According to a recently published Canadian and US analysis of almost 11,500 patients enrolled in a cancer screening trial, research indicates that Cancer survivors who exercise regularly live longer. Published in Cancer Prevention and Control the analysis has found that participants who exercised had a 12% incidence of cancer mortality compared to 16% in the non-exercisers, and the exercisers had a 2.4% incidence of death from other causes compared to 6.4% for the non-exercise group.
The study found that participants who exercised had a 25% reduced risk of dying from all causes within a 16-year average follow-up, compared to those who did not exercise.
Participants were considered to be meeting national exercise guidelines if they completed moderate intensity exercise on four or more days of the week, with each session lasting at least 30 minutes, or if they did strenuous exercise on two or more days per week and each session lasted at least 20 minutes. The researchers said that compared with no exercise, exercising below guidelines gave a 25% reduction in all-cause mortality risk, meeting guidelines had a 35% reduction and those participants who exceeded guidelines had a 36% reduction. The researchers also found that median survival from diagnosis was 19 years for exercisers and 14 years for the non-exercisers. This study included diagnoses of breast, prostate, colon, hematopoietic, melanