Want Better Health? Get Out of the Car!

A recent news article has drawn attention to one of the most important reasons why many Americans fail to get even a minimal amount of physical activity into their daily lives: Our car-driven lifestyles. You may be wondering why a website dedicated to colon cancer would be discussing this issue, but the connection between these two things, colon cancer and cars, may be closer than you think.

As Americans, our dependence on cars for all transportation needs may be convenient, but it's not doing our health any favors. Health experts say that as a baseline, we all should get a minimum of 10,000 steps per day, which translates into about 5 miles of walking. This might sound like a lot, but most people can reach this goal without ever hitting the gym. All the steps we take as we go about a typical day, including walking our child to catch the bus, walking to get the mail, walking the dog, walking around work, and walking across parking lots and stores add up. But when we insert the most American of inventions, the car, into all of our daily activities, the daily steps we take can fall as low as 1,000.

Why Should I Care?

You may wonder why anyone concerned with colon cancer should care about this issue. The reason? There is a very solid connection between the amount of exercise we get and our risk of colon cancer. The less we get, the higher our risk of colon cancer. As well, less physical activity means higher risk of obesity, which is a leading cause of colon and other cancers.

If you've already had colon cancer, you may figure that this connection between exercise and colon cancer risk isn't important for you. After all, it's too late, right? WRONG! Leading health experts have studied this very issue and have found that without a doubt, those who exercise the most after a colon cancer diagnosis have the best survival. Even for people who have never exercised a day in their lives, adding exercise after colon cancer can reduce the risk of getting colon cancer again by as much as 50%!

Moving Toward Better Health

The most important thing to keep in mind about exercise is that it's never too late. Even after a colon cancer diagnosis, the more you move, the healthier you will be. Also important to remember is that in most cases, the biggest benefit from adding exercise comes from increasing from doing absolutely nothing, to doing at least a little physical activity each day. You don't need to run a marathon, you simply need to get those steps in each and every day.

I know we've all heard the standard advice about exercise - park in the spot furthest from the store, walk on your lunch hour, get an exercise buddy, etc. While this is good advice, most of these points are nothing new. What is new, however, is the mounting evidence that in terms of colon cancer prevention and prevention of recurrence (getting colon cancer again), nothing beats exercise. You can't change your gender, your genetics, or your past medical history, but you can change your health behaviors, including how much exercise you get each day.

Instead of dwelling on using exercise to lose weight or get ready for an event such as a wedding or class reunion (it's OK to admit, we all want to look good), think of exercise as your gateway to health and a long, fulfilling life.