WAKE UP CALL

At a presentation I was giving recently (part of a five-workshop series titled The Path to Wellness), I opened the lecture by telling about how my wife Chanya and her 8 year old daughter Hope had gone to a funeral for the mother of a girl on Hope’s cheer squad. The mother, who was 37 years old, had died of cancer only weeks after being diagnosed. The type of cancer was malignant melanoma, which being ‘skin cancer’ is commonly (and mistakenly) associated with sun exposure.

That’s the point we must always remember: Cancer is in reality a dramatic manifestation of poor health; where it shows up within the body – be it breast, prostate, colon or in this case, skin cancer is not associated like one would think.

The common misperception is that cancer is either hereditary or a ‘random bad luck’ condition that just appears. The science is very clear on this: Lifestyle behaviors are the predominant causal agent in virtually all cancers. In this particular case, the 37 year old mom was obese, which is a known risk factor for cancer.

“Increased body weight was associated with increased death rates for all cancers combined and for cancers at multiple speciifc sites.” Calle EE, et al. Overweight, Obesity, and Mortality from Cancers in a Prospectively Studied Cohort of U.S. Adults. New Eng J Med 2003; 348:1625-1638. [view article]

“We evaluated the relation between obesity and the risks fro various forms of cancer. Overall, 33% excess incidence of cancer was seen in obese persons, 25% in men and 37% in women. Conclusions: Obesity is associated with more forms of cancer than previously reported.” Wolk A, et al. A prospective study of obesity and cancer risk. Cancer Causes and Control 2001; 12(1):13-21.[view abstract]

To further illustrate how lifestyle choices (or non-choices) can have such a profound impact on our health, here is a quote from a recent scientific journal article regarding exercise and the incidence of melanomas:

“Sedentary men and women had a 56% and 72%, respectively, higher incidence of melanomas than those exercising 5-7 days/week”.  Booth FW, et al. Waging war on physical inactivity: using molecular ammunition against an ancient enemy. Journal of Applied Physiology 2002; 93:3-30. [view article]

What’s even more significant, beyond the fact that skin cancer risk is mitigated by exercise, is that the above referenced study mentions that beneficial effects of exercise occurred at a frequency of 5-7 days/week, not 3-5 days per week.

So, I encourage you to schedule your priorities (instead of prioritizing your schedule) to include time to get your exercise. Remember, genetically we have the daily requirement of movement, lots of movement. Now, thankfully we don’t have to hike 10-15 miles each day to hunt and gather our food like our Paleolithic genetic ancestors. Although we have the luxury of compressing the intensity of our exercise over a shorter period of time by ‘working out’ (running, cycling, taking a class at the gym, etc.), we still have to make it a priority and schedule it.

Just like how our Paleolithic ancestors’ lives depended on them getting exercise to hunt and gather their food, firewood, and water; although we may not have to hunt and gather to survive, our survival (our health) is equally dependent on the need for regular excercise.

You can do it!

Yours in health, Dr. Paul.