How Does Exercise Prevent Cancer?
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Exercise and cancer
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Physical exercise is good for a lot of things. It helps you get in shape; it helps you lose excess fat; it gives your body more power, stamina, flexibility and agility; and it helps you feel good about yourself. And now, according to a growing number of studies, it helps prevent cancer. Though cancer was previously thought to be largely a product of nutrition and consumption habits, now many researchers believe it can be affected by how much physical exercise you do.
Theories
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How does exercise actually prevent cancer? According to Dr. Inge Haunstrup Clemmensen, of the Danish Cancer Society, regular physical exercise helps improve your immune system, and this strengthened immune system can stop cancer in its tracks. Even incorporating simple exercises into your daily life, such as walking and cycling to get around, can reduce the chances of intestinal cancer, which is a very deadly and common form of this disease.
According to another theory by the same doctor, more exercise increases the action of the excretory system and the intestines. So, while harmful material may still be coming into the body at the same rate, there is faster excretion, and it stays in the body for a very short amount of time. It's not enough time for cancer to take hold, says Dr. Clemmensen.
There is good news for smokers as well. Whether you are a smoker or not, Dr. Steven N. Blair of the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research says you are protected by exercise. What this basically means is that even though smoking will still be damaging to your lungs, exercise can help reduce some of those effects. The theory behind that is that people who exercise also tend to practice other good habits, such as eating healthfully and staying fit. Since obesity is a major factor in many forms of cancer, they are effectively averted.
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Effects and treatment
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Exercising affects many bodily functions, and people exercising regularly experience better cardiovascular activity, immune function, energy, DNA repair and hormone regulation. All these changes directly affect the formation of various forms of cancer such as prostate, colon, lung, intestinal, breast and endometrial.
According to researchers such as L.W. Jones, co-author of "Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training in Anemic Cancer Patients Receiving Darbepoetin Alfa: A Randomized Controlled Trial," and F.C. Dimeo, author of "Effects of Exercise on Eancer-Related Fatigue," not only does exercise prevent cancer, it also helps rehabilitate and treat cancer patients. Exercise improves the immune system, reduces fatigue and increases body function, which are all essential in treatment of any disease. The best part of all this is that you do not need high-intensity fitness regimens. Even moderate-intensity workouts will do.
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