Most recently I had an email sent to me by a gentleman who is an advocate for keeping one’s body healthy to battle cancer. He is a member of the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. He asked that I publish an article linking the correlation between regular exercise, and a better shot at battling the side effects of cancer treatments. Being a breast cancer survivor myself, I cannot stress enough how my good health, and nutritious eating enabled me to have a quick recovery time. I am a firm believer in taking care of your body, and it will take care of you! Please take a moment to read the article below, and be sure and post any comments as to your personal experience of how taking care of your body has helped you better battle any obstacle in your life!
Cascading Benefits of Exercise for Cancer Patients
Clinical treatment for cancer has progressed in terms of both efficacy and targeted effects, the latter of which can minimize the experience of side effects from chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as reduce recovery time for some types of surgery. While notable, these advances have been isolated to only a few of the more common cancers. Fortunately, researchers have discovered exercise and nutrition play a profound role in every aspect of cancer treatment, and these complimentary therapies are useful for every patient.
Side effects of the most common forms of treatment, chemotherapy and radiation, are increasingly understood to be strongly interrelated. The loss of appetite and nausea experienced by patients can damage their nutritional standing, and this will contribute to the experience of fatigue, emotional disorders, and rapid weight changes. Though not a primary cause, nausea nevertheless is a contributing factor, and researchers have addressed the question of whether exercise might help in directly reducing the experience of nausea following chemotherapy.
Using previous data that failed to show positive benefits, researchers re-grouped patients based on the American College of Sports Medicine recommendations of exercise for cancer patients. Under this definition, aerobic exercise is considered to be a moderate level of physical activity with a minimum of 20 minutes per session three times per week. They found patients who achieved this level of exercise experienced a significant reduction in nausea intensity versus patients getting less than the recommendation. Reduced nausea was correlated with reduction in the experience of other common side effects of chemotherapy.
Suitability for Patients with Lower Fitness Levels
A sedentary lifestyle is one of the prominent risk factors in many types of cancer, and those facing a diagnosis often have little to no history with physical fitness. This means they may not be able to achieve the minimum recommendations before treatment begins. Other patients, such as those receiving mesothelioma treatment, may simply be too weak for aerobic activity.
There is good news for these patients. Fitness experts have devised routines for individuals in every circumstance, and researchers have shown benefits of exercise to accrue at any level. Studies have so consistently found this to be the case that the leading recommendation of experts is simply to avoid physical inactivity.
If the patient has little history of fitness at diagnosis, it is important to establish a workout program immediately to build lean muscle and cardiopulmonary endurance before treatment begins. This will allow the patient to exercise at greater intensity after the start of treatment. The same studies showing benefits at any level of exercise also show that greater levels of physical fitness will result in increasing benefits.
Patients incapable of carrying out a program like this include those on palliative care or those with co-occurring diseases or disabilities. Fitness therapists can help here too. Even a basic regimen of short walks or range-of-motion exercises can improve quality of life. Those patients with the most debilitating symptoms are often found to benefit the most from short-term changes to fitness.
DonnaRHomes 