Exercise has been found to reduce treatment side effects of cancer, improve sleep and boost mental wellbeing – experts now want doctors to prescribe exercise to cancer patients
Doctors should prescribe exercise to patients undergoing cancer treatment, experts have said. A huge study looking at data from as many as 80 science reviews has found doing exercise reduces side effects, improves sleep and mental wellbeing.
Historically those undergoing gruelling chemotherapy have tended to prioritise rest and often become inactive, which also reduces their social contacts. Scientists now believe this tendency should be reversed with patients encouraged to exercise more as part of their treatment. The new study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, also found that exercise improves the “physiological and social function” of people with cancer.
Celene Doherty, specialist cancer information nurse at Cancer Research UK, said: “This research provides further evidence that exercise can help reduce side effects from cancer treatment and improve long-term health. However, cancer patients go through a lot when they are diagnosed, and focusing on lifestyle changes like being more active might sound overwhelming. It’s important to take things at your own pace and do activities that are right for you. If you’d like advice or support on your situation, speak to your cancer team.”
Researchers in China brought together data from 80 systematic reviews which examined links between exercise and different types of cancer.
Exercise, compared with usual care or no exercise, significantly reduced certain side-effects linked to cancer treatment such as heart and nerve damage and brain fog. Researchers suggest yoga and general exercise to promote better sleep and tai chi for anxiety.
Author Dr Qi-Jun Wu, of the Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, said: “These findings highlight the critical importance of maintaining an exercise regimen throughout the entire chemotherapy period. HIIT (high intensity interval training), aerobic exercise and resistance exercise significantly improved body strength and aerobic capacity, with HIIT notably alleviating cancer-related fatigue and pain.
“Given that cancer often reduces social interactions, our research showed that regular exercise improves social functionality, increases the likelihood of returning to work, and, notably, yoga significantly enhances overall social wellbeing. Our findings suggested that taking part in exercise greatly enhanced sleep quality, reduced insomnia, and alleviated anxiety and depression in people with cancer, thus improving their overall quality of life.”
Previous research suggests cancer patients who go on an exercise drive can cut the risk of the disease progressing by almost a third. The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, included 28,248 people and found exercising in the year before a diagnosis cut the odds of the disease progressing by up to 27%.
It looked at people with stage one cancers, the most common being breast and prostate, and their disease progressed in 34.5% of patients. Some 81% survived, although 19% died before the end of the study.
Earlier this year it was reported that the NHS was considering requiring obese patients to lose weight before they get routine operations for conditions other than cancer.
