[caption id="attachment_21028" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Business-Merry-Maids.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-21028" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Business-Merry-Maids-300x224.jpg" alt="Beaufort, S.C. Merry Maids Partners with the American Heart Association to Raise Awareness and Funds for the Fight against Heart Disease." width="300" height="224" /></a> Beaufort, S.C. Merry Maids Partners with the American Heart Association to Raise Awareness and Funds for the Fight against Heart Disease.[/caption]

This February, Merry Maids of Beaufort, a local franchise of the nation’s leading home cleaning company and part of the ServiceMaster family of brands, is encouraging consumers to “get moving, start cleaning and be heart healthy” by showing some love to their homes and to themselves through the physical activity of cleaning. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), one of the best ways to reduce the risk of heart disease is through regular physical activity, which provides multiple benefits for women, including: stress and tension relief, increased immunity, prevention and management of high blood pressure, as well as a 30-40 percent reduction of coronary heart disease. Merry Maids is partnering with the AHA’s Go Red For Women campaign for its third year to show people how to get active and get their hearts pumping from the comfort of their own homes through cleaning and maintaining a tidy living space.

“Consumers may not realize that scrubbing the bathroom floors and vacuuming are great ways to stay active, while helping to maintain a healthy home and heart,” says Bob Cunningham, owner at Merry Maids. “We’re excited to partner with the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women campaign to raise awareness for a cause that affects millions of women in the U.S. every year.”

By tackling basic cleaning activities, including vacuuming, washing the floor and scrubbing the shower, consumers can break a sweat and even burn calories, according to Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, cardiologist and spokesperson, American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women. Merry Maids also put this to the test with its own “Get Moving, Start Cleaning, Be Heart Healthy” study in which it armed several Merry Maids team members with wearable fitness trackers to estimate how many calories they burned during routine cleaning chores. Below Mr. Cunningham highlights some of these daily cleaning activities that can help get the heart pumping:
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Va Va Voom Vacuum Routine:</strong></p>
If the thought of choosing between going to the gym and vacuuming the living room stresses you out, you’ll find comfort in knowing you can burn up to 170 calories in just one hour of vacuuming1. Merry Maids team members who participated in the “Get Moving, Start Cleaning, Be Heart Healthy” study and wore fitness trackers during the workday burned an estimated 191 calories in an hour of vacuuming. While an hour may seem like a long amount of time, Bob recommends vacuuming slowly in order for the vacuum cleaner to do its best work.
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Bathroom Wipe Down Workout:</strong></p>
Scrubbing the tub and washing the bathroom floor are easy tasks to put on the backburner. Before procrastination sets in, consider that with a little bit of elbow grease and a microfiber cloth, cleaning the bathroom can be a workout of its own. The Merry Maids “Get Moving, Start Cleaning, Be Heart Healthy” study estimated that Merry Maids team members burned more than 200 calories in one hour of bathroom cleaning. And if cleaning the bathroom makes you break a sweat, what better way to reward yourself than by calling first dibs on the freshly cleaned shower?
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Mopping and Bopping:</strong></p>
It might seem silly to turn your mop into a dance partner or a microphone, but having a little fun while you wash the floors is just what you need to take your floor-washing chores from mundane to exciting. Getting your groove on with the mop for just 60 minutes will increase the number of steps you take, increase your heart rate and result in approximately 170 calories burned1. For best results, use a microfiber mop and a bucket of warm water with a little dish soap.
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>A Little Tidying Goes a Long Way:</strong></p>
Everyday cleaning activities such as dusting, sweeping and folding can equate to some serious heart-healthy activity. In that crucial hour of straightening up before bed or getting organized before weekend guests arrive, you can get your blood pumping and burn approximately 102 calories.

To celebrate the third year of its partnership with the AHA, Merry Maids is encouraging consumers to spread the love, or the “likes,” in support of the cause. For every new “Like” of the national Merry Maids Facebook page during the month of February, Merry Maids will donate $1 to the AHA’s Go Red For Women campaign, and will match all donations up to $75,000.

“We are grateful to Merry Maids for its continued support to raise funds and awareness for cardiovascular disease as we work to build healthier lives,” says Bernie Dennis, Chairman, American Heart Association National Board of Directors. “We truly appreciate Merry Maids’ commitment to the cause, and we’re excited to work together to promote simple and fun ways for families to stay active while cleaning at home.”

A local Merry Maids team is ready for the workout and can create customized cleaning plans for every homes’ needs to ensure a consistent, reliable and thorough cleaning process every time. To find more information about your Beaufort area Merry Maids, visit merrymaidsbeaufort.com and “like” us on Facebook.