If you think that doing household chores is enough to keep you fit, think again, for a new study has claimed that homemakers are actually more likely to suffer from heart attacks than working women.
Researchers have claimed that this is because of the more sedentary lifestyles of women who stay at home —— they are more likely to be less educated, drink more, be overweight and suffer from depression, all contributory factors.
They have based their findings on an analysis of over 7,000 women aged 45 to 64. Women employed had a lower risk.
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For heart disease, this link was stronger among women without high school education, the
“One theory suggests that women with more roles, for example, family and employee roles, may have a better health profile than women with fewer roles, although the strength of this association may vary as the result of different levels of job demands and job control.
“Because of the fact that many women assume multiple roles as homemakers, primary caretakers for children and elderly parents, in addition to being employed outside of the home, the investigation of the health-employment relationship among women is complex,” the researchers said.
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According to them, women often choose to be housewives or seek jobs depending on their socio-economic status as well as financial and material resources available. In this study, housewives were found to have a lower education level than the employed women.
The study has been published in the latest issue of the Annals of Epidemiology journal.