New research produced has uncovered that those that exercise on a regular basis are less likely to develop precursors to colorectal cancers.
When comparing individuals with lower physical activity, people who maximize their exercise are 23% less likely to get what is called precancerous neoplasias, which is the culprit that sometimes progresses into full-out colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer is one of the more common cancers in the United States. Approximately 1 in every 23 males and 1 in every 25 females will develop colon or rectal cancer at a point of their lifetime.
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So how much exercise is considered a “regular basis”?
To get enough health benefits from exercise, it is recommended that adults engage in aerobic exercise for periods of 10 minutes or more for a total of 150 minutes of medium-intensity activity or 75 minutes of high-intensity activity or an equivalent combination of medium- and high-intensity aerobic activity spread throughout each week.
For children and teens, it is recommended they engage in medium-intensity or high-intensity aerobic exercise at least 60 minutes 3 or more days a week and include muscle- and bone-strengthening physical activity in their 60 minutes or more of exercise at least 3 days a week.
Some examples of aerobic exercise include walking, jogging, running, going for a bike ride, ice or roller skating, dancing, and hiking. Taking part in sports activities such as basketball, soccer or tennis are also great ways to get your aerobic exercise weekly.
In addition to regular exercise, the study did say that in order to make a significant difference in decreasing your chances of colon cancer, several other lifestyle changes needed to be met.
Starting with a healthy diet was the fist recommendation. This included a lot of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and a reduction in red and processed meats (and all processed foods for that matter).
In addition to exercise and eating healthy, some other obvious points such as not smoking and limiting alcohol consumption also helped reduce your risk.