VIV Says: Blog

Prevent cancer with your favorite form of exercise – just 60 minutes a week helps!

If you’re like us, you’ve been personally touched by breast cancer on one level or another — and every time the disease hits a bit closer to home, we become even more determined to unearth reliable ways to reduce our risks. Of course, we already know that exercise is an important aspect of any cancer-prevention program, but we didn’t realize just how simple meeting our weekly goal might be. Specifically: A new study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting in Seattle stated that exercising for a mere hour a week after the age of 30 can help cut a woman’s chances of developing breast cancer.

The findings were based on a University of Northern Colorado in Greeley survey, in which more than 4,000 women recalled their physical activity levels between the ages of 10–15, 15–30, 30–50, and 50 years and older. While exercise levels between the ages of 10 and 30 didn’t affect the odds of developing breast cancer, fewer women who classified themselves as “highly competitive” between the ages of 30 and 50 were diagnosed with the disease when compared with women who were less physically active. But get this: “Highly competitive” was defined as just 60 minutes or more of exercise each week! “Preliminarily,” said lead researcher Lisa Sprod, “the take-home message is that accumulating greater physical activity after the age of 30 may play a role in reducing the risk of developing breast cancer.”

Some of our favorite ways to get our minimum exercise requirements are with Zumba, kickboxing and yoga classes at our local gym. We’re also excited to check out the DVDs and downloadable workouts by certified kettlebell trainer Missy Beaver, who works exclusively with the cast-iron exercise equipment and counts the actors and crew of Grey’s Anatomy and Nip/Tuck among her clients.

How about you? What’s your preferred activity for whittling the pounds away — and keeping cancer at bay?

Photo credit: Tuan Tran