Research
Hormonal
High levels of sedentary behavior independently increase the risk of colon, endometrial, and lung cancers, regardless of physical activity levels.
Reduce uninterrupted sitting time. Stand up, walk, or stretch periodically throughout the day. This reduces cancer risk independently of your exercise routine.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Sedentary behavior, independent of physical activity, has been shown to increase the risk of colon, endometrial, and lung cancers.
Why this rating
Classified as 'Moderate' evidence.
Source
Physical activity, obesity and sedentary behavior in cancer etiology: epidemiologic evidence and biologic mechanisms
Christine M. Friedenreich et al. · Molecular Oncology · 2020
DOI 10.1002/1878-0261.12772
narrative_reviewCited 653×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Higher levels of physical activity reduce the risk of six specific cancer sites (bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal adenocarcinoma, gastric cardia) with strong evidence, while moderate evidence supports inverse associations with lung, ovarian, pancreatic, and renal cancers.Strong
- Obesity (excess body fatness) is a convincing risk factor for at least 13 different cancer sites, including endometrial, postmenopausal breast, colorectal, esophageal, renal, meningioma, pancreatic, gastric cardia, liver, multiple myeloma, ovarian, gallbladder, and thyroid cancers.Strong
- Biologic mechanisms linking physical activity, sedentary behavior, and obesity to cancer risk include effects on endogenous insulin sensitivity, chronic sex steroids, metabolic hormones, and inflammation.Good
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