Oncologist shares how daily habit that takes just seconds can reduce risk of cancer
An expert has shared the simple things you can do everyday to reduce your risk of cancer, and one takes almost no time at all.
This comes after an oncologist spoke to The Telegraph where he shared some vital advice on how to improve your general health and decrease your chances of cancer.
Professor Robert Thomas is a consultant oncologist at Bedford and Addenbrooke’s Hospitals who has revealed that simply making sure you stand up every 30 minutes is a good way to make sure that you maintain good glucose regulation and a normal metabolic function.
In a study that was published by PLOS Medicine, found that cancer risk ‘associated with sedentary behavior is specific to prolonged sedentary behavior’.
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Instead, replacing prolonged sedentary behavior with physical activity is ‘associated with lower cancer risk’.
According to Prof Thomas, people who spend too long sitting down without any physical activity tend to be more at risk of obesity-related cancers, including cancers of the oesophagus, liver, breast and kidney.
He continued: “I encourage my patients to walk a lap of the office, climb a few flights of stairs or simply make a cup of tea. At home, use the advertisement break as your cue to stretch, potter around the house or spend a few minutes in the garden. Those small bursts of movement soon add up.”
Other simple habits you can do to lower your risk of cancer
That isn’t the only habit that the expert encourages people to take up, as there are also benefits to other daily routines such as flossing every morning, making sure you head outside first thing, and even adding herbs and spices to your dishes.
First up, flossing is good for your oral hygiene but it is also linked with lowering your chance of getting gum disease. Being diagnosed with this type of disease can result in other serious health problems including an increased risk of several cancers affecting the head, neck and the digestive system.
Meanwhile, making sure you leave the house every morning to go for a walk can do wonders for your body as, according to Thomas, long-term disruption of the circadian rhythm can be linked to an increased risk of certain types of cancer such as breast, prostate and bowel cancer, but getting outside for a walk first thing can keep that rhythm on track.
Now, adding herbs and spices to food might sound like bizarre - albeit tasty - advice but Thomas shared that compounds found in herbs and spices can actually help to protect cells by ‘reducing inflammation, neutralizing harmful free radicals (unstable molecules) and supporting normal cell function’.