What Is the Ideal Weekly Exercise Plan and Duration for Cancer Prevention?

It is well known that leading a physically inactive life invites many diseases, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Scientific studies have shown that regular exercise reduces these diseases noticeably. However, a question may arise: what should the ideal duration and frequency of exercise be, and is there an upper limit?

Exercise has many subcategories but can generally be classified into aerobic exercise such as walking, cycling, running and swimming; weight training; and balance and stretching exercises. All have positive health outcomes. Many mechanisms underlie these effects, such as balancing hormones including insulin and estrogen, reducing fat tissue and regulating bowel movements. Exercise also helps release protective molecules that reduce the rate of cancer development and prevent DNA damage. In this way, it significantly reduces breast and uterine cancer risk in women and prostate and colon cancer risk in men. Another mechanism involves proteins in our muscles called myokines. During exercise, myokines act through molecules they produce called cytokines to suppress inflammation, increase glucose uptake into muscle and promote fat breakdown.

Adults are generally advised to do at least 150 minutes of light aerobic exercise, such as walking, each week to prevent chronic diseases and cancer. However, the ideal duration and frequency remain debated. A study published in JAMA Oncology therefore examined how much exercise is ideal for disease prevention. The exercise duration considered ideal, 150 minutes, was doubled (300 minutes), and its effects on postmenopausal women were examined. Researchers reported that greater exercise produced substantial fat loss, proportional to energy expenditure. As expected, the results showed that more exercise increases fat burning, thereby reducing disease risk. It was also reported that women doing an additional 100 minutes of exercise weekly reduced their risk of breast cancer by approximately %2.

Although not defining an exact ideal, the study suggests exceeding 150 weekly minutes is not harmful and may offer more benefit. We should give diet and physical activity the greatest importance for health.