Every system in your body relies on physical activity.
Staying active throughout the day can help you feel better and reduce your risk for diseases like cancer. Exercise reduces your risk for cancer because:
- It helps you maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or obese is linked to 13 different types of cancer.
- It helps regulate your hormones. Increased levels of some hormones can increase your cancer risk.
- It supports healthy digestion and may reduce the number of toxins in your body.
How to add physical activity to your day
Sit less. Get up and move for at least one to two minutes every hour that you are awake. Extended periods of sitting increase your cancer risk, even if you exercise regularly. Sitting too much also increases your risk for obesity, which leads to cancer and other chronic diseases.
Schedule exercise. Plan where, when and how you will exercise. And build up gradually.
The American Institute for Cancer Research recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes vigorous exercise each week. Moderate exercise is activities like brisk walking where you should still be able to hold a conversation, but you won't be able to sing. Vigorous exercise means activities like running, where you'd only be able to say a few words without feeling out of breath.
It’s best to do a combination of both, and you don’t have to do it all at one time. You can split up your activity into short intervals of as little as 10 minutes.
Make sure you include strength training
Build Strength. If your body is strong, everyday tasks are easier. And you are less likely to get injured. Strength training, also called resistance training, should be done twice a week.
Strength training also helps you maintain a healthy weight by building muscle, which boosts your metabolism.
Reward yourself. Keep yourself motivated by celebrating success. Small weekly rewards could include a new song download for workouts, a manicure or a trip to see a movie. You can also make exercise something to look forward to by adding in guilty pleasures like while you work out. Rewards will help you keep to your goals over time.
Why muscle toning is a myth
When it comes to strength training, the idea of becoming bulky is off-putting for some people.
If you don’t want big muscles, a class or weight routine that claims to target muscle toning may seem appealing.
But exercise physiologist Whittney Thoman says muscle toning is a marketing ploy and you don’t need special classes.
“Exercise professionals hate the word toning because it’s not different from normal strength training,” says Thoman. “The term ‘toning’ became popular when trainers wanted to market their classes to females, because females have historically had a fear of strength training and getting bulky.”
Here are four things Thoman wants you to know about strength training and toning.
1. Toning is strength training with weight loss
When you lift weights or do resistance exercises like push-ups and lunges, your muscles get stronger and firmer. How you look comes down to how much lean muscle mass you have versus how much body fat you have.
“In order to increase lean muscle mass and reduce body fat you should strength train 2-3 times a week, incorporate at least 150 minutes of cardio exercise like fast walking or swimming, and eat a healthy diet,” says Thoman. “Keep in mind that we do need some fat on our bodies to be healthy, and women more so than men.”
2. You don’t need special toning classes
Strength training is all about the number of repetitions of each exercise you do. You may get a more toned look by using a light yet challenging weight and doing higher repetitions.
“When people use the word ‘toning,’ it generally means working on muscular endurance, not size,” says Thoman. “It's exercises that you can do for 12 to 20 reps, which doesn't cause a whole lot of muscle size gain.”
3. Women don’t need to train differently than men
Even lifting heavy weight likely won’t lead to muscle size gains for women. The bulky look that men often aim for requires the male hormone testosterone. Women don’t have enough testosterone to build large muscles easily.
“Women should pick the kind of strength training that they like and will do consistently. Then feel confident that they will look and feel better,” says Thoman. “Strength training is a key part of staying healthy and pain free as you get older.”
4. Strength training is important
Strength training is essential for your health because it makes daily tasks easier, boosts your metabolism and keeps your bones strong as you age.
“The most important reason to do strength training is not how it makes you look; it’s what it helps you do,” says Thoman. “Strength training makes it easier to get up out of a chair, to lift your groceries or to carry your children or grandchildren.”
Request an appointment at MD Anderson online or by calling 1-877-632-6789.
What is the best time of day to exercise?
When it comes to exercise, the most important thing is that you do it. But if you like high-intensity exercise, research suggests that doing it in the evening might disrupt your sleep.
That’s because high intensity exercise can affect your internal body clock, known as your circadian rhythm.
“High-intensity exercise is anything that gets your heart rate up to a level where you’re only able to say a few words, but you can’t hold a conversation,” says Carol Harrison, a senior exercise physiologist at MD Anderson. “It’s sometimes called vigorous exercise, and it can include running, cycling, interval training and even strength training, if you’re really pushing yourself.”
These high-intensity exercises may change your circadian rhythm and delay the production of the sleep hormone melatonin.
“Research has found that if you do vigorous exercise in the evening, it delays the production of melatonin the next night, making it harder to fall asleep,” says Harrison. “What’s surprising is that the change happens so quickly, after only one night of exercise.”
