The Magic Bullet?

Looking good is important, make no mistake about it. But the focus here is on far more than fashion alone. It's on the ways in which our lives are led: the food that we put into our bodies, as we explained in our previous post; the amount of alcohol that we drink; whether or not we choose to smoke; whether we get enough exercise.

This last point is among the most important, because to be more active in life is to be healthier. This is no great revelation, it's true. But, given our particular interest in the prostate, it's something that needs to be emphasised. You see, exercising more – and, just as importantly, exercising correctly – can help us to prevent prostate problems later in life. Given that prostate cancer is a disease that is forecast to kill almost 30,000 men in the United States in 2013, this is a point worth making.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that there is a direct link between exercise and prostate problems. Men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer have a much better chance of beating the disease if their bodies are used to regular exercise. Those who exercise vigorously for at least three hours are week are 61% less likely to die from prostate cancer than those who don't.

'Exercise is the single thing that comes closest to a magic bullet in terms of its strong and universal benefits,' explains Frank Hu, an associate professor at Harvard. Just as in our previous post, prevention is the key, for this is always better than the cure.

That exercising for just three hours a week could be crucial in keeping prostate cancer at bay is something that we cannot highlight enough. We're talking about running, cycling and swimming. We're talking about going for a brisk walk, or even just being a little more active while running errands. We're talking about maintaining a suitable body weight, because obesity and weight gain can often be linked to the prostate problems that we're all so keen to avoid. The general rule is if it's good for the heart, it's good for the prostate too. This is something we should all bear in mind if we want to reach a ripe old age.

This is about our lifestyles and the choices that we make.

Looking good is important, living longer even more so.