A new study that was recently published in the journal, Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, showed that women who participated in weekly exercise as teenagers may have a lower risk of dying from cancer and other causes in middle and older age.
In this study, researchers asked over 75,000 women from the ages of 40 to 70 whether or not they exercised when they were 13 to 19 years old. They also asked how much they exercised and then examined the women’s general lifestyle habits, including their weekly exercise in adulthood. The researchers followed the women for 13 years and examined how many of them died from cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other causes.
80 MINUTES OF WEEKLY EXERCISE GIVES 16 PERCENT LOWER RISK OF DYING FROM CANCER
During the study, 5,282 of the women died, including 2,375 who died from cancer and 1,620 who died from cardiovascular diseases. The women who would exercise, regardless of the fact that they were into their adulthood, were associated with a reduced risk of cancer and all-cause mortality. This was reported by study author, Sarah J. Nechuta, an assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
The researchers found that the women in the study who did some form of exercise as teens up to an hour and 20 minutes weekly, had a 16 percent lower risk of death from cancer and 5 percent lower risk of dying from any cause over the 13-year study than the women who didn’t exercise at all during adolescence.
RESEARCH DID NOT LINK ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF WEEKLY EXERCISE
The results didn’t link any additional benefits of doing more exercise with longevity. The women who exercised for more than 1 hour and 20 minutes a week had a 13 percent lower risk of dying from all causes in the study period.
The results from the study show the importance of promoting exercise participation in adolescents to reduce the risk of mortality later on in life. This also highlights the critical need for the importance of disease prevention early in life. The study also found that women who exercised both as teens and as adults were at a 20 percent decrease in risk of dying than those who didn’t at all. The group’s risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was 17 percent lower and the risk of dying from cancer was 13 percent less.
THERE IS A LINK, BUT THE REST IS UNCLEAR
While the study found an association between mortality risks and exercise, it is not clear whether or not weekly exercise during adolescence can actually lower mortality later on in life.
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