Dr. Rhonda Patrick

Okay, so I want to get into exercise treatment in a minute because I know that's really where the bulk of your research is.

But a couple more questions before we get there on the prevention side.

So

I've talked to some people and I've heard them say things like, oh, I do a lot of house chores.

I walk around.

I'm on my feet at work.

Therefore, I'm getting enough exercise and I don't really need to make structured exercise a part of my physical fitness routine.

What would you say to that in terms of affecting cancer risk?

So you're hitting on my next question, which is the concept of exercise snacks, because there's some studies that I've read where sedentary time, so the time that you're sitting at your desk or sitting down at work,

accumulates and that sedentary time is an independent risk factor for cancers, which kind of raises the question of whether or not if you do these sort of structured exercise snacks where you, you know, every hour or so you get up and you do a minute of high knees or you do some, you know, burpees or jumping jacks or whatever your favorite exercise snack is to kind of get the blood flow and break up that sedentary time.

Is that something that would be beneficial?

I think there's some evidence showing that as well, at least with the the vilpa studies, the vigorous intermittent lifestyle activity where people are accumulating these short bursts of a couple of minutes throughout the day all the way.

I think they accumulate up to between six and nine minutes of that, you know, the short bursts of intense actually exercise more intense.

So you mentioned supplements, people take supplements sort of as insurance.

And it's funny, because I've even used that term before, like I take a multivitamin, you know, there's a lot of trace elements and minerals in there that I may or may not get from my diet, but it's kind of like an insurance that I'm at least going to get some of these, you know, minerals and elements that I may not be meeting the recommended intake for.

And I think of exercise almost as like the best

long-term insurance for reducing my cancer risk.

Would you agree with that in terms of?

Okay, so let's shift gears and talk about the role of exercise in cancer treatment.

Maybe we could start just a little bit with explaining this sort of cancer treatment landscape.