Purpose of the Article
I have been studying cancer risk factors for a long time as a preventative measure for myself, my loved ones, friends, and readers.
The scientific literature indicates that lowering the risks of cancers is possible. Optimistically, my focus is on preventive measures to reduce the chances of cancer development by leveraging healthy lifestyle habits.
One of the healthy lifestyle habits to lower cancer risks is regular and moderate exercise that I highlight in this piece.
Movement is vital for our health and wellbeing. However, exercise is an individual matter. Thus, the amount and intensity vary from person to person.
Why Cancer Matter
Unfortunately, cancer is a highly complex and widespread health condition causing mortality to millions of people globally in the 21st century.
World Health Organization (WHO) characterize cancer as a leading cause of death globally. “Cancers caused around 10 million deaths in 2020. The most common ones were: breast, lung, colon/rectum, prostate, skin, and stomach cancers.”
Cancers are extremely complex diseases affecting our cells, tissues, and organs. When diagnosed late, treatment of cancers gets more complicated as cancer cells grow too quickly.
Most common cancers are related to our organs such as the brain, lung, liver, pancreas, kidney, colon, rectum, bladder, stomach, testis, breast, skin, and thyroid.
Exercise and Cancer Risks
Exercise is a psychosomatic activity. For example, physical activity can burn calories helping us maintain a healthy body weight. In addition, it can increase our energy levels and boost our mood.
As pointed out in this review paper on Oxford Academic, “Exercise is one of several factors known to lower the risk of developing cancer, as well as improve outcomes in patients already diagnosed.”
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), exercise is linked with lowering the risks of 13 types of cancer.
The ACS informs that “Exercise may lower cancer risk by helping control weight, reduce sex hormones or insulin, and strengthen the immune system; and it can boost the quality of life during cancer treatment.”
As body weight is a known risk for cancers, exercise is a tool to reduce the risk. However, exercise is a broad topic and an individual matter.
According to ACS, “being overweight or obese is clearly linked with an increased risk of many types of cancer.”
ACS mentions cancer types such as “breast, colon, endometrial, esophagus, gallbladder, kidney, liver, ovarian, pancreas, stomach, thyroid, multiple myeloma, meningioma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, male breast, mouth, throat, and aggressive forms of prostate cancers.”
ACS informs that excess body fat might increase cancer risk by affecting “inflammation, cell/blood vessel growth, cells’ ability to live longer, levels of hormones (insulin, IGF-1, estrogen) for cell growth, and the ability of cancer cells to spread.”
How Exercise Might Reduce Cancer Risks
Overall, the literature indicates that exercise plays a critical role in the functioning of the metabolism and improving the immune system.
Going into details of research findings in this article is impossible. However, I’d like to provide a bullet list to give an idea.
According to the National Cancer Institute, exercise might reduce cancer risks by eight mechanisms below:
“1 — Lowering the levels of sex hormones
2 — Preventing high blood levels of insulin
3 — Reducing inflammation
4 — Improving immune system function
5 — Altering the metabolism of bile acids
6 — Decreasing exposure of the gastrointestinal tract to suspected carcinogens
7 — Reducing the time it takes for food to travel through the digestive system
8 — Helping to prevent obesity, a risk factor for many cancers.”
As the list indicates, all items are related to our metabolism and immune system.
As I mentioned in my metabolic health articles, insulin resistance and inflammation are the key risk factors for metabolic disorders, including cancers.
I elaborated on these two issues (insulin resistance and inflammation) in a recent article titled Adiponectin Matters for Fat Loss and Inflammatory Health Conditions.
Exercise During and After Cancer Treatment
In addition to prevention, exercise seems to be also helpful during and after cancer treatment, contributing to patients’ mental health.
For example, WebMD reports, “In 2019, Dr. Kathryn Schmitz co-chaired an international panel of experts that reviewed the science and found that exercising during and after cancer treatment eases fatigue, anxiety, and depression while improving quality of life and physical function.”
A systematic review on PM&R concluded that “exercise promotes significant improvements in clinical, functional, and in some populations, survival outcomes and can be recommended regardless of the type of cancer.”
The paper on Oxford Academic confirms that “people who exercise after cancer have lower rates of cancer complications, treatment toxicities, relapse, and improved survival.”
This paper informs that “there is strong evidence indicating that resistance training produces significant gains in muscular strength without provoking breast cancer-related lymphedema.”
How Much and What Type of Exercises to Reduce Cancer Risks
American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR)recommends “active 150 minutes a week and reduce your cancer risk.”
AICR informs that “Being physically active and exercising can lower your cancer risk, help you have a healthy weight, and lessen your risk for numerous chronic diseases. Just 30 minutes of physical activity five times a week can go a long way towards improving your health.”
According to Health Line, “In terms of cancer prevention, the recommended general physical activity guidelines are at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week.”
The Cancer Council of Victoria highlights that “exercise is important to reduce the risk of many cancers. Up to 1 hour of moderate activity daily or 30 minutes of vigorous activity is recommended to cut your cancer risk.”
The Council points out that “moderate-intensity activity is anything causing a slight but noticeable increase in breathing and heart rate like brisk walking, mowing the lawn, medium-paced swimming or cycling.”
Our bodies need regular movement. Sedentary life is a known risk factor for numerous health conditions, including cancers.
