For a longer life, Do It Yourself Still, I must point out that DIY has the potential to shorten your life as well as prolong it. Every year, about 70 deaths and 250,000 serious injuries are reported as being caused by UK residents doing-it-themselves. No laughing matter, but one man in east London became so well known for his regular DIY disasters that he became known as Calamity Ken. Every tradesman in the area had been called out at some time to Ken's house to rectify his DIY blunders. Ken topped it all one Christmas Eve when he tried to get up into the loft to retrieve the Christmas decorations. As it was raining, he didn't want to go out to the shed to get the ladder, so he instead used a chair to access the loft hatch, which was in the bathroom. Being Ken, he then put one foot on the open bathroom door to ease himself up into the roof space. The door swung away from beneath him, and he attempted to break his fall by grabbing the porcelain washbasin with both hands. The inexpertly-fixed basin came away from the wall, and as Ken reached the end of his downward journey, he brought the basin down forcefully on the WC pan, smashing it to bits. He had left his family without lavatory or washing facilities over the Christmas period - not to mention the lack of Christmas tree decorations. Back to the research, though: a major finding appears to be that the biggest risk to health is what the authors call "prolonged sitting." In other words, they are saying that if you get up and move around a bit, you will live longer. To that extent, it doesn't seem to matter what activities you do, as long as you occasionally achieve a standing position. And if DIY makes you healthy and long-lived, I assume that the guy who transformed my current building project from a beautiful Victorian Villa into a faux-Seventies Wimpey house must be looking forward to his telegram from the Queen. He appeared to do everything himself, from hacking off the decorative plaster cornices to sticking on the ghastly stone cladding. Restoring this idiot's damage is giving me high blood pressure, I can tell you. Now, I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure I've heard that cardiovascular disease is linked to stress, which prepares the body for "fight or flight." And if you stay seated and do neither, then the body doesn't release this need for activity. Well, restoring this house is giving me plenty of options for both fight and flight. On the one hand I regularly fantasise about throttling the perpetrator of the vandalism; at other times I feel like running away from it all. But then, I pick up a shovel or hammer, and get on with it, and life seems full of promise again. Jeff's DIY tasks to keep you fit: Mixing concrete - aka the full body blast. Knocking up concrete by hand, using a shovel, is one of the hardest physical activities known to man. It should be part of the heptathlon. Not for beginners. Cleaning out gutters - aka legs, bums and tums. This involves climbing a ladder, which is good for the legs, and reaching out to collect the leaves and silt, which is good for the abs and arms. Not for those who are afraid of heights. Wallpapering - aka terrific triceps. Gentle exercise that gives a full-body workout - stretching up and down. Sand-papering in preparation for painting - stop that stiffness. Useful joint mobility workout for wrists and elbows. Paving - aka the body pump. Hard work, but no need to go weight-lifting at the gym. And with all that foot-stomping, save on your Zumba class fees!