{"id":43305,"date":"2025-05-16T19:24:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T15:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=43305"},"modified":"2025-05-16T19:24:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T15:24:15","slug":"how-7000-steps-a-day-could-help-reduce-your-risk-of-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/how-7000-steps-a-day-could-help-reduce-your-risk-of-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"How 7,000 steps a day could help reduce your risk of cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

Study shows how small changes make a big difference when it comes to physical activity and reducing cancer risk.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Physical inactivity costs the UK an estimated \u00a37.4 billion each year \u2014 but more importantly, it costs lives. In today\u2019s increasingly sedentary world, sitting too much is raising the risk of many serious diseases, including cancer. But could something as simple as walking offer real protection?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>PeopleImages.com – Yuri A\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n

It turns out the answer may be yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

A growing body of research shows that regular physical activity can lower the risk of cancer. Now, recent findings from the University of Oxford add more weight to that idea. According to a large study involving over 85,000 people in the UK, the more steps you take each day, the lower your chances of developing up to 13 different types of cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the study, participants wore activity trackers that measured both the amount and intensity of their daily movement. On average, researchers followed up with participants six years later. They found a clear pattern: more steps meant lower cancer risk, regardless of how fast those steps were taken.<\/span><\/p>\n

The benefits began to appear at around 5,000 steps a day \u2013 anything below that didn\u2019t seem to offer much protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

At 7,000 steps, the risk of developing cancer dropped by 11%. At 9,000 steps, it dropped by 16%. Beyond 9,000 steps, the benefits levelled off. The difference in risk reduction became marginal and varied slightly between men and women.<\/span><\/p>\n

These findings support the popular recommendation of aiming for 10,000 steps a day \u2013 not just for general health, but potentially for cancer prevention too. These associations also held up when results were adjusted for demographic, BMI and other lifestyle factors, such as smoking, suggesting that the observed changes in cancer risk were indeed down to the average number of daily steps a participant took.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step intensity was also analysed \u2013 essentially, how fast participants were walking. Researchers found that faster walking was linked with lower cancer risk. However, when total physical activity was taken into account, the speed of walking no longer made a statistically significant difference. In other words: it\u2019s the total amount of walking that counts; not how brisk it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, replacing sitting time with either light or moderate activity lowered cancer risk \u2013 but swapping light activity for moderate activity didn\u2019t offer additional benefits. So just moving more, at any pace, appears to be what matters most.<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers looked at 13 specific cancers, including oesophageal, liver, lung, kidney, gastric, endometrial, myeloid leukaemia, myeloma, colon, head and neck, rectal, bladder and breast.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the six-year follow-up period, around 3% of participants developed one of these cancers. The most common were colon, rectal, and lung cancers in men, and breast, colon, endometrial, and lung cancers in women.<\/span><\/p>\n

Higher physical activity levels were most strongly linked to reduced risk of six cancers: gastric, bladder, liver, endometrial, lung and head and neck.<\/span><\/p>\n

Break it up<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Previous studies have relied on self-reported activity logs, which can be unreliable \u2013 people often forget or misjudge their activity levels. This study used wearable devices, providing a more accurate picture of how much and how intensely people were moving.<\/span><\/p>\n

The study also stands out because it didn\u2019t focus solely on vigorous exercise. Many past studies have shown that intense workouts can reduce cancer risk \u2013 but not everyone is able (or willing) to hit the gym hard. This new research shows that even light activity like walking can make a difference, making cancer prevention more accessible to more people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walking just two miles a day \u2013 roughly 4,000 steps, or about 40 minutes of light walking \u2013 could make a significant impact on your long-term health. You don\u2019t have to do it all at once either. Break it up throughout the day by: taking the stairs instead of the lift; having a stroll at lunchtime; walking during phone calls; parking a bit further away from your destination.<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting more steps into your routine, especially during middle age, could be one of the simplest ways to lower your risk of developing certain cancers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, the link between physical activity and cancer is complex. More long-term research is needed, especially focused on individual cancer types, to better understand why walking helps \u2013 and how we can make movement a regular part of cancer prevention strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n

But for now, the message is clear: sit less, move more \u2013 and you could walk your way toward better health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mhairi Morris<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry, <\/span>
\nLoughborough University<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 16 May 2025<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Study shows how small changes make a big difference when it comes to physical activity and reducing cancer risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":43306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3899],"tags":[1082,37632,5989,4273,16825],"class_list":["post-43305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-educate-me","tag-exercise","tag-health","tag-walking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Health.jpg?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-bgt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43307,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43305\/revisions\/43307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}