Don't start without me, sweetie, I just have to finish this rug

What would you rather day, vacuum clean the house or have sex? Well, the answer, to most folk at least, would not be hauling the Hoover out of the closet in lieu of frolicking between the sheets.

Yet, as a sign of a changing demographic along the lines of increased sales in Viagra and incontinence knickers, is the fact that this particular issue is deemed to be newsworthy. Because, aging boomers are becoming increasingly concerned about stresses on the heart and are beginning to wonder just which activities are the most threatening.

I can only assume this because one of the big items in yesterday’s newspapers was – aside from the fact that Britney has decided to spend time at Eric Clapton’s rehab – was that vacuuming and sex have the same impact on the heart – if not the same enchantment.

According to Mayo Clinic research carried out on males age 40 to 65, with or without coronary artery disease, peak heart rates and oxygen consumption levels during sex are comparable to walking at a rate of 2 to 3 mph, climbing stairs, or vacuuming the house.

So, I guess the answer is, if you want to take care of your heart, my fellow males, it should be a case of either/or.

“Sorry hon’, we can either make love, or I can vacuum the house. You can’t expect both from me.” Especially not both at the same time, I daresay, although it would be an interesting challenge for the stalwart.

More importantly though, I think that in a youth-obsessed society it’s a bit difficult for all of us to accept that the internal workings might not, if not actually breaking down, be pushed to maximum endurance. It’s just like you may be able to flat-out a nice new car, but you would be foolish to try the same thing if it’s a decade old.

We think we’re young, we take care of ourselves, we’ve eliminated or moderated our bad habits, so we think we should still be able to screw like there’s no tomorrow.

Problem is, there might just not be a tomorrow, especially if we get out the Electrolux and do a once over of the living room carpet while our lovely wife or partner is blissfully napping in the 400 thread count sheets.

On the other hand, life is for the living and maybe we just pay entirely too much attention to the findings of yet another research project.