charge of your own surroundings rather than paying someone else to be. Housework is a purposeful activity with visible results, which I believe helps everyone, young or old,” she continued.
“It’s obvious that if your home’s untidy and dirty, you’ll probably feel a bit chaotic and possibly depressed.”
She added that post-pandemic, she observed everyone prioritising their mental health more than ever.
The 66-year-old yoga teacher also suggested a helpful exercise for other older women doing house chores. She said, “While you’re at the sink doing that washing up or in front of the cooker making supper, a good thing to do is to stand on one leg — even for a few seconds.”
“You don’t need to lift the other foot particularly high — a few inches is a great start. Try it on both sides and repeat as often as you can. It will strengthen your tummy muscles and improve your balance, and, consequently, you’ll be far less likely to have a fall.”
Lastly, she added: “And carry on cleaning; it’s now proven to do us a world of good!”
Jane Gordon, author of How Not To Get Old: One Woman's Quest To Take Control Of The Ageing Process. Photo credit: Amit Lennon / The Times.
On the other hand, jewellery designer and author Jane Gordon said: No!
Ms Gordon said that the latest suggestion for ‘ageing healthily’ made her furious, as this could mean spending a minimum of 15 hours a week getting ‘down and dirty’ doing housework.
“Apparently, a few extra hours in my Marigolds mopping, dusting and scrubbing ‘round the bend’ could improve my memory, sharpen my mind and reduce the chances of my suffering falls, becoming immobile and dying!” she said.
The recent study she was referring to observed that a vigorous session combining ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ cleaning had a positive effect on the cognitive and physical functions of the older adults.
“Now, while I accept there are a few household chores that are truly challenging to body and brain like struggling to change a king-size duvet, you have spent an hour ironing, for example,” she added.
“I am absolutely not going to embrace this patronising new directive for us ‘oldies’.”
“And while I can see that window cleaning (a ‘heavy’ task) could improve my concentration and balance (if I was up a ladder), it’s not something I intend to take up.”
Ms Gordon went on to say that she feels irritated by the endless advice directed to people her age, suggesting that they are “all feeble-minded, probably fat and a general burden”.
“Hardly a day passes without me being talked down to by companies marketing terrifying-sounding ‘retirement villages’, incontinence aids, and even exhortations to ‘plan your own funeral’.”
She then admitted being a bit contemptuous of women for whom cleanliness is next to godliness.
“My idea of TV hell was How Clean Is Your House? and I never got beyond page one of Anthea Turner’s book How To Be The Perfect Housewife or the first sentence of Lynsey Crombie’s Queen of Clean blog. And as for Marie Kondo, just don’t ask!”
“I’m not even convinced by the sparkling Mrs Hinch even though she has amassed a fortune and 4.2 million followers on Instagram.”
The 64-year-old author said that the best way to age ‘healthily’ was to have fun and keep learning.
“Dance, take up a language, learn to fly, make new friends and for goodness sake, ignore this new nonsense — get out of the house rather than wasting precious time cleaning it!”
Do you agree with Aggie or with Jane?
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I even organise my to do lists!!
