Housework adds three years to your life (if you're a woman)

Researchers found that women who clean, hoover and do the laundry are likely to live almost three years longer. Photo / 123RF

It's probably not the most popular piece of health advice ever dished out - but researchers say that doing the housework can add years to your life.

They found that women who clean, hoover and do the laundry are likely to live almost three years longer.

But men can breathe a sigh of relief - housework appears to have little effect on them. They are better off in the garden, according to research by Dutch academics.

The team from University Medical Centre Rotterdam found that a 55-year-old woman who does little around the house is likely to live to see her 83rd birthday - but that those who keep on top of the housework should live on to the age of 86.

The benefit for men is much less marked. Their efforts with the loo brush will only buy them an extra year.

But men who do the gardening live 2.7 years longer, while working outside the home has little effect on women.

Dr Klodian Dhana, who led the research team, said the differences 'may partly be explained by the fact that men engaged in more gardening and women in domestic work'.

The study of more than 7,000 men and women asked questions on lifestyle then followed them for decades.