Research Shows Your Risk Of Multiple Cancers Is Reduced If You Exercise

• Updated on: 2019-10-24
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The benefits of exercise are popular and back up by scientific evidence as well. Many people you know add some form of physical workout in their daily routines for many different reasons including to maintain weight, bodybuilding, strength, or better overall health.

In addition to all of the advantages that come with exercise, there is no well-documented evidence to support working out can also decrease your risk of developing serious health conditions in life including cancer.

Researchers now have plenty of proof to forward the view that taking out specific time for exercise in everyday life can drastically lower your risk of developing thirteen different types of cancers. This just gives you one more reason for increasing your physical activity.

The study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine Journal collected information from over 1.4 million people between the ages of 19-90. The study took around eleven years just to gather all the relevant details.

The sources of the study included data provided by Harvard University, the National Institute of Health, and other major organizations. The information included details of the exercise and fitness routines of people such as swimming, running, brisk walking, and jogging.

The people who had the highest and the most intense exercise schedule were seen to have the lowest risk of developing thirteen types of cancers while the people who lived a sedentary lifestyle and had minimum physical activity were on the highest risk.

High physical activity reduced the number of cancers and protected against lung cancer by 26 percent, esophageal cancer by 42 percent, and liver cancer by 27 percent, gastric cardia or stomach cancer by 22 percent, kidney cancer by 23 percent, and 21 percent lower risk of endometrial cancer.

In addition, myeloid leukemia was reduced by 20 percent, 16 percent lower risk of colon cancer, 13 percent lower risk of bladder and rectal cancer, 17 percent lower risk of myeloma, 10 percent lower risk of cancer, and 15 percent lower risk of neck and head cancer.

The link between exercise and changes in energy, hormone levels, the degree of inflammation, diseases, and digestion was also known by researchers.

Read more on benefits of exercise here. 

Hence, the researchers claimed that the observational study actually ‘proved’ the link of the relationship between cancer and working out.

There have been many studies in the past that have proven that exercising can make you healthier and protect you from other health conditions along with cancers. This is why doctors always suggest having any form of physical activity in daily life.

However, many people tend to think that this means they need to spend hours at the gym or running. It is a popular misconception that the more you exercise, the faster you will see results and the healthier you will be.

The study mentioned above also showed that the work out does not need to be lengthy. The people who had a moderate amount of exercise also enjoyed the same benefits of having a low risk of developing cancer.

The shorts and more intense exercises were also equally beneficial. You do not have to do cardiovascular exercises for hours to protect yourself from many health conditions or to be healthy generally.

In order to be healthy and stay away from dangerous diseases, you can also do other forms of exercise which are done in a short period of time especially if you are always busy and find it hard to make time for physical activity.

To get the benefits of exercise, you can also do resistance training, high-intensity interval training or HIIT, or many other options like Tabata workout and rebounding workout.

For added benefits, try having a healthier diet filled with healthy fats, proteins, and other fundamental nutrients that can maximize your exercise results. If you workout for lean muscle mass and bodybuilding, you would already be aware of how essential working out it.

Other things you can do is avoiding foods that are actually unfit for consumption generally such as ultra-processed foods and leave unhealthy habits such as drinking too much alcohol and smoking. Too much alcohol is also linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in women.

An active and healthy lifestyle where your diet is also as good as your workout routine can have long-term benefits and keep you away from the serious health conditions that cause the highest number of deaths worldwide.