The Best Tool to Support Vigorous Exercise and Reduce Cancer Risk, According to a Dietitian

We know that regular exercise helps prevent cancer, but you don’t need marathon-length workouts to support your health. New research suggests that just 10 minutes of daily vigorous activity may help reduce the risk of colon cancer.

The challenge, however, is knowing whether you’re really working hard enough. To make sure my workouts reach a truly vigorous level—especially on days with mixed movements—I rely heavily on my Garmin Venu 3S  watch. It allows me to easily log workouts, monitor my heart rate and track my vigorous activity.

Garmin Venu 3S

In a study published early December in the International Journal of Cancerhealthy overweight or obese adults completed a brief cycling workout until they reached maximum or near-maximum exertion. Researchers took blood samples before and after the workout and found that this short burst of vigorous exercise released bioactive molecules into the bloodstream. These molecules enhanced DNA repair (which is important for preventing cancer) and slowed the growth of colon cancer cells.

So what counts as vigorous exercise? It’s activities like running, swimming, rowing, cycling, or jumping rope at an intensity that pushes your heart rate high enough (between 70% to 85% of your maximum) that you can only get out a few words before needing to catch your breath.

I found it hard to know whether I was really hitting that intensity until I started using the Garmin Venu 3S watch. The watch has a long list of activities from HIIT to hiking to tennis that I can choose from when logging my movement. The app automatically tracks when I hit vigorous intensity and shows exactly how many minutes I log each day and week. The watch and app have other features that I appreciate: they track my stress level, count the number of floors I climb and provide an estimated fitness age (which, for the record, is a few years younger than my actual age!).

The bottom line is this: Ten minutes of vigorous movement can make a real difference when it comes to lowering your risk of colon cancer. And if, like me, you’re not great at estimating exertion, using a Garmin smartwatch makes it easier to hit the right intensity and track your progress over time. Luckily, the Garmin Venu 3S is currently $100 off at Amazon.

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At the time of publishing, the price started at $350.