Lawn Tractors and Obesity in America...Any connection?
I was driving home today and noticed the predominance of lawn tractors. People mowing grass on a lot no more than one third of an acre. Not a big lot at all, considering half or more of the lot is taken up by the house and garage. The users were mainly 40 something men, a few were teenaged boys. Not a lot of grass to mow.
Yesterday, Eden, baby Z, and I drove past some homes that were on several acres, and had huge lawns. Overall, it appeared that it would take hours to mow those lawns, even with a lawn tractor. A "push" mower would take all day, maybe two. A lawn tractor would seem necessary. Maybe even a farm tractor with a mower attachment.
When, I was a kid, I would mow an acre of grass every week with a "push" mower. Most of the day was taken up. It was a lot of exercise. My pediatrician even perceived me to mow the grass when I was getting pudgy around the age of ten. A household form of exercise.
I could own a lawn tractor if I needed one. I'm not envious of those who have lawn tractors. Purchasing the machine is not a problem for me. I own a o.4 acre lot. I can mow my grass in about an hour and receive the benefits of some good old fashion exercise. My job is sedentary and the hours are long. So a weekly hour of exercise mowing grass on a regular basis is a good thing for me. I can use more exercise of course, but at least it's more than nothing.
So, maybe getting off the lawn tractor and pushing a mower can help the nationwide battle of obesity.
Yesterday, Eden, baby Z, and I drove past some homes that were on several acres, and had huge lawns. Overall, it appeared that it would take hours to mow those lawns, even with a lawn tractor. A "push" mower would take all day, maybe two. A lawn tractor would seem necessary. Maybe even a farm tractor with a mower attachment.
When, I was a kid, I would mow an acre of grass every week with a "push" mower. Most of the day was taken up. It was a lot of exercise. My pediatrician even perceived me to mow the grass when I was getting pudgy around the age of ten. A household form of exercise.
I could own a lawn tractor if I needed one. I'm not envious of those who have lawn tractors. Purchasing the machine is not a problem for me. I own a o.4 acre lot. I can mow my grass in about an hour and receive the benefits of some good old fashion exercise. My job is sedentary and the hours are long. So a weekly hour of exercise mowing grass on a regular basis is a good thing for me. I can use more exercise of course, but at least it's more than nothing.
So, maybe getting off the lawn tractor and pushing a mower can help the nationwide battle of obesity.
posted by Hawk at 5:52 PM
1 Comments:
Ah yes, I didn't finish my point. Sleep deprivation certainly makes writing fun.
My point was to say that using a push mower can help people achieve some needed exercise. Particularly, when mowing a yard of a small size doesn't take a long time with a push mower. I also left out that most of the people I saw using riding mowers were overweight, and some exercise could help burn a few calories. And since it seems everyone seems to have a lawn tractor, at least here in the suburbs, using the lawn tractor weekly decreases the amount of calories used, thus increasing a person's ablity to gain weight.
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