Does Cycling Cause Prostate Cancer
In line with the popularity of campaign for ‘go green’, cycling is increasing popular, too. It is an effective way to get adequate physical activity and keep you fit throughout the day. It is cheap, low-impact choice on the joints – and of course great for environment (free of pollution). But one study found that it might increase the risk of prostate cancer!
Benefits of cycling
It is an effective choice to control and lose weight, improve your mood & fitness, and good for stress relief. Almost people can do it, from toddlers to elderly people with limited range of movement on the joint (such as people with osteoarthritis).
Along with other aerobic exercises such as swimming, dancing, walking, or jogging – cycling can be great for your heart and overall health.
Free of pollution
As a form of transportation, there are some benefits. For instance, while it can help you go to one area to another, it can help boost the amount of physical activity your body needs.
And we all agree that it is not only cheap but also free of both air and noise pollution. These can help reduce the risk of some health conditions, too.
Air pollution is reported as one of major causes for some conditions such as asthma, eye irritation, and even cancer. The same goes similar to noise pollution; too much noise around you can contribute to cause sleep deprivation or poor quality of sleep, hearing loss, and even heart disease.
Low risk of injury and traffic accident
According to a Dutch research, cycling may provide 11 times the advantages of driving a car! The physical activity you gain from cycling is not only great for your health but also can help reduce the risk of traffic accident. Furthermore, researchers believe that it may add about 14 months of life expectancy. This study released in the journal ~Epidemiology~ in 2011.
And according to an Australian research, the risk of getting injury from cycling is very low, too. It is top tree of sports with lowest injury rates after walking and running.
Low risk of obesity
Either in form as ‘exercise’ or ‘transportation’ cycling can help burn calories, reducing the risk of gaining excessive weight. In fact, in some countries where many people get used with active transportation (such as bicycling) have lower rates of both overweight and obesity.
Other advantages
- Great for environment and your finance. More people that use bicycle in their daily activity, less natural resource (such as oil and gas) burned for fuel of transportation and can save more money.
- Cycling with some adjustable features can be used to help treat certain conditions. For example, since cycling is low impact exercise, it can help people with arthritis to remain active as much as possible to maintain the strength of muscles around the joint.
- And so on.
But, does cycling cause or raise the risk of prostate cancer?
A controversial issue published in the Journal of Men’s Health, July 2014. According to this report, men who bike more might have increased risk for prostate cancer.
The following is two major controversial issues for the findings of this study:
- Weekly cycling duration was not linked to the risk of infertility and ED.
- Cycling and prostate cancer might be linked, particularly for those older than 50 and take bicycling greater than 8.5 hour per week.
It’s commonly thought that prolonged activity such as cycling might increase the chance of developing problems related to male reproductive system such as decreased male fertility and ED. But in this study, researchers found that cyclists who bike more are not linked to greater chance of having ED or infertility.
Regardless to the health advantages of cycling, this finding is still debatable. It conflicts to some previous studies, too. Even some researchers in this study admit that the result of their study is difficult to interpret and more research is required!
Nevertheless the study found that bicycling can provide some benefits, too. These include decreased risk of stroke, heart problems, and type-2 diabetes (the most common diabetes form).
What is the bottom line?
If there might be a potential risk of prostate cancer, does this mean you need to restrict cycling?
