Researchers at the School of Public Health are finding increasing evidence that popular myths regarding the hazards of exercise for women are dead wrong.
Associate Professor of Population Sciences Rose E. Frisch, in conjunction with the Harvard Population and Development Center, showed that contrary to popular belief, exercise does not lead to osteoporosis, nor does it indefinitely reduce fertility in women.
According to Director of Cross-Country and Track and Field Frank J. Haggerty, this research contradicts the "common assumption."
For example, it is widely believed that exercise adversely affects a woman's ability to carry a pregnancy. Frisch's studies proved this is false. Women who exercise have no more stillbirths or miscarriages than those who don't exercise, she said.
Frisch also disproved the common Exercise Reduces Cancer In fact, Frisch has shown that long-term moderate exercise reduces women's chances of getting cancer in the reproductive organs. The study, conducted in 1985, included 5398 women aged 20 to 80, approximately half of whom had participated in college athletics. Frisch discovered that women who had not exercised during college were twice as likely to get breast cancer as athletes, and two and a half times more likely to get cancer in the reproductive system. Women who exercise are less afflicted by cancer than those who don't because their estrogen levels are lower. Estrogen is a hormone that regulates the development of the female reproductive tract. Frisch theorizes that women with high concentrations of estrogen must disperse the hormone, which may increase the likelihood of errors in cell division, leading to cancer. Athletes React Some Harvard athletes are not at all surprised by the research results. "I've always known that it reduces the risk of cancer," said Genevieve A. Chelius '95, a soccer and lacrosse player for Harvard. "I think there are so many multiple benefits from exercise that I am not surprised by that," Chelius said. Read more in NewsRecommended Articles
