What are mod cons doing to our health?

But what are all these labour-saving devices doing to our health? Obesity rates in Australia have more than doubled over the past 20 years and are predicted to keep rising. Is the rise in obesity directly connected with technology?

The test

Meet the Penny family from Normanhurst in Sydney — there's Martin, Catherine and their two boys Jack and Jordan. They're what you'd call mod-con addicts.

"I cannot imagine life without the car. It would be very difficult to do anything," says Martin.

So what's their lifestyle? Martin drives to and from his job as a bookbinder and he's got mod cons to help him with all the jobs he does around the house. Catherine works part-time and looks after the kids, but she drives everywhere too, and has a house full of labour-saving appliances.

"The vacuum's my best friend and it's the best modern appliance I've got," says Catherine.

What about the kids? Well you'd think they'd be outside running around, but they spend most of their time glued to the box or playing computer games.

"I'd hate to think what it would be like 100 years ago without the mod cons we've got now," says Martin.

Well, they're about to find out.

Dr Gary Egger, Director of the Centre for Health Promotion and Research in Sydney, is making a house call on the Pennys to see what impact mod cons are making on their lifestyle.

"They may be labour saving, but they're not life saving," says the doc.

Dr Egger is about to throw this family what could well be a life-saving challenge. His first job is to see how much exercise they're getting now.

For the past week, they've all been wearing pedometers, which are gadgets that count how many steps they're taking. From that, Dr Egger can work out how much exercise they're getting.

Martin, Catherine and their older son Jack all take around 10,000 steps a day using mod cons. For Jordan, their youngest child, it's around 6500.

Now here's the tough part for the Pennys — a week of living like people lived 100 years ago. Dr Egger is going to take all their mod cons away — no washing machine and no television for a whole week! And the final bombshell? He's also taking the car keys.

"It's going to be very interesting to work out how to get the kids to school, how to get up to the shops," says Catherine.

In seven days, their exercise rates will be checked again.

A few days into the experiment, how are the Penny's going?

"I'm missing a few of the mod cons, like the car, and there's a few others, like the television," says Martin.

Martin's doing it tough alright — mowing the grass without his petrol mower is pretty hard.

Catherine's really been missing her car — particularly with a six kilometre return walk to the shop to endure.

"I have to organise myself a lot better, I have to plan my day, I can't just jump in the car and get a carton of milk or a loaf of bread," she says.

But things are about to get a lot tougher because it's wash day and we've sent the Penny's a mangle. It's the 1920's equivalent of the spin cycle. The old fashioned mangle method cost the whole family a lot of sweat and most of the afternoon.

"By the end of the day we've had it, we're exhausted, we've been very, very busy, active, and we just jump into bed and crash," says Catherine.

But is the hard work also burning the calories?

Results

It's been a week since the Penny family gave up their mod cons and exercise expert Dr Gary Egger is back to see how much energy it took to run their lives the old-fashioned way.

While Dr Egger crunches the numbers, the Penny's reacquaint themselves with some long lost friends.

"I have my vacuum back!" Catherine says.

Now for the big question — how much exercise have they done this week, compared to last week?

"The difference between you not using your mod cons and using your mod cons is the equivalent for the parents of about 3000 steps a day, for the kids about 4500 steps a day," says Dr Egger.

This is what happened on a typical day with and without mod cons:

The biggest increases? Catherine upped her steps by around 3,500 a day, while Jordan increased them by 4,500. According to Dr Egger when converted to calories that works out to be about six kilograms of weight per year!

Back in 2001 Dr Egger did a study at Old Sydney town and found exactly the same thing.

"Think of movement as an opportunity, not an inconvenience," he says.

Luckily, burning more calories doesn't mean we have to wind the clock back a hundred years. There are many ways we can fit exercise into everyday activities.

The Penny family's week without mod cons has inspired them to rethink the way they live.

"The kids have a TV-free day, a couple of days during the week, and also walk to school at least twice or three times a week," says Catherine.

So here's a challenge — why don't you try going without mod cons for a week?

Fast facts

• What’s the fattest country on earth? The tiny Pacific islands of Tonga and Nauru — they’ve got adult obesity rates of up to 80 percent. So how does that happen? Well, if we take just the men, the average Tongan bloke eats more than twice as many calories as the average Australian male.