Everyday vigorous activities — such as climbing stairs, lugging heavy bags of shopping around, running for a bus, or chasing children — may lower your risk of cancer.
This is the conclusion of researchers led from the University of Sydney who wanted to find out if strenuous incidental activity could be as beneficial as conventional physical exercise.
Structured exercise has been linked to a lowered risk of various cancers — including those of the breast, liver, lung and kidney — but such can be difficult for many to fit into their lives.
The researchers found that just 3.5 minutes of vigorous activity daily may reduce your total risk of cancer by up to 18 percent.
The effect was larger among cancers known to be affected by exercise, with 3.5 minutes of incidental physical activity offering a maximum reduction in risk of 32 percent.
READ MORE: ‘Constant’ back pain could signal four types of cancer
The study was undertaken by Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis and Dr Matthew Ahmadi of the University of Sydney and their colleagues.
Writing in the Conversation, Prof. Stamatakis and Dr Ahmadi said: “Our study found 3–4 minutes of vigorous incidental activity each day is linked with decreased cancer risk.
“This is a very small amount of activity compared to current recommendations of 150–300 minutes of moderate intensity, or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity a week.
“Vigorous incidental physical activity is a promising avenue for cancer prevention among people unable or unmotivated to exercise in their leisure time.”
In their work, the researchers analyzed data on 22,398 adults — with an average age of 62 — who had never been diagnosed with cancer and undertook no structured exercise in their leisure time.
Data for the study was collected from the UK Biobank, a large-scale database containing detailed genetic and health information on some half-a-million adults.
Each participant had been given a wrist-worn activity tracker to wear for a week, allowing the team to calculate when and exactly how hard people in the study were exerting themselves.
This information was then compared to future cancer diagnoses over the course of the next 6.7 years.
The team also separately analyzed 13 cancer sites in the body that have established links to exercise — such as the breast, bowel, liver, and lung.
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
DON’T MISS:
Five signs of liver cancer that warrant seeing your GP as soon as you can[SYMPTOMS]
Tiny British ‘tentacle’ robot can detect the first signs of lung cancer[BREAKTHROUGH]
The researchers found that despite not doing any structured exercise, 94 percent of the subjects logged short bursts of vigorous activity, typically for less than one minute at a time.
After accounting for potential confounding factors — such as age, alcohol consumption, diet, and smoking habits — the team found that doing some 3.5 minutes of such activity was associated with a 17–18 percent reduction in total cancer risk compared to no such exercise.
Half of the subjects, however, logged at least 4.5 minutes of such activity each day, which the researchers say is associated with a 20–21 percent reduction in cancer risk.
The findings were even stronger for the specific cancers like those of the breast, bowel and lung that were previously found to be impacted by the amount of exercise that people do.
In fact, 3.5 minutes of vigorous incidental activity each day was associated with up to a 28–29 percent reduction in the risk of these cancers, while 4.5 minutes daily lead to a maximum reduction of 31–32 percent.
The researchers said: “For both total cancer and those known to be linked to exercise, the results clearly show the benefits of doing day-to-day activities with a gusto that makes you huff and puff.”
The experts cautioned that their study was only observational, and therefore has only revealed a correlation between incidental physical activity and lowered cancer risk, rather than establish a causal link.
If this link does exist, the mechanisms will also need to be deciphered — although previous early-stage trials have hinted that strenuous activity helps to improve heart and lung function, lowered insulin resistance and decreased chronic inflammation.
All of these, the team noted, are known risk factors for cancer.
The full findings of the study were published in JAMA Oncology.
Follow our social media accounts on https://www.facebook.com/ExpressUSNews and @ExpressUSNews
Source: Read Full Article
