When you get cancer and are going
through treatment, doctors have been
recommending that you take it easy and
don’t exercise much. Well, it turns out
that this advice is wrong and that
exercise can reduce the risk of dying
from cancer and also minimize the side
effects caused by the treatment. This
recommendation comes from a report by
Macmillan Cancer Support.
The report says getting active can help
you overcome the effects of cancer and
its treatments, such as fatigue and
weight gain. Previous research has shown
that exercising to the recommended
levels can reduce the risk of breast
cancer recurrence by up to 30 percent.
Bowel cancer patients’ risk of dying
from the disease can be cut by around 50
percent by doing around six hours of
moderate physical activity a week.
Harvard Medical School researchers found
patients who exercise moderately, 3 to 5
hours a week, reduced their odds of
dying from breast cancer by about 50% as
compared to sedentary women. The benefit
even remained constant regardless of
whether women were diagnosed early on or
after their cancer had spread.
For men, 3 hours per week of
moderate-intensity physical activity
lowered the risk of prostate cancer
death by about 30% and also lowered the
rate of the disease progressing by 57%.
Exercise can even reduce the side
effects from conventional cancer
treatments, such as:
As Jane Maher, chief medical officer of
Macmillan Cancer Support and clinical
oncologist said “if physical exercise
were a drug, it would be hitting the
headlines". So…if you have a
friend or loved one who has cancer, urge
them to start getting active and getting
a moderate level of exercise (including
strengthen training).
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