Exercise for Cancer Prevention, Treatment and Survival
Some benefits of exercise:
- Helps prevent cancer
- Improves the likelihood of surviving cancer
- Lessens the side effects of cancer treatment
- Heightens energy levels
- Leads to a better quality of life
The recent announcement from the American Cancer Society that one-third of the more than 500,000 cancer deaths that occur in the United States each year can be attributed to poor diet and exercise is a wake-up call to all of us concerned about cancer prevention.
Maintaining a good diet and exercising is as important as quitting smoking when it comes to reducing cancer risk. At Providence Integrative Medicine, we are also committed to prescribing a better diet and exercise to patients currently undergoing treatment for cancer.
At first, this might strike someone as counterintuitive. After all, is it reasonable to ask a cancer patient to go to the effort to get exercise? With all the things to which a cancer patient already has to devote limited time and energy — why add exercise?
Exercise is worth considering as a therapeutic tool at every stage of cancer treatment and beyond. Consider some of the findings found in prospective randomized clinical studies.
Women with breast cancer who exercise have improved quality of life, fitness and less fatigue than control patients that do not exercise, and are able to function at a higher level.(1)
Although long-term randomized prospective studies have not been done, observational data from the Nurses Health Study suggests that breast cancer patients who exercise have much better survival, with death rates about 50 percent of those that do little exercise.(2)Another recent study looked prospectively at patients with many types of cancer who were undergoing chemotherapy and found a significant reduction in anxiety and depression in those patients who exercise.(3)
The benefit of exercise seems to be present for even those who are getting very aggressive therapies. For example, in a prospective controlled study of patients undergoing high-dose chemotherapy and stem-cell transplantation, aerobic exercise following the completion of treatment reduced fatigue and limitations in daily activities.(4) Exercise helps maintain blood counts during chemotherapy (5) and fights the harmful muscle loss associated with advanced cancer.(6)
For the cancer survivor, exercise continues to provide the same range of benefits seen in patients without cancer. Exercise improves mood, reduces risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and dementia. Observational data suggests a reduction in risk of primary cancers, such as colorectal, breast, lung (7) and prostate, in patients who exercise, and it is suspected that this holds true for cancer survivors, who are at increased risk of future cancer.
Adopting an exercise program takes only a little effort initially. Either the
physician or a fitness advisor, such as a physical therapist, can initially
recommend some form of exercise that fits with the patient's clinical situation.
Often something as simple as a light walking program for just a few minutes per
day will be a great start (with the hopes of building up to the 30-60 minutes
daily recommended by the American Cancer Society), either all at once or split
into several smaller chunks.
Another resource: Cancer Prevention and Management through Exercise and
Weight Control (CRC Press. Ed: Anne McTiernan, 2006)- or patients can visit
Providence Integrative Medicine for a complete, personalized health maintenance
plan.
For more information or to refer a patient, please call 503-216-0246 (Westside
Clinic) or 503-215-3219 (Eastside Clinic). For a listing of all of our
Integrative Medicine providers, visit
www.providence.org/integrativemedicine.