Women Jogging We all know the benefits of exercising. But here are two more reasons to get off that couch and work up a sweat. Doctors have said that exercising may help to prevent breast cancer and can also be a much safer way to lose weight than dieting.

One report from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, had conducted a study of women aged 55 to 69. The study found that those with the highest physical activity levels when the study began had a 14% lower risk of developing breast cancer, than those who got lower levels of exercise.

However, the mechanism involved is not clear, but it is known that exercise reduces body fat, which happens to be the major source of estrogen in post-menopausal women. This could lead to fewer numbers of tumors of a type called estrogen receptor positive/progesterone receptor negative which are much more aggressive.

The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. In yet another study that was published in the same journal, doctors at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louise discovered that people, who slim down by cutting calories, may also be losing bone density. This is something that does not happen if weight loss happens through exercise.

In fact, it is known that loss of bone density can lead to osteoporosis and fractures much later in much.

This finding was based on a study of 48 adults involved in the weight loss program, which included weight loss by caloric restrictions or even by exercise.

Here is what the report had to say, “A common explanation given for the bone loss induced by weight loss is reduction in mechanical stress on the weight-bearing skeleton (the hip and spine).”