Getting 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise is associated with lower risks of cancer development, growth and recurrence. Although any amount of exercise is more healthful than being sedentary, the intensity and duration of that exercise or activity seems to be the key to achieving the greatest anti-cancer benefits. Patients often ask whether housework counts toward these 150 minutes. This report tells us that for many of us it may not be intense enough.
Read more about the anti-cancer benefits of exercise and cancer HERE.
As an important aside, make the effort to try to use non-carcinogenic household cleaning products whenever possible. As a homework assignment for my patients, I ask them to spend a week looking through their cleaning supplies and getting rid (responsibly, of course) of all the toxic products and replacing them with more healthful alternatives. The Environmental Working Group has an excellent search page that can help you identify which cleaning products to use and which to give to your worst enemies (just kidding). Check it out HERE.