Work it – How do you help the most important women in your life?
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Since October is breast cancer awareness month, I could think of a better opportunity to share a new study with you. According to an article in Science Daily, post-menopausal women who engage in moderate to vigorous exercise have a reduced risk of breast cancer. This comes from researchers writing the open access journal BMC Cancer who investigated the link between breast cancer and exercise.
“With an estimated 182,460 new cases diagnosed in the United States in 2008, breast cancer is recognized as the most common cancer affecting U.S. women,” says Dr. Tricia M Peters from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, who headed up an international team of researchers. While the hypotheses that vigorous exercise reduces cancer risk has been around for quite some time, this new study is one of the first to look at the importance of various intensities of exercise at different stages in an individual’s life.
“More than 110,000 post menopausal women were asked to rate their level of physical activity at ages 15-18, 19-29, 35-39, and in the past 10 years. It was found, over 6.6 years of follow up, that women who engaged in more than 7 hours per week of moderate-to-vigorous exercise for the last ten years were 16% less likely to develop breast cancer than those who were inactive. ”
Unfortunately, no link was observed between breast cancer risk and physical activity in women who were active at a younger age.
Dr. Peters concludes: “Our findings could help inform the mechanisms of the physical activity-breast cancer relationship. With breast cancer still claiming so many lives, all the information of potential preventive measures we can get is vital.”
This article got me thinking — what am I doing in my life to help my mom (or dad!) stay active? Well, I meet to walk with her at least a handful of times a week and we recently raced for the cure! Do you encourage your parents (or grandparents) to exercise?
If you yourself are a post menopausal woman, do you have kids or friends who help support you in your physical activity? WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
Think about new ways you can encourage the post menopausal women in your life to be active. Start a walking group or enroll in an aerobics class together. This is bigger than breast-cancer, this is the key to living our best life.
Come on, Ladies!
What do YOU do to help?
4 Responses to “Work it – How do you help the most important women in your life?”
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Mara @ What's For Dinner? said:
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