Raise your pulse, reduce your risk!

Tilean Clarke, Senior Public Health and Information Officer at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, discusses the link between inactivity and breast cancer and the new Brisk tool to articulate that link.

Did you know that nearly 9,000 cases of breast cancer could be prevented every year in the UK if all women were regularly physically active?

Thanks to funding from Department of Health, Breakthrough Breast Cancer were able to articulate the link between physical activity and breast cancer risk to the general public through an interactive web resource, called Brisk.

Why physical activity?

Like us, physical activity comes in all shapes and sizes – anything that gets you warmer, breathing harder and your heart beating faster counts (but you should still be able to carry on a conversation!)

So you might choose walking at a moderate pace, running or cycling, swimming, tennis, dancing, Pilates, golf, bowling, gardening, some forms of housework, and actively playing with children. The list is almost endless.

But physical activity levels are low in the UK. In some parts of the country more than 40% of us are classified as inactive, meaning people are failing to achieve just 30 minutes of activity per week.

Following a comprehensive review of high quality research on physical activity and breast cancer risk, we found that physical activity has a direct effect on breast cancer risk, in addition to helping women maintain a healthy weight.

The evidence highlighted that regular physical activity can reduce a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer by at least 20%. So we developed a health message and tool that would encourage women to do at least 3.5 hours of moderate intensity activity per week, equivalent to 30 minutes or more per day.

Simple and interactive

We chose an interactive web resource to do this, aiming to encourage and support more women to be regularly physically active. The result was Brisk – an attractive and practical platform where women can track their activity, get ideas for being more active and share tips and experiences with other women.

Brisk increases awareness of the benefits of physical activity in reducing breast cancer risk through the simple health message that thirty minutes of physical activity every day can reduce a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer by 20%. We developed this message through focus groups with women across the UK.

Through Brisk, we also provide guidance on the amount and type of physical activity women should do in order to reduce breast cancer risk. The resource provides a range of suggestions on activities that women can engage in either individually, with their family or as a group.

Little by little

So far feedback has been very positive with comments received including, “I really like this. It’s the little by little, holistic approach.” Plus supporters have been sharing the message and the link to Brisk via social media. It’s been shared over 450 times on Facebook alone.

But there’s still more to do. Given that only one in four UK women are regularly physically active, we still have an opportunity to reduce the risk of breast cancer in three quarters of the female population.

If every woman in the UK was physically active for 30 minutes per day, one in six cases of breast cancer could be prevented. And that’s a challenge we can’t afford not to meet.

Why not visit the site yourself? You’ll find practical suggestions on how women can incorporate physical activity into their everyday lives, as well as an interactive platform to share activity ideas with like-minded women. Find your fit and start tracking today at breakthrough.org.uk/brisk

For further information about Brisk contact Tilean Clarke, Senior Public Health and Information Officer, tileanc@breakthrough.org.uk.

Read more Sport and Recreation Alliance blogs.

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