Regular exercise comes with a slew of health benefits including weight control, better sleep and a lower risk of high blood pressure and diabetes. United States Health officials recommend that adults get around 2.5 hours of moderate exercise per week or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise, and now there's another reason to get moving.
A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology gives even more insight to how exercise can lower the risk of certain cancers. Researchers analyzed data from more than 750,000 adults in the U.S., Europe and Australia and found that physical activity had a direct correlation with lowering risks for seven types of cancer.
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The study looked at 15 different types of cancer but the seven that showed a reduced risk from exercise were colon, breast, kidney, myeloma, liver, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and endometrial, according to CNN. While there have been numerous studies examining the link between exercise and cancer risk, the new study took a deeper look at the link between the amount of physical activity and a lower cancer risk.
Most of the reduced risk was seen when participants completed the recommended amounts of exercise per week, and those who got more exercise saw even more of a reduced risk. The benefits included a 6-10% lower risk of breast cancer and an 18-27% lower risk of liver cancer.
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The researchers noted their data came from self-reported amounts of exercise and that the majority of people included were white, which could limit the findings of the study.
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