The shift likely happens because your body adapts to support the evening activity. The exercise tells your body clock that you don’t want to be sleepy at that time, and it changes for you.
Your body relies on cycles
Melatonin production is one of several cycles in your body controlled by the circadian rhythm.
“The circadian rhythm is really fascinating,” says Harrison. “It also influences other hormones, like insulin for digestion and cortisol, which is related to stress. It is a big reason why having a consistent schedule is so important.”
When everything is in sync, your hormones start to flow at the times your body needs them most. Cortisol levels rise in the morning to get you going, followed by insulin to deal with digesting your first meal.
Then, melatonin kicks in in the evening to help you wind down to sleep.
“Research into how exercise affects our body clock is in its infancy; some others suggest the time of day you exercise affects weight loss and blood sugar,” says Harrison. “More research is needed, but it seems clear there is a connection.”
Evening exercise is not the only thing that can disrupt the circadian rhythm. If you eat at different times, or start sleeping later, it also has an impact.
“The most striking place we see it is with shift workers,” says Harrison. “There is evidence that people who work nights for many years are at higher risk for breast and prostate cancer, and the link may to be due to disruption of the circadian rhythm.”
Irregular schedules because of shift work, or because of lifestyle choices, are also linked to obesity, which can increase your risk for cancer.
Low-impact exercise in the evening is best
That’s a lot of information about your circadian rhythm, but the most important thing to remember is that your schedule can affect your health.
When you plan your exercise, save high intensity workouts for earlier in the day and stick to lower intensity ones at night.
Studies have found that our circadian rhythm is not affected by moderate exercise, where you’re able to talk, but not sing.
“If you start to push that body clock back, and you end up not getting enough sleep, then you may disrupt many of your other cycles,” says Harrison. “Be aware of when you eat and sleep, especially if you work shifts. Keeping things regular can help you stay healthy and lower your risk for disease.”
Request an appointment at MD Anderson online or by calling 1-877-632-6789.
3 reasons to sit less
Depending on your lifestyle and how you spend your downtime, you may find yourself sitting or lying down more than you’re moving throughout the day.
While it’s normal to want to be comfortable and relax, a sedentary lifestyle can be harmful to your health.
“Sitting too much can lead to all kinds of health challenges, including increasing your risk of developing cancer,” says Karen Basen-Engquist, Ph.D., professor of Behavioral Science. “Even people who exercise regularly can face health issues if they spend most of their day sitting.”
Motivate yourself to get moving and meet your health goals with these three reasons to sit less.
1. Staying active can help prevent weight gain.
When your body is still, it doesn’t burn as many calories as it does when you’re moving. Burning calories is an essential part of maintaining a healthy weight. When we don’t burn calories, those can turn into fat. So, if you spend most of the day sitting, you’re missing out on opportunities to help your body burn calories.
Standing is definitely better for you than sitting, but simply standing at a desk won’t burn calories as efficiently as moving can. Moving your body will help you burn more calories.
After you eat, your blood glucose increases, especially if you’ve eaten a lot of carbohydrates. Those carbohydrates turn into sugar as your digestive system breaks them down, then that sugar enters your bloodstream.
“Light activity after a meal can help bring your blood glucose levels down more quickly than sitting,” Basen-Engquist says.
2. Frequent activity is part of a healthy lifestyle.
People who sit more tend to have more health problems, including obesity, which is linked to 13 types of cancer.
“Moving around throughout the day is one way to reduce your risk of obesity,” Basen-Engquist says.
Hit that goal by fitting in small breaks for activity throughout the day. For example, once an hour, take a walk around your house or go outside for a short walk. If you’re at home, consider doing chores around the house, or even standing up and stretching to help break up the day and keep your body healthy.
If you have a commute or long meetings that require you to sit, consider adding a few minutes of activity beforehand to counteract the long periods of sitting. “After a long day, the first thing you may want to do is relax on the couch,” Basen-Engquist says. “But try to get a bit of movement in to improve your overall health.”
In addition to moving around throughout the day, adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week and perform strength training exercises at least twice a week.
3. Moving your body helps increase your energy level.
People often sit more because they’re fatigued. But Basen-Engquist says the more active you are, the more energy you’ll have.
If your job or health don’t allow you to stand up or move around, try getting movement while you’re sitting. Raising your arms and lifting and lowering your knees can be good options.
“We’ve found that even patients with cancer that have extreme fatigue can overcome that by adding more activity to their days,” Basen-Engquist says.
She suggests starting small, with a two-minute activity break every hour throughout the day. “Then you could try adding more time as those sessions become easier,” Basen-Engquist says.
Request an appointment at MD Anderson online or by calling 1-877-632-6789.