Staying active can help you lower your risk of many types of cancer
Exercise helps you maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or obese raises your risk for several cancers.
Get active. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes vigorous exercise each week. It’s best to do a combination of both, and you don’t have to do it all at one time. You can split up your activity into short intervals of as little as 10 minutes. During moderate exercise, you should be able to talk, but not sing. Examples of moderate activities include walking, yoga and mowing the lawn. During vigorous activity, you can say a few words, but you can’t hold a conversation. Examples of vigorous activity include running or jogging, fast bicycling and swimming. Build strength. Perform muscle strengthening exercises at least twice a week. Strength training helps you maintain a healthy weight by building muscle, which boosts your metabolism. Strength training, also called resistance training, should be done in addition to moderate and vigorous exercise. This year, more than 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, a disease commonly believed to be preventable. Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. The lifestyle factors include cigarette smoking, diet (fried foods, red meat), alcohol, sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity. The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25–30% are due to tobacco, as many as 30–35% are linked to diet, about 15–20% are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants etc. Therefore, cancer prevention requires smoking cessation, increased ingestion of fruits and vegetables, moderate use of alcohol, caloric restriction, exercise, avoidance of direct exposure to sunlight, minimal meat consumption, use of whole grains, use of vaccinations, and regular check-ups. All lifestyle factors that cause cancer (carcinogenic agents) and all agents that prevent cancer (chemopreventive agents) are linked through chronic inflammation.
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