Prostate cancer has overtaken breast cancer to become the third deadliest type of the disease in Britain, new research has found. For the first time, figures show that more men are dying from prostate cancer than women from breast cancer, amid warnings from charities and health campaigners that more investment is needed.
The research, published today by Prostate Cancer UK, reveals that 11,819 men died of prostate cancer in 2015, the equivalent of one every 45 minutes, compared with 11,442 women who died of breast cancer.
Back in 2014 we blogged about the important link between physical activity while at work and prostate cancer: those who worked as bakers, barbers, labourers and in other professions that involve standing for much of the day were far less likely to get prostate cancer than those with a more sedentary role, such as civil servants and those working in office jobs.
If you work in an office job, stop and think about how much of your day you spend sitting down. We’d guess that it’s probably at least 8 hours – and as humans, we weren’t designed for so much sedentary time. As the years have crept forward, our lives have become far more sedentary – which explains why we now have far higher incidences of problems such as heart disease, obesity and, indeed, prostate cancer.
According to research recently published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, the simple fact of having an office desk job can increase the risk of prostate cancer in men. The solution? A standing desk in your workplace. A height adjustable desk allows you to stand while you work, burning calories during your working day and benefiting your body in a huge number of different ways. You may think, if you’re an office worker, that you have no choice when it comes to staying seated – but the health benefits of stand up desks are too great to ignore.
