Photo: Getty Images While your motives for hitting the gym may
be to lose weight, its benefits don't always have to do with
fitting into smaller pants. In fact, you may be surprised to
find out that exercise can affect everything from appetite to
inflammation and beyond. Here are five reasons why you don't
want to skip your workout. 1. Reduced breast cancer risk
According to researchers, post-menopausal women who engage in
moderate to vigorous exercise have a reduced risk of breast
cancer. Almost seven years of follow up showed that women who
engaged in more than seven hours per week of moderate-to-
vigorous exercise for the 10 years prior were 16 percent less
likely to develop breast cancer than those who were inactive.
However, these benefits don't just affect the young at heart -
we can reap the rewards in our early years too. The study of
nearly 65,000 women found that those who were physically active
had a 23 percent lower risk of breast cancer before menopause.
In particular, high levels of physical acti