Want to Prevent Cancer? Then Prevent Sedentary Living!
So, you’re not exactly a beacon of physical activity. You’re inactive at work, and then spend an hour or two watching TV at night after a not-so-healthy dinner. With all your attention focused on your career, hobbies, and the endless commitments you have as a responsible member of society, you wonder how you could possibly find time for vigorous exercise and strength training.
Well, here’s the bad news: Your sedentary lifestyle is probably killing you even as you read this article. Without any strength-training activity, your muscles are in a state of slow deterioration. Your bones are quite possibly weakening, along with your heart and lungs, blood vessels, immune system and brain. And, as you’ve probably guessed, you are also likely to get cancer.
How Do You Know If Your Life is “Sedentary?”
If you accept that inactivity leads to cancer risks but you’re not sure if your life can be classified as “sedentary,” here are a few questions that will help you determine the answer. (Hint: If you don’t know whether or not you’re sedentary, you probably are.)
- Does your job provide you with little physical activity and require you to sit most of the day?
- Is your leisure time spent sitting?
- Are you neglecting an intentional exercise program with muscular activity that keeps your body strong?
- Do you believe that your everyday chores and leisurely walking around provides all the activity your body needs?
If you’ve answered “yes” to most or all of these questions, then you are an official member of the Sedentary-Living Club.
Don’t Let “Expenses” Stop You From Living!
Like millions of other people, you may believe that it’s too expensive to focus on the prevention of cancer and adopting a healthy lifestyle that’s rich with activity and muscle training. Gym memberships, running shoes and workout clothes, setting aside the time needed to make improvements to your health – all these things are keeping you from changing your life for the better.
If time and expenses are causing you some hesitation, you probably haven’t thought about the far-higher expenses involved with sedentary living and cancer: worry, medical costs, a poor quality of life, and the hardship your loved ones go through in the process. It’s time to shift your thinking, and to fear a future filled with those realities rather than fearing an immediate investment in your health. It actually costs much less to keep strong and fit than to risk disease and a shortened life.
You Can Do This.
Are you ready for the good news? You have what it takes to help prevent cancer and ensure a happier future for yourself! As a human being, your body has been designed to be highly active and vigorous. So let it do what it is meant to do!
Break free from the sedentary life right now. As you begin your new life, just remember this staggering (and encouraging) finding: When you exercise correctly and engage in a strengthening program, you can prevent your cancer risk by an estimated 50 percent! That’s a huge benefit that requires a decision on your part to get active and healthy. Start right now!