A new study suggests that just one hour a day of walking may really do your body good when it comes to breast cancer. According to Forbes on Oct. 4, a study from the American Cancer Society says that an hour of walking can help reduce your chances of developing postmenopausal breast cancer. And the more exercise you do, the better, as that will reduce your risk proportionally.
Forbes does note that you don't have to run or walk yourself silly to be able to reduce your risk though. An adequate amount of exercise will still produce a significant effect. The study involved 73,000 women in 1992-1993. At that time the women were between 50 and 74 years of age. They were monitored until 2009 for their risk of developing cancer.
At the end of the study, 4,760 women had developed breast cancer. But the study showed that women who chose only to walk, but were able to walk for seven hours a week had a 14 percent reduced risk. Woman who got seven or more hours of vigorous activity a week and a 25 percent lower risk compared to women who got less than seven hours in. The Huffington Post reports that the most popular moderate exercises were dancing, aerobics, walking and cyclic. The most popular vigorous activities were swimming, running and tennis.
Body size and hormones didn't affect how much activity was needed for each woman; the results remained true after all variables were accounted for.
Another study found that 47 percent of women said walking was their only exercise. This new finding suggests that something as simple as walking can make a big difference.
