#worrkout

  Before jumping into any kind fitness training, one must remember to do stretching exercises to warm the muscles which helps prevent injuries and improves the output of the training session. There are also several precautions and measures to consider before commencing any exercise program. Here are several to consider:

  In order to increase your flexibility and help avoid injury, stretch for at…

It’s estimated that nearly 1 in 8 women will develop some form of invasive breast cancer during their life. This year alone, more than a quarter of a million new cases are expected to be diagnosed. But a new study suggests that regular exercise may lower your risk of developing breast cancer.

Most people are fully aware of the importance of having an active lifestyle. It burns fat, prevents obesity, builds muscle and tones the body. But how exactly does exercise impact breast cancer risk? This is a question researchers recently sought out to answer.

Christine M. Friedenreich, Ph.D., of Alberta Health Services, Canada, and her team of colleagues analyzed data from two sets of women: the first group exercised 5 hours per week, whereas the second group exercised 2.5 hours per week.

Not surprisingly, researchers discovered that women who exercised for 5 hours per week had a lower percentage of body fat when compared to the group who exercised for half this amount. What’s interesting, however, is that researchers cite body fat as being a risk factor for breast cancer, meaning the participants who exercised for just 2.5 hours per week had a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

Now for the million-dollar question: how much should you exercise to ward off breast cancer and other diseases? Researchers were reluctant to make any conclusive statements, but they noted that current guidelines recommend 150 minutes of activity per week. With that said, these guidelines refer to strictly to exercise and its positive effect on heart disease, so the researchers added that 300 minutes of activity is better.

“The exercise guidelines were developed with [heart disease] outcomes in mind,” said the study’s lead author. “So at that level, they can have an effect on blood pressure, cholesterol levels and waist circumference. But for cancer prevention, we may need to exercise at higher volumes. So yes, doing 150 minutes of activity a week is good, but if you can do more, then from a cancer prevention perspective, 300 minutes is better.”

Exercise, of course, is just one element of a healthy lifestyle. You should also incorporate a healthy, nutritious diet into your routine, building your dinner plate around lean meats, fresh veggies and whole grains.