Exercise is known to reduce cancer risk. Just how and why is unclear. On the contrary, decreased sleep appears to be correlated with an increased risk of cancer, according to a new study presented this week at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual research meeting. It is unclear why this is the case, but scientists found that among the women 65 and younger who engage in exercise, those who had less than 7 hours sleep a day had higher overall cancer risk, suggesting that much of the cancer-preventive benefit that might come from exercise could be undermined by lack of adequate sleep. Sleep, after all, is critical for general bodily repair and recovery.
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Tags: Cancer, exercise, physical, sleep
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Dr. Steven,
This makes all too much sense to be thought strange or passed over lightly. In medical sense the body does indeed need to rejuvenate. That is why we sleep. The body goes into ‘unconsciousness’ for a period of time (the circadian rhythm takes care of this if we’d just listen) and our body is able to rebuild and recover free from the stressors of daily life.
The interesting fact is you’ve sighted only females over 65 as needing to have exercise and rest to preclude boughts of cancer.
This is a need for every citizen of the world and a need that is increasingly escaping those in the greatest need; Children and the aged.
November 20th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Carl – that is definitely true. Everyone needs to get adequate sleep, from children to adults. For example, growth hormone is produced in our bodies during sleep, which is important for growing children. When living in our culture becomes more and more stressful and busy, sleep is one thing that is often compromised. This is why we need to stress the importance of sleep, which should be made more of a priority. Unfortunately, the article I cited only studied women. It is, of course, an area of study that needs to be further examined.
December 1st, 2008 at 1:45 am
Well I tell you when I read this article I thougt what a true… When I had my baby I had no sleep at all for the first twoo years and it was very dificult… sure enough I got permanent problem s with my thyroid gland, I gain weight I got depresed and than when my family ralized that I needed some sleep they came over and helped… I really know that not having sleep or being disturbed during the night can cause a big problem… my marriage came appart because my husband could not handel to be up at night to help me with the baby and I was too nervous and argumentative the next morning because of not having anny sleep. I can honestly say that you cannot function without a sleep… i still have day where I try to catch up all those sleeples nights… anyhow… my advise… get sleep or else your body will suffer a great deal of gamage…