Exercise might make life harder for cancer

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Are you keeping track of the list of habits that allegedly prevent cancer?

It might seem like new stuff gets added to the list every week, but amid the fads, some factors have stood the test of time (and decades of research). Exercise is one activity that appears to dramatically lower your risk.

Exactly how exercise defends against cancer is still being explored, but new research offers interesting clues.

Remember: Check with your doctor before beginning a new exercise program, especially if you have existing medical conditions.

Testing a theory about exercise and cancer

Scientists in Israel set out to test this theory: that exercise would make life harder for cancer cells by leaving them with fewer nutrients to sustain themselves. Basically, pitting healthy cells against cancer cells for the body’s limited resources.

After studying mice and confirming that exercise spikes metabolism and increases cells’ energy demands, the researchers tracked the exercise habits of almost 3000 people over 20 years.

And while they found no significant difference for non-metastatic cancers, they discovered that high-intensity exercise was connected with an up to 73 percent reduction in metastatic cancer.

Since metastatic cancer is mostly incurable, anything that might help gets scientists very excited (and us too).

So, does exercise ‘kill’ cancer cells?

You might have seen headlines saying 'exercise kills cancer' but it's not that simple.

The results of this study do suggest that exercise can make life harder for cancer cells by making healthy cells 'hungrier' and leaving fewer nutrients for cancer cells to feed on. But more research is still needed to understand the precise impact on metastatic cancer prevention and treatment.

What we do know for sure is that exercise is invaluable for our health and well-being. So if you were looking for a reason to work out today, add this to your list.

Disclaimer: This Centr content is adapted with permission from an article written by Lifespan.io. The content herein represents Centr’s interpretation of the original source material.