Preventing Cancer With Exercise

You already know that exercise is good for you. It helps you maintain a healthy weight and keeps your heart in shape. Exercise makes it easier to get through your day. It releases endorphins that elevate your mood. But did you know about preventing cancer with exercise? Exercise has been specifically linked to a reduction in the occurrence of breast, prostate, lung, uterine and colon cancers.

How does exercise prevent cancer?

Exactly why exercise is able to prevent cancer is unclear. One theory is that obesity is linked to having a higher chance of getting cancer. Since regular exercise helps prevent obesity, it may also prevent cancer related to obesity. Exercise also speeds up metabolism, which in turn speeds up the rate at which food passes through the colon. This could possibly reduce the incidence of colon cancers by limiting the time the colon is in contact with harmful substances. Hormone levels are often changed by exercise, which has an effect on whether or not the body is susceptible to cancerous growths.

How much should I do?

Knowing that exercise could help prevent cancer, the question becomes: How much exercise is enough to prevent cancer? There is no clear answer to that question. There is not even consensus that exercise can prevent cancer; however, since all doctors agree that exercise has many health benefits, they recommend starting exercising sooner rather than later. If you have not been exercising on a regular basis, beginning with 30 minutes of physical activity a day is a good start.

Exercise has lots of health benefits. Picking up good, healthy habits could possibly help to keep cancer at bay.