Exercise and Survival
Posted 5/13/2012
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You would think that on Mother's Day, I could back off from my standard lecture about exercise. That woud be wrong. One could even give it another twist and suggest that, especially on Mother's Day, it is good to think about taking care of ourselves. Turns out that regular exercise is a big part of that taking care. Here is a summary from Health Day about six decades worth of research into the possible survival benefit for breast cancer patients who engage in regular exercise. Convinced yet?
Exercise May Boost Survival in Breast, Colon Cancer Patients
Review looked at six decades of studies on cancer, physical activity
TUESDAY, May 8 (HealthDay News) Being physically active might lengthen the lives of people with breast and colon cancer, a new study suggests.
Exercise may also benefit patients with other cancers, but there is no substantial evidence to make that claim, the researchers added.
"We have lots of data that says physical activity after a cancer diagnosis is generally safe and is associated with many improvements in overall quality of life, and these data suggest that it may even be beneficial in terms of prolonging life," said lead researcher Dr. Rachel BallardBarbash, associate director of the applied research program in the division of cancer control and population science at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
"For many years, we have tended to think of a diagnosis of cancer being fatal, but as we are diagnosing people much earlier and receiving effective treatment, they're living for a long time with their cancer," she said.
Cancer is becoming more of a chronic disease, BallardBarbash explained.
"Because of that, many people actually are at risk for other chronic diseases, like heart disease, diabetes and hypertension, and physical activity is well known to be beneficial for these conditions," she added.
The report was published in the May 8 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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