The Benefits of Exercise and Cancer
Cancer and the treatment used to fight it can lead to many different symptoms that can have a negative impact on your way of living. However, there are steps you can take to improve your quality of life, and that includes regular physical activity and exercise.
Exercising is a great tool for warding off fatigue and building strength in patients with cancer, all while improving your mood and stamina.
Does Exercise Help Fight Cancer?
Most everyone knows that exercise is important for good health, and when it comes to fighting cancer, it can make a huge difference.
Many patients with cancer experience fatigue along with aches or pains from the cancer alone or while going through treatments. When these symptoms are present, it can make daily living much harder, and also make you feel much worse.
Many people with cancer don’t consider exercise to be an answer to their symptoms, and while it’s not a cure all, it can help a lot.
What Are the Benefits of Exercise?
Exercise not only helps you feel better daily, but experts say it can help you treatments be more effective by increasing the health of your body. When you exercise, you’re providing your body with the activity it needs to thrive, and this helps to reduce the negative effects of treatment, making it most effective.
Along with helping to improve the quality of treatment, exercise also works to decrease pain and improve sleep quality in people with cancer, according to experts. It also helps keep mood elevated, which will prevent depression from treatment, allowing patients to focus on a healthy way of living.
Both mental and emotion strength is increased with a regular exercise routine while going through cancer treatment and during remission.
How Often Should Cancer Patients Exercise?
According to research on the topic, cancer patients who participate in at least 1 to 2.5 hours of physical exercise each week were able to reap the benefits of exercise and improve their quality of life.
Some experts believe that exercise may even reduce women’s chances of getting cancer to begin with, making physical activity essential for the highest quality of life.
Exercise for Cancer: Exercise Routines for Cancer Patients
Some people with cancer may find that exercising is difficult because of their fatigue, but with regular activity the fatigue will diminish. Starting off slow is the best way to ensure results, and many activities that are effective can be completed right in the comfort of your own home.
The following routines only take a few minutes each day but offer your body with the exercise it needs to show results:
- Stair climbing: Going up and down a few on your steps at a moderate pace is effective. Some people prefer to face the steps in one direction while doing up and down to make the process easier.
- Dance: A good dance session not only offers your body with the activity it needs, it also helps boost the mood.
- Jumping jacks: Yes, this exercise is one that’s been used since kindergarten, and that’s because it’s effective! Just a couple jumping jacks each day is an effective way to get started with daily exercise.