Physical Activity

Exercise needs to become a part of your everyday life.

Group of women cancer survivors practicing exercise outdoors

INFORMATION

Staying active is known to lower the risk of developing cancer and is associated with lower relapse rates and better survival. There is evidence that physical activity helps lower the risk of breast cancer and bowel cancer. Basically, the more you can move and stay active, the better it is for lowering cancer risk. You can start with a little activity and gradually do more over time.

Researches have some ideas about why a lot of physical activity might decrease the risk of cancer:
- Moving around and staying at a healthy weight can make the levels of certain things in our body, like hormones, go down. These things, like estrogen and insulin, can make breast cells divide more, which is linked to higher cancer risk.
- Staying active and keeping a healthy weight can help our immune system work really well. This helps our body recognize and deal with cells that could turn into cancer.
- Exercise helps our digestion by moving food through our system faster. This means bad stuff in our food and waste doesn't stay in our body too long, and that might help avoid bowel cancer.
- Being active and having a healthy weight also reduces inflammation. Too much inflammation can make our cells divide more often, raising the risk of cancer.