Beneficial Effects of Aerobic Exercise Before, During & After Cancer Treatment (02/20/13, OncoEd™)

Feb. 21, 2013 - PRLog -- There are various treatment options available for cancer patients today. However, majority of those treatment options including chemotherapy, result in one or the other undesirable side effects. Systematic review of clinical trial data (conducted in the US and abroad) on effects of physical exercise before, during and after cancer treatment has demonstrated beneficial effects. Aerobic physical exercise significantly improved the quality of life, the ability to cope with fatigue, and over all physical functioning, in patients with various cancer types including breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), hematologic malignancies. Aerobic physical exercise improved the symptoms like nausea in some patients who are under treatment regimen.

Aerobic physical exercise is a continuous exercise regimen, which increases the heart rate and maintain it for a period of time. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and prevention recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activities like brisk walking every week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activities like running every week for healthy living. In other words, 1 minute of vigorous-intensity aerobic activities is equal to 2 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activities. Thus, could aerobic physical exercise, potentially be adopted to mitigate the side effects of cancer therapeutic agents and radiation therapy? You be the judge.

References: 1) Jones and Alfano. Acta Oncologica, 2013; 52: 195–215, 2) Center for Disease Control and prevention. How much physical activity do adults need? Retrieved on 02/20/2013 from www.cdc.gov    

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