Exercise Should Be PRESCRIBED to All Cancer Patients! Why?

According to numerous studies, exercise should be a definite routine in cancer treatment; one of the most recent studies comes from Australia. Oncologists and other cancer specialists should consider exercise an additional treatment during cancer care and refer patients to exercise specialists.

Exercise Is Almost Becoming Part of Cancer Treatment

The Austrian researchers’ discussion of this additional treatment attracted considerable attention in the media , and now in both Australia and the United Kingdom, to combat cancer-related fatigue, depression and other side effects and negative outcomes, patients are additionally encouraged to exercise.

Although the benefits of exercise for cancer patients have long been known, making it part of routine cancer treatment is a new issue even for many Western countries.

According to Australia’s Exercise Guidelines for Cancer Patients, Patients Should:

• Perform at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise per week.
• Perform resistance exercises of suitable light, moderate or vigorous intensity each week, targeting the major muscle groups.
• Exercise should be tailored to a person’s capabilities, treatment-related side effects, disease course and health status.

According to some researchers, being overprotective of patients and recommending rest is an outdated idea that is not supported by this research.

According to the findings of another study, depriving patients of physical exercise does more harm than good .

According to the Australian guidelines, the most important findings are that physical activity improves many bodily functions (for example, blood circulation), reduces cancer-related weakness, fatigue and psychological problems, and improves quality of life .

New findings indicate that exercise before, during and/or after cancer treatment reduces the severity of side effects and also lowers the risk of relapse (disease recurrence).

Population-based observational studies also indicate that physical activity reduces the risk of cancer recurrence and all-cause mortality associated with some cancers. Most of these studies observed patients with breast, colorectal (large bowel) and prostate cancer.

Numerous ongoing clinical trials continue to investigate the effects of exercise on cancer survival. 

• Exercise and the 14 Cancer Types Whose Risk It Reduces
• The Most Concrete Study of How Exercise Reduces Cancer Growth