You can outrun a cancer diagnosis… literally

Exercise is just too essential to good health to continually ignore advice on the subject. So I’m going to continue doling it out, for as long as the research results keep rolling in. And for what it’s worth, I think you’ll be especially thrilled about this latest finding.

Let’s dive right in…

Powerful prevention

A new study shows that regular exercise can slash the risk of several types of cancer—and that response may be dose-dependent. (In other words, the more you do, the greater your risk reduction.)

We’re not talking about a small study, either. This conclusion comes from an analysis of nine different cohorts, featuring more than 755,000 subjects altogether.

The study authors set out to determine whether adhering to the current physical activity recommendations—that is, between 2.5 and five hours of moderate-intensity activity per week—would have an effect on cancer risk.

And overall, that’s exactly what they found: Higher levels of exercise were strongly linked to lower risk of breast, colon, endometrial, kidney, esophageal, head/neck, and liver cancers.

There were some differences according to gender. Among men, for example, the risk of colon cancer dropped by nearly 20 percent—while that risk dropped by only six percent among women. Meanwhile, exercise cut risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma by nearly 20 percent in women, but not at all among men.

Still, we’re talking about some powerful associations. Following standard exercise recommendations delivered risk reductions as high as:

• 10 percent for breast cancer
• 18 percent for endometrial cancer
• 17 percent for kidney cancer
• 19 percent for myeloma
• 27 percent for liver cancer

The more you can do, the better

These authors also looked at moderate-intensity exercise separately from vigorous-intensity exercise. And came away with some noteworthy differences.

Breast and kidney cancer risk, for example, responded best to moderate-intensity exercise. (A brisk walk or a light bike ride would fall into this category.) While endometrial cancer risk responded more to vigorous activity. (Such as jogging or a fast bike ride.)

Colon cancer, meanwhile, responded well to activities of either intensity.

So what does this mean? Well, in the end, it was an observational study—which, as I’ve explained in the past, can’t prove cause-and-effect, only an association.

But given the size of the subject pool and what we already know, I think it’s fair to conclude that—when it comes to fighting cancer, at least—any exercise is good, and the more you can do, the better.

It’s a well-established fact already that physical activity can cut colon and breast cancer risk. And as recently as 2018, the U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee went out of their way to point out that regular exercise also wards off endometrial, bladder, esophageal, kidney, and gastric cancers.

In other words, we’ve had this information for years. And yet, I don’t hear many people shouting it from the rooftops—much less advocating to have exercise therapy integrated into conventional cancer care.

Fortunately, you can always count on me to give you a reason not to skimp on exercise. And the best one? It just might save your life.

So, get up and get moving. Use the time that would have been spent on your daily commute to work in some exercise at home. It only takes 150 minutes weekly, which breaks down to roughly 20 minutes a day. And as the weather starts to warm up, there’s no better time to start taking that daily walk—just be sure to wear a mask right now! You can even sign up for various exercise classes online and stream them in the comfort of your own home.

P.S. For additional ways to help stop cancer in its tracks, I outline simple, science-backed strategies to help fortify your cellular defenses in my Essential Cancer Protocol. To learn more about this innovative, online learning tool, or to enroll today, click here now!

Source:

“Regular Exercise Linked to Reduced Risk of Several Cancers.” Medscape Medical News, 12/31/2019. (medscape.com/viewarticle/923254)