Physical activity, exercise and cancer
By being physically active, you can reduce your risk of breast and bowel cancer. Keeping active could help to prevent 3,000 cases of cancer in the UK every year.
Just 30 minutes of moderate activity a day, five days a week, can have a positive effect on your health. And the more active you are, the more you can reduce your risk of cancer.
Moderate activity doesn't have to cost you money or too much time. It includes anything that leaves you warm and slightly out of breath, such as brisk walking, gardening, dancing or housework.
Even small bits of activity are beneficial, and can add up over the course of a day. It sounds like a cliche, but you can increase the amount of activity you do by making small changes like taking the stairs instead of the lift, or walking some of the way to work, school or the shops. Even if you have been inactive for years, becoming more active now will have a positive effect on your health.
In this section
- Learn about the benefits of walking and tips for walking your way to better health
- Read about how even small bursts of activity are good for you, and ways to keep on moving during your daily routine
- Read ourtips for parents to encourage your children to be more active
- Find out about the evidence linking physical activity to cancer
Test your knowledge
How much do you know about the effect that activity can have on your risk of cancer?
Ten Top Tips
Cancer Research UK and Weight Concern have joined forces to develop Ten Top Tips for a healthy weight, as part of our Reduce the Risk campaign. These tips have been designed to fit into your daily life and are based on the best scientific evidence. Find out about the Ten Top Tips and ways of sticking to them on our Reduce the Risk site.
You could also get involved in an active Cancer Research UK fundraising event - raising money to support our vital research as you shape up!
Take to the streets
Cancer Research UK are supporting the Great Activity Revolution, a national activity campaign that aims to get over 2 million people a year active and engaged in mass-participation sporting events by 2012.
The campaign's website has more free information and resources, including personalized training plans, your own online training diary, detailed training advice, a blog, a forum, and access a network of challenging mass participation events throughout the UK. Be sure also to download the new Great Trainer to your mobile phone, it turns it into a personal trainer – tracking routes and giving you audio feedback on the distance covered, pace, time taken and calories burnt. It then uploads the information to your personal page on the website.
Fitness vs. Health
Being moderately active will help improve your health and reduce your risk of disease. But if you want to become physically fit you will usually need to do some regular moderate-high intensity activity.
You may want to become fitter if you have a physically demanding job, play sport or want to have a particular body shape. Visit your local leisure centre to find out more about fitness training.
Are we doing enough physical activity in the UK?
The government recommends we do 30 minutes of moderate physical activity (such as brisk walking) at least five days a week. Only 37% of men and 25% of women are currently managing this.
Your challenge is to Run 10k!
Get out into the great outdoors and get fit with Run 10k for Cancer Research UK! We’ve got 41 events in stunning and unique locations across the UK this autumn. Find out your nearest event at www.run10k.org.
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