The next time you are doing the housework, clean your car or weed your garden, turn up the music and view the whole thing as an exercise session. Doing so could have a positive effect on your health.

Most of us know by now that exercising is good for us. It is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle: Exercising promotes fitness, helps us cope better with stress, allows us to rid ourselves of anger, frustration and depressive moods, and facilitates a good night's sleep.

According to research published in Psycho-logical Science, there is another dimension to exercising, similar to the placebo effect: The researchers assessed the health of a group of hotel cleaners. They then told half the cleaners that the work they perform counts as exercise, easily fulfilling government recommendations for daily exercise. The remaining cleaners did not get this information and acted as controls. A month later the health of the cleaners was assessed again. Those who had been reminded of the health benefits of their work, showed health improvements in terms of weight, body mass index, body-fat, waist-to-hip ratio and blood pressure although they did not change their exercising regime nor change their eating, drinking or smoking habits. The control group showed no such improvements.

What caused this health boost? The researchers put it down to the difference in how the cleaners perceived their work. This holds true in other areas of our lives, too: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a school of therapy that looks at the impact of your thoughts and beliefs on a particular problem. CBT holds that it is not so much the events, circumstances or other people that directly cause emotional problems but rather that the attitudes and evaluations about these situations determine how a person feels.

This is conceptualized through the ABC model: As are actual or imagined psychological events that trigger a belief B, which in turn leads to a particular response or consequence C. By taking responsibility for our beliefs and by changing unhelpful beliefs we can improve our emotional, mental and physical well-being. We all can do this.

In the meantime, enjoy the onset of spring - BELIEVE that you can enjoy it even if the weather doesn't live up to your expectations - it will make all the difference.