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Regular outdoor walking improves prostate cancer prognosis
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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Prostate cancer is now a very common disease in developed countries. Thus, in the USA the incidence of prostate cancer is very high, and it ranks among the top malignant tumors in men. Prostate cancer accounts for 29% of all newly diagnosed malignant neoplasms. And 192,000 new cases of prostate cancer are registered in this country every year.
For this reason, the discovery made by scientists from the University of California, San Francisco has important practical implications: following simple recommendations will help save thousands of human lives every year.
Based on the results of their study, the authors claim that even with an established diagnosis of prostate cancer, regular walks for at least 3 hours a week significantly reduce the risk of metastasis, and therefore increase the chances of survival.
At the same time, scientists especially emphasize that such walking will only be beneficial if it is done at a fairly energetic pace – walking in a slouching manner is useless.
The authors studied 1,455 men with prostate cancer that had already been diagnosed but had not yet spread beyond the organ, meaning the disease was in its early stages. During the study, 117 of them developed bone metastases, relapsed after treatment, or died.
However, in those patients from the general group of patients who regularly walked, taking vigorous walks, the risk of spreading the serious illness was reduced by 57%.
In this case, the distance did not matter – the important factors were the duration (at least 3 hours per week) and intensity of walking.
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