The best part is you don’t have to sign up for Crossfit in order to get the benefit. Walking at a brisk pace—which is approximately 4.5 mph or a 13-minute mile pace—is considered vigorous activity by the standards used in the study of more than 73,000 postmenopausal women. If you are more inclined to take a leisurely stroll, you’re still doing yourself a favor: an hour a day reduces risk by 14%. So what’s the connection? “Physical activity is thought to be associated with lower risk through lowering sex hormones, controlling weight, improving glucose metabolism, and lowering chronic inflammation,” explains Alpa Patel, PhD, one of the study’s authors and a senior epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society. “There is benefit to regular physical activity in terms of breast and other cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and overall longevity.” So even if you’re a 30-minutes per day kind of gal, those regular sweat sessions are still beneficial for overall cancer prevention. “We found it encouraging that women don’t have to train for a marathon to lower their breast cancer risk,” Dr. Patel says. We can’t help but agree. More from Prevention: 10 Ways To StopBreast Cancer
