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A combination of several types of efforts like manual effort, mental effort, visual effort, torsal effort and pedal efforts are needed to perform any activity. The energy costs change according to the combination of the types of efforts used for each activity. In order to have well balanced energy expenditure pattern, the home maker need to know the energy costs of various activities. The energy costs are calculated based on the oxygen consumption per minute or the heart rate (beats per minute) while performing the activity.
The household tasks mentioned in the various studies have been classified according to energy costs as light, moderate, and heavy, and are given in Table 39.1. This covers a wide range of activities and includes many of the tasks most frequently done in the home. Moderate or heavy work requires walking and standing as well as different forms of manual and torsal effort. Checking the energy costs as given in the list against the different forms of the effort used in their performance will help the home-maker to select light, moderate, or heavy energy demanding tasks to make a comfortable daily and weekly work load.
Most Tiring activities:
Many homemakers indicated cleaning and caring for the house and washing and ironing tasks were most tiring and the tasks they disliked most.
In this fast world, where everyone wants to utilize even a second of his or her time and energy to convert them into money for his or her family's well-being, the use of both the resources time and energy are of very great importance. Clear understanding on how energy can be managed is of great importance, since time and energy are related resources, especially for the homemaker who has to go out for work, besides working in the house. Where ever more time is spent on a task, it also means a higher expenditure of energy resource.
Table 39.1: Energy requirement for various activities.
Light:l.4-2
Calories per minute
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Moderate:2-3.5
Calories per minute
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Heavy:3.5-4.5
Calories per Minute
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Hemming
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Using carpet sweeper
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Scrubbing floor
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Knitting
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Using vacuum sweeper
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Mopping floor
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Crocheting
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Polishing furniture
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Waxing floor
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Darning
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Kneading dough
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Taking out and hanging laundry
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Hand sewing
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Wringing clothes with electric wringer
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Washing kitchen floor
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Machine sewing machine
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Hanging clothes from buckets
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Bed making
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Preparing meals
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cleaning utility table
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Lifting heavy buckets of wet clothes
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Washing dishes
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Ironing
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Lifting young children
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Dusting furniture and Floors
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Sweeping kitchen floor
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For proper utilization of energy, a few factors that are directly involved in energy management are discussed under body mechanic.
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Participants