NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - A new study from the National Cancer Institute suggests that without proper sleep, the cancer-preventing benefits from exercise won't work.

Researchers have long known about the link between cancer prevention and exercise, but the new study shows that a lack of sufficient sleep in young and middle-aged women could undermine those benefits.

Nobody understands this more than 33-year-old breast cancer survivor Kimberly Higginbotham. Today, Higginbotham uses her experience with the disease to educate high school girls. "They need to be aware of their bodies so that if a difference occurs they'll be able to tell," she said.

It was when she noticed a difference in her own body that she was diagnosed with breast cancer at 23 years old. "I was applying lotion and I felt a lump," she said.

Looking back at the time she was diagnosed, Higginbotham recalls a busy time during her last year of graduate school. "I was doing my master's in physical therapy, so it was a very stressful program," Higginbotham said. "I didn't get a lot of sleep."

In addition to sleep deprivation, besides her regular hikes through campus, Higginbotham didn't exercise much.

The National Cancer Institute's study followed 6,000 women in Maryland and found those in the study under age 65 who exercised regularly but slept less than seven hours a night, were 37 percent more likely to get cancer.

"It's just another indication that behavior is important, and a healthy lifestyle is important...," said Dr. James McClain of the National Cancer Institute.

Higginbotham said she will be taking this information to the students she educates. Researchers said their next step is to find out exactly how sleep and cancer are related.

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On the Web: American Association for Cancer Research