As pointed out by AICR, “People who spend a lot of time sitting — to binge watch TV — are more prone to unhealthy weight gain, cancer and other chronic diseases including type two diabetes and heart disease. If you spend your day at a sedentary job and then sit at your computer or television for a few hours every night, that sedentary lifestyle can increase your cancer risk.”
Studies indicate that both cardio and strength training can reduce risks.
For example, as documented by National Foundation for Cancer Research: “combining both strength training and cardio workouts had the best outcomes for a study including 80,000 adults.”
The mentioned study found that “strength training twice a week reduced the likelihood of dying from cancer by 31%. In fact, the overall likelihood of any type of premature death decreased by 23%.”
Conclusions and Takeaways
Cancer Research UK informs us that “we all have cancerous cells in our bodies. There are many things that can give a cell the potential to become cancerous, but there are checks in place to stop that from happening.”
In addition to the defense mechanism of the body, there has been a significant focus on exercise for cancer prevention and treatment in scientific communities.
For example, I came across 8,000+ research reports on PubMed related to the benefits of exercise for reducing cancer risks and supplementing it during and after treatments.
Scientific studies indicate that exercise can significantly reduce the risk of various cancers. I haven’t come across any study indicating movement as useless so far.
The reasons for the contributions of exercise to risk reduction are understood and well-articulated by scientists.
The risks revolve around metabolic activities, and mitigation strategies are associated with balancing metabolic activities.
Hormones, particularly insulin and sex hormones (e.g., estrogen), play a critical role. In addition, exercise is known to address the insulin resistance problem by reducing excess glucose in the body.
As documented in the literature, cancer cells love sugar to grow and don't fancy fat molecules. Scientists are working on starving cancer cells by removing sugar. It is called The Warburg Effect.
Cancer prevention is one of my reasons to move from sugar-burning to a fat-burning metabolism using ketosis as an alternative energy source. Eating one meal a day helps me increase ketosis and reduce insulin secretion and mTOR activation.
Excessive insulin and frequent mTOR activations are known risks for the growth of cancer cells. I documented my findings on the value of ketosis for health in an article titled Intermittent Fasting and Keto Diet for Cancer Prevention and Treatment.
In addition to diet, regular exercise can burn glucose and increase fat utilization in the body.
Like all metabolic diseases, inflammation is also a significant risk factor for various cancers. The good news is that exercise can also lower inflammation.
Exercise can also improve our defense system, especially the immune system and lymphatic system.
The movement also increases blood flow. As I mentioned in my health articles, our organs like the brain, heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, and pancreas need exercise to get adequate blood flow.
I especially enjoy trampoline workouts as they significantly increase blood flow and activate the lymphatic system to naturally remove toxins. I documented the benefits in an article titled Trampoline Is Not Just Another Fitness Tool.
Any type of exercise seems to contribute to risk reduction. However, resistance training combined with moderate cardio seems to be more effective.
Resistance training can be performed by lifting weights and using the body’s weight, such as calisthenics, as I introduced in an article titled Here’s What Happened When I Performed Calisthenics for Decades.
Exercise, when performed joyfully, can be a hobby. Therefore, it is vital to choose workouts that give us pleasure. For example, I love barefoot walking on the beach and grass. Consequently, I never see it as exercise. It is just a hobby keeping me fit and happy.
In addition to resistance and cardio, we can include joyful exercises like dancing. Movement with music can provide extra benefit to the body and the brain. I know that some centenarians use dancing as a longevity tool.
I met people who transformed their lives using 30-minute simple workouts like Isabella. And another friend Audrey, 78 got rid of back pain using planks at home at her convenience. Norma, a single mum, with five kids stayed fit using stairs at home.
Sedentary life is a critical risk factor for many diseases, including cancers. As American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) recommends, we can reduce cancer risks by undertaking 150 minutes of activity per week.
The amount and intensity of exercise vary from person to person based on various factors. Every healthy person can do workouts in different amounts and intensities.
However, as exercise puts a significant risk on the body, it is essential to obtain support from qualified health care professionals for those with underlying health conditions.
Even though cancers are complex diseases and have genetic links, it looks possible to reduce risks and prevent them with healthy lifestyle habits like exercise, restorative sleep, rest, and quality nutrition.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a happy and healthy life.
If you enjoyed this story and have time, you might also check my articles on other common diseases and prevention methods with healthy lifestyle habits.
Reduce the Risks of Major Diseases with Healthy Lifestyle Habits
Why 442 Million People Live Diabetic and What We Can Do About it
What Can We Do About Non-Communicable Diseases Killing 41 Million People Yearly?.
Defeat Metabolic Syndrome and Slim Down Waistline with Three Tips
Five Tips to Prevent Infectious Diseases.
Lower the Risks of Heart Disease and Strokes in Five Steps
Three Tips to Improve Cardiovascular Health.
Defeat Fatty Liver Disease with Three Doable Tips
Three Lifestyle Habits to Lower Dementia Risks
Reduce the Risks of Neonatal Disorders to Prevent Infant Mortality.
Make Your Brain Healthier with Ten Lifestyle Approaches
Make Your Kidneys Healthier via Lifestyle Choices
Make Your Pancreas Healthier via Lifestyle Choices
Make Your Lungs Healthier Proactively
I also wrote about valuable nutrients like citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, and other nutrients that might help to improve metabolism and mental health.
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