Breast Cancer Awareness: 10 Ways to be More Active

October 16, 2012 | Story by: Community Contributor | Categories: Featured, Fitness, Health

Story contributed by Troy Rininger, Manager of  Fitness Together-Cary. Photo from Sean Dreilinger.

Cary, NC – In honor and recognition of October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it’s important to revisit the importance of being active and eating healthy in order to reduce the risk of diseases such as cancer, increase fitness levels, and promote healthy living and longevity.

Experts throughout the fitness community have long encouraged everyone to exercise more in order to live a healthy and fit lifestyle. Recently, the medical community has further supported the importance of encouraging adults to be more physically active, especially for individuals who have or are at high risk for life-threatening diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

More Than 190,000 Deaths Due to Poor Diet and Inactivity

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), more than 572,000 Americans die of cancer each year, with 1/3 of the deaths linked to poor diet, physical inactivity and being overweight. The most important things you can do to help reduce cancer risk for you and your family include:

• Establishing and maintaining a healthy weight.
• Incorporating regular, consistent physical activity into your lifestyle.
• Making healthy food choices with a focus on plant-based foods.

 150 Minutes/ Week

The latest recommendations from the ACS in regard to healthy physical activity levels for adults include 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activities each week. Moderate activity would be equivalent to prolonged brisk walking, biking and hiking, while vigorous activities include sweat drenching, muscle pumping workouts.

That’s five days a week for a half hour a day. Or 3 days at 50 minutes. It’s not that much.

In addition to adding regular workout sessions into your daily schedule that motivate, encourage and support living a healthy lifestyle, you also can begin incorporating more active habits into your normal daily routine. Starting today, try incorporating as many of the following approaches (suggested by ACS) as possible to support an active and healthy lifestyle.

10 Easy Ways To Be More Active

1. Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
2. Walk or bike to your destination.
3. Be active at lunch with your co-workers, family, or friends.
4. Take a 20-minute activity break at work to stretch, or take a quick walk.
5. Walk to visit co-workers instead of sending an e-mail message.
6. Go dancing with your spouse or friends.
7. Plan active vacations, rather than driving trips.
8. Wear a pedometer every day to increase your number of daily steps.
9. Join a sports or recreation team.
10. Use a stationary bicycle or treadmill while watching TV

Don’t try to do everything all at once. It took years to develop your inactive lifestyle, it can’t be changed over night. Plan your activity routine to slowly increase the days per week and minutes per session. In a few months time, you will be surprised how little steps can add up to big changes.

Breast cancer is a deadly disease that continues to take the lives of too many mothers, sisters, wives, grandmothers, aunts and best friends in our community every year. Our studio is dedicated to helping you incorporate healthy habits into your daily routine to support an active and fit lifestyle that can help to reduce the risk of this life-threatening disease. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, make it your goals to look better, feel better and perform better!

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Fitness Together Studio in Cary is a personal training studio located in Preston Walk on Darrington Drive. They work individually with clients to develop goals and create a program specifically tailored to their needs. Troy Rininger holds an MS in Sports Science.