Get up and move!
Walking just 9,000 steps a day can help to lower your risk for 13 different cancers, according to researchers.
Researchers have long said that the more people walk, the better their health is on multiple fronts. Sedentary behavior has been tied to negative health outcomes, including increasing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
A recent University of Oxford study involving more than 85,000 people in the U.K. has helped to shed more light on the issue. The findings were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The authors tracked the health of those included using wearable activity trackers, measuring the amount and intensity of people’s daily movement.
On average, they followed up with the participants after six years, finding that more steps meant a lower cancer risk. The pace of those walks also had no impact.
The benefits started to appear at around 5,000 steps a day, with the risk of cancer dropping by 11 percent. By 7,000 steps, the risk was 16 percent lower. Beyond 9,000 steps, the risk reduction plateaued.
The findings support the recommendation of taking 10,000 steps every day. It is believed that people who take more than 8,000 steps a day can reduce their risk of premature death by half, compared to those who walk fewer than 5,000 steps, although doctors are divided about that number.
In general, federal health authorities advise adults to get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week.
How can this walking lower peoples’ cancer risk?
The American Cancer Society says physical activity can help regulate some hormones that contribute to the development of cancer and help keep the immune system healthy. Regular exercise is associated with a lower risk of breast, prostate, colon, endometrium, and possibly pancreatic cancer.
The University of Oxford study looked at oesophageal, liver, lung, kidney, gastric, endometrial, myeloid leukaemia, myeloma, colon, head and neck, rectal, bladder and breast cancers. After the six years, approximately 3 percent of participants developed one of those cancers.
Although more research is needed to understand these specific links, staying at a healthy weight is crucial because being overweight or obese is a factor in an estimated 14 to 20 percent of cancer deaths in the U.S.
“Another advantage to exercising is that when you’re exercising, you aren’t just sitting. Evidence is growing that sitting time, no matter how much exercise you get when you aren’t sitting, increases the likelihood of developing several types of cancer, as well as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease,” the society says.
