Half-hour walk ‘better than gym’, chem sex warning and shorter treatment for prostate cancer

Half an hour of brisk walking is better for keeping weight off than spending time in the gym, The Times claims this morning.

Apparently the benefits are particularly strong among women, among whom regular brisk walking was linked to being around a dress size smaller than average.

Various theories are put forward as to why walking is so beneficial – including that calorie burning is optimised when walking, ’because it is a constant, uninterrupted activity’ unlike other forms of exercise.

Elsewhere The Mirror says scientists are warning that the trend for chem sex – use of recreational drugs to enhance sexual pleasure and reduce inhibitions – is fuelling the rise in sexually transmitted infections.

They say users of the drugs such as crystal meth are having extended sex sessions where unprotected sex is the norm and they may have around five different sexual partners.

Along with injecting drugs they warn this is creating a ‘perfect storm’ for transmission of diseaes like HIV and Hepatitis C – at a time when funding of sexual health services in England is waning.

Lastly, The Telegraph reports that a more intense form of radiotherapy has the potential to halve the length of treatment for prostate cancer.

The new approach involves using higher doses of radiotherapy for just 20 days than the current standard intensity treatment that lasts 37 days, after it was found ’men can handle higher doses’.

Professor Malcolm Mason, Cancer Research UK’s prostate cancer expert, said the results were ‘great news for men’ and that there ‘should be nor reason why this cannot be implemented immediately – it is saving the NHS resources’.