On page 518 of Dunlop's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Facts there is a list of
Human expenditure of energy             Calories per hour

Men
Lying at ease                                   90
Sitting at ease                                 108
Sitting and writing                             114
Standing at ease                                118
Driving a car                                   168
Driving a motorcycle                            204
Dressing, washing, shaving                      212
Walking 4 mph                                   492
Climbing stairs at 1.5 mph                      620
Tree felling                                    640
Bicycling at 13 mph                             669
Running at 5 mph                                850
Rowing at 33 strokes/min                        1140
Swimming breaststroke at 56 strokes/min         1212

Women
Darning (sitting)                               76
Knitting                                        78
Typing at 60 wpm                                80
Ironing                                         100
Washing up                                      198
Bed making                                      420

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to the date of the book?  Any other
comments as to men's and women's activities?  I noticed that men spent
a lot of time 'at ease' rather than darning or knitting.  Are men still
more active then women, as regards ordinary activities (other than the
sitting and standing)?  What sorts of typical everyday activities (not
things done specifically for exercise) would you like to see in this sort
of table, pertinent to this decade?  Do you personally spend most of your
time either sleeping, sitting in front of the TV, getting dressed, driving
to work, or using rowing machines?  Do you incorporate anything
above 212 calories per hour in daily life, other than planned exercise?
Are there still women who spend all their time knitting and mending and
cleaning the house?

9 responses total.

Well, a lot of women still do have traditional housewife roles.  A lot of men
still have the traditional male (breadwinner) role.  I'd venture, though, that
the date of the above chart is pre-WWII, since we have "tree felling", which
could be chainsaw or ax based (hard to tell, but I'd guess using an ax would
take more calories), and there are no occuptations for women other than
"typing".  WWII brought a lot of women into the factories.  On the other hand,
this could be 50's, when the image of the dainty housewife was popular. 
Actually, since they don't mention washing clothes, the were probably laundry
machines in common use (clothes washing by hand would take a fair number of
calories).

I personally do incorporate more strenuous activities, such as walking or
biking to work (3.5 miles each way) and yardwork.

If it's no more strenuous than climbing stairs, I'd guess it would be
chainsaw.

My mom works outside the house, and has as far back as I can remember, so it
always strikes me as strange to hear from a woman who devotes herself to
housework.  Stranger still are those who assume from an early age that they
will.

(I wonder, do girls grow up nowadays assuming that they will have a 'job' of
some sort, or assuming that they will be housewives?  I mean, I don't think
the thought ever crossed my mind that I might do anything other than be a
'breadwinner' when/if I got married)

The book is dated about 1966 (3 editions in the sixties) but I would guess
it dredged its info from older sources.  Are there any more strenuous types
of housework commonly done than making beds?  I hang laundry, and wash floors
and even wax them once a decade or so.  What other tasks done around the house
consume energy?

Sweeping floors with a broom. Chasing cobwebs with a feather duster, which
also involves stretching. Shaking/beating rugs.

I thought I was the only one who still cleaned rugs the old way.  I also wash
them in the tub (at least I used to when I had a tub).  It is fun treading
them, but a real pain to drag them outside to dry.  In a small town I visited
in Bulgaria, with very fast flowing mountain streams, they had a few hollowed
out areas in the streams where they would put the rugs to be scoured by the
streams, and add a box of detergent.

There is not a stitch of carpet in our house, so we have several small rugs
lying about. I wouldn't want to run all that dirt, sand and hair dowm the
drains, so I shake/beat them once in a while, especially before washing.
Have we mentioned lawn mowing as a strenuous activity? I consider that a
household chore.

If you want exercise, try weeding after not mowing for a few years.  We pulled
up 3' trees from what used to be a raspberry patch, grapevines were 20 feet
long and had to be coaxed from the power lines.  Is using a power mower
exercise?

Come mow my misshappen, bumpy yard and ask again! I don't know if it qualifies
as exercise, but it is certainly work! 8^}

Ground cover is more work to start with but then it takes care of itself.

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