Transcript: Your Chores Count: The Science of Everyday Movement with Physiotherapy Researcher Sunaina Chopra
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Host Famous Ashley Grant introduces the episode and hands it over to a voice note from Sunaina Chopra, a physiotherapy and PhD student at UBC.
If you're trying to work out, as long as you're moving, that's all that matters. What's up, you guys? Famous Asha Grant here. Welcome to More Movement, Please, the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move your body more. Today, I have another voice note for y 'all, and this one comes to us from Sunana Chopra, and this is what she had to say. Hello there. My name is Sunana Chopra, and I'm a dual physiotherapy and PhD student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Let me start with a question. Have you ever felt like if you can't make it to the gym, your physical activity for the day just doesn't count? If that sounds familiar, you're definitely not alone. We've been taught to think of exercise as something structured, like lifting weights for a certain amount of reps, running on a treadmill for a certain amount of time, or playing sports. And while those are really great ways to be active, they're not the
Sunaina challenges the idea that exercise only counts if it's structured — like gym sessions or treadmill runs — and introduces the concept of non-conventional physical activity like gardening, household chores, and playing with kids or pets, citing research from The Lancet and a 12-week housework study.
only ways to be active. In fact, a lot of the movement we do in our everyday life, what we might call non -conventional physical activity, can be just as beneficial for our health and well -being. So let's talk about what that actually looks like. Thinking about gardening, it might not feel like a workout, but you're squatting, lifting, digging, reaching. It's a full body movement. And research backs this up a lot. A study published in The Lancet followed people involved in a community garden over about two and a half years. What they found was pretty powerful, which is likely why it ended up in such a prestigious journal. Not only did people become more physically active, but their stress and anxiety levels also went down. So gardening not only supports us physically, but can also make us feel better mentally. Now let's move indoors for a second. Household chores. I know it's not the most fun activity to do, but we
Sunaina wraps up by encouraging listeners to ask 'how did I move today?' instead of 'did I work out?' and affirms that dog walks, gardening, and cleaning all contribute to health.
all still have to do it. Things like vacuuming, mopping, doing laundry, even tidying up. These all involve movement. One study compared traditional exercise to household activity over 12 weeks and found that housework was just as effective for maintaining, if not improving, fitness. And that's a really big deal, especially for people who feel like they don't have enough time to carve out a separate workout in their day. And then there's something a lot of us already do without even thinking of it as exercise. Playing with kids or pets. Whether it's walking your dog or tossing a ball around the living room because, let's be honest, some dogs like mine are just committed to staying cozy indoors. All of that adds up. And not just for you, but for your kids as well. Research shows that children and youth who walk their dogs or play with their pets are significantly more likely to meet physical
activity recommendations. And so the next time your kids ask for a puppy, you might want to mute this part if they are listening, but technically they'd have a pretty solid evidence -based argument for it in terms of physical activity and fitness. So what's the takeaway here? Movement doesn't have to be perfect. structured, or time -consuming to be meaningful. It doesn't have to happen in a gym, and it definitely doesn't have to look the same for everyone. What matters most is that it fits into your life. If you're someone who loves the gym, amazing, keep going. But if you are feeling overwhelmed, short on time or funds, or not just motivated to be outside with all of your busy life, this is your sign to think differently. Your walk with your dog counts.
Your time spent gardening counts. Cleaning your space counts. It all contributes to your overall health and well -being. So next time you catch yourself thinking, I didn't work out today, maybe pause and ask, how did I move today? Because chances are you did more than you think, and that's something to be really proud of. How good is that, y 'all? Like, you do not have to actually physically go to a gym to work out. I've talked about this before, especially the week that I was dealing with Snowmageddon and I could not get to the gym at all. I still was working out from home. But she talks about how it's not just...
Ashley reflects on Sunaina's message, shares her own experience moving at home during Snowmageddon, and suggests small ways to add movement to everyday tasks — like extra squats while gardening or a jumping jack challenge with kids.
exercise that counts as movement. It's the gardening. It's the doing the chores. It's the running around with your puppy dog. It's the playing around with your kids. You don't have to actually subscribe to a specific method of movement for it to count as movement. what she said and look at your own life. How much movement are you actually doing? And if you feel like whenever you do like a personal audit of yourself that you're not moving enough, let that be your sign that it's time to get up and move some more. Something as simple as just getting up and jumping up and down or going onto YouTube and finding your favorite song and just dancing right there at your desk or, you know, even in the car, you can be moving more than you are. You would be surprised just how much movement you could get in if you start. consciously thinking about moving your body. And so that's the whole point of this of this entire podcast,
right, is to find more movement, please find all the ways that you can move your body more. And don't think about the fact that you have to do it a specific way. If you get too hung up in the specifics and you and you force yourself to like only do certain things to consider it counting, then you might not move your body at all. And that's the whole point is I want you to move your body, just move your body. So if you have to garden today. maybe do some extra squats. Or if you have to walk the dog, maybe take an extra lap around the block. Or if you're going to be playing around your kids, maybe do a little challenge with your kids to see who can do the most jumping jacks or do the most pushups or do anything that gets your body moving more. So I hope this helps you guys. I hope this was beneficial. If you too would like to leave a voice note for me and want me to react to it, or if you're on your own fitness journey and
you want to share it, I would love to hear from you guys. Go to famousashleygrant .com backslash fit. I love hearing from y 'all. It just makes my day. So if this was helpful for you, please share this episode. And I cannot wait to hear more from y 'all because I just, like I said, I get such a kick out of it when you guys send me voice notes. It's one of my favorite things in the whole world. So thank you for tuning in.
Hope this was helpful. Onwards and upwards, my friends. Have you worked out today?