Vigorous Activity And Breast Cancer
Most people know that being overweight or obese contributes to the risk of heart disease and diabetes, but probably many don’t realize that being obese increases your risk of various cancers also. It’s a topic we will visit in future posts, but today I want to mention a recent study which demonstrates one way normal-weight women benefit from vigorous activity…they markedly cut their breast cancer risk.
It is a startling statistic, but one out of eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime (one out of 100 breast cancer cases occur in men), so anything that decreases this risk is welcome. And while the media tends to focus on risk factors we can’t control such as genes and family history, this study from the National Cancer Institute describes one relatively simple action women can take.
Beginning in 1987, the researchers studied over 32,000 post-menopausal women and found that women who engaged in regular vigorous activity or vigorous exercise had about a 30% reduction in the risk of breast cancer. Interestingly, this effect was seen only in slim and normal-weight women; obese women did not show the same good effect from strong exercise (though obese women would cut their risk by losing weight).
The type of activity that led to the decreased cancer risk included heavy housework such as washing windows, scrubbing floors, or digging outside. But don’t fear if you don’t want to do—or don’t have time for—heavy housework, because women who engaged in strenuous sports or vigorous exercise such as running, serious tennis, and fast dancing enjoyed the same benefit. Light housework such as washing clothes, basic gardening, or mild exercise didn’t seem to have the strong protective effect.
So especially if you have a higher-than-average risk of breast cancer, for example due to family history, keep vigorous activity in mind. (For an excellent current reference on breast cancer, check out this pdf from the American Cancer Society.) For Monday: how both men and women can cut their risk of another common and feared affliction, Alzheimer’s disease.
