Cancer: Why exercise is important

If you are having cancer treatment, you might think that rest is the best thing for you. But more and more research is showing that exercise benefits people before, during and after treatment.

Let’s have a look at why exercise is important:

1. Exercise benefits people with cancer

Exercise is important for everyone’s overall health and wellbeing, but it has a range of general benefits for people with cancer.

• Improves mood: Exercise boosts endorphins, helping enhance your mood and well-being.
• Weight management: Exercise aids in weight control and reduces the risk of health issues like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
• Quality of life: It has been proven that physical activity positively impacts quality of life during and after cancer treatment.
• Cancer-related benefits:
  • Treatment response: Exercise can improve how you respond to treatment for certain cancers.
  • Reduces complications: Physical activity helps reduce complications from surgery and minimises hospital stays.
  • Prevents recurrence: Regular exercise lowers the risk of some cancers coming back, including breast, prostate, bowel, and endometrial cancer.

2. Exercise relieves side-effects

Physical activity has also been proven to ease many side-effects of cancer treatment, including:

• Fatigue: Losing fitness can make fatigue worse, but low intensity exercise can help you stay fit (unless you have severe anaemia).
• Anaemia: Low red blood cell and/or haemoglobin count is a common side effect of cancer treatment. Symptoms include unexplained tiredness and fatigue. Combined with good nutrition, exercise has been shown to improve anaemia.
• Weight gain: Weight gain is a common side effect of many treatments, including some types of hormone therapy, and steroids given to manage the side effects of chemotherapy or immunotherapy. People with cancer may also gain weight due to inactivity.
• Joint pain: Some hormone therapy and cancer treatments can cause joint pain. Exercise can improve muscle size and strength, flexibility and range of motion, which can help protect your joints and reduce pain.
• Loss of muscle strength: If muscles aren’t being used, they can get smaller and weaker. Lost muscle strength is a side effect of some hormone therapy and steroid treatment.

3. Exercise reduces cancer risk

Being physically active – moving more and sitting less – can reduce your risk of cancer of the bowel, breast (after menopause) and endometrium. Vigorous physical activity can also protect against breast cancer in premenopausal women.

Researchers are still investigating how physical activity reduces cancer risk. However, there are several likely reasons:

• Hormone regulation: When you exercise, your body produces less insulin and insulin-like growth factors, which promote cancer cell growth. Physical activity can also help reduce different hormone levels that are linked to cancer.
• Improves digestion: For bowel cancer, physical activity helps move waste through the bowel faster, which limits the amount of time that harmful compounds stay in contact with the bowel lining.

Here’s how you can get started

Starting an exercise routine can feel daunting, especially during or after cancer treatment. Remember:

• Start small: Begin with manageable activities and gradually increase intensity.
• Personalised approach: There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Taking the stairs, walking the dog, or doing yard work all count and can make a big difference!
• Consult your healthcare provider: Before getting started, make sure to consult your doctor or oncologist. They can guide you on the right type and amount of physical activity and can help tailor a program that suits your needs.

Remember, exercise isn’t just about physical fitness — it can reduce your risk of cancer, alleviate side-effects from treatment, and improve your quality of life!

While exercise might not feel like a priority when going through treatment or recovering from cancer, starting small and slow can go a long way.

For more information visit our Exercise for people living with cancer section.

For more information visit our Physical activity and cancer risk section for cancer prevention.