While receiving a cancer diagnosis can be life-altering, some cancers might be avoided. American Cancer Society estimates that half of all cancer deaths can be prevented by implementing healthy lifestyle behaviors such as exercising and eating a balanced diet.
An exercise is a powerful tool in the battle against cancer. Exercise can help you lose weight, lower your blood pressure, and improve your mental perspective, but it can also help prevent some diseases from developing. According to numerous studies, physical exercise has been associated with a lower risk of several diseases, including breast and colon cancer. Dr. Priscilla Furth, a professor of oncology at Georgetown University Medical Center’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, says it’s never too late to start a fitness regimen.
Endometrial cancer
This week’s study results presented at the Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference showed that women who exercised for 150 minutes or more per week had a 34% reduced risk of endometrial cancer than those who did not exercise.
Women with a BMI of less than 25 had a 73% lower chance of developing breast cancer compared to those with a BMI of more than 25. People with a BMI of over 25 are considered overweight.
Colorectal cancer
In a research published in the British Medical Journal online in October, people with a decreased risk of colorectal cancer were those who had a healthy lifestyle that included the daily exercise of at least 30 minutes.By adhering to the five lifestyle guidelines, researchers from the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen could avoid 23% of colorectal cancers. More than 55,000 men and women aged 50 to 64 were polled across nine years for the study.
Prostate cancer
Despite the lack of clear evidence, physical exercise has been linked to a lower incidence of aggressive prostate cancer in various studies.
A 2006 research in the International Journal of Cancer found that men who engaged in the regular recreational exercise had a decreased probability of acquiring advanced prostate cancer or dying from the illness compared to those who reported no physical activity. Moderate exercise has been shown to protect against prostate cancer in a 2005 study of Chinese males published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.
Furth recommends tailoring it to your needs to get the most out of your workout. She advised picking an activity that you like and focusing on intensity. “It’s not so much what you’re doing, but how intense you’re doing it,” she explained. “You can do a lot of hard labor in the garden, and it’s a lot of fun. Alternatively, you may run so slowly that your heart rate never rises over a certain level.”
Breast Cancer
In October, research published in Breast Cancer Research found that women who have a family history of breast cancer might lower their risk by one-fourth by engaging in 20 minutes of moderate or intense physical exercise at least five times a week.
According to a new study, ex-coach potatoes can gain instant anti-cancer benefits: postmenopausal women who quit their sedentary lifestyles and took up a moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise regimen exhibited changes in hormone and protein levels associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer.
In women who may have a BRCA gene mutation, commencing an exercise program during adolescence may help postpone the onset of breast cancer. Still, according to Furth, it does not prevent the illness from occurring.
Lung cancer
Regular exercise may lower the chance of developing lung cancer for current or past smokers. Researchers from the University of Minnesota surveyed 36,929 cancer-free women in Iowa over 16 years. According to a 2006 study in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, women with high levels of exercise were less likely to acquire lung cancer than those who reported lower levels of activity.
According to a 2003 research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, men and women with low or medium BMI and smokers were less likely to get lung cancer when they engaged in moderate or intense physical activity.