The Catalyst

By Lindsay Hyde, Reporter

Cancer is a big concern and problem for many Americans- especially for women. It is one of the leading causes of death. Although there is not a cure for the disease, there are certain precautions and things you can do to lower your chances of getting it. A new government study suggests that regular exercise and a good nights rest may lower women’s chances at getting cancer. If you don’t get a good night’s sleep though, a lack of shut-eye appears to cancel out much of exercise’s protective benefits.

“The link between physical activity and a reduced cancer risk is well established,” said James McClain, Ph.D., works at the National Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. So far, there is little evidence that supports a lack of sleep linking to cancer, but not getting enough does appear to negatively affect many of the same hormonal, immune and metabolic functions in the body that exercise is suppose to improve. According to CNN.com, McClain’s study was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s seventh annual conference followed 5,968 women for almost ten years, during which 604 of them developed some form of cancer. Those in the top half of physical activity levels showed about a twenty percent reduction in cancer risked compared with those who exercise frequently.

For woman 65 and younger, if they get less than seven hours of sleep, they don’t get much of the benefit. Their cancer risk was greater than those who exercised but slept more, but still lower than those who exercised the least. “When you look at the previous research on physiological effects associated with increasing activity as opposed to sleeping adequately, you can see they appear to go in different directions,” McClain says. “Though this was a small study, it supports the hypothesis that sleep might modify the relationship between physical activity and cancer.”

Lately a lack of sleep has been linked to many health problems. Even short periods of sleep deprivation can cause glucose intolerance, increasing a person’s risk for diabetes. It can also cause problems in regulating appetite promoting people to overeat and gain weight. Research from CNN, also suggests that it can increase C-reactive protein in the blood, alter coagulation, and platelet function, and raise blood pressure. “It’s not clear from this study whether cancer risk is truly affected by lack of sleep,” said David Rapoport, M.D. “One link might be through the changes in immunity induced by sleep loss, reduced immunity may cause an increase in cancer risk,” he speculated. On the other hand, those who aren’t getting seven hours of sleep may be kept up by another condition; anxiety, sleep apnea, or an undiagnosed illness.

There is no link between sleep and cancer risk in the other women in the study, mainly those older than 65. “We split the data in this way because older adults, especially women, tend to react more insomnia as they age, and sleep patterns in general start to change,” McClain said. While this may be due to injury, illness, or other complications of aging, some research suggests that older adults need less sleep in general. Sleep loss does not affect cancer risk for women of any age in the lower physical activity bracket.

So this begs the question, which is more important, rising an hour early to squeeze in a morning workout, or savoring that extra time in bed? Finding the right balance is key. Both sleep and exercise seem to be important, and one certainly feels better if one gets both. Getting enough of one can make it easier to accomplish the other. “Getting more than just the minimum recommendation is a good place to start for protection against cancer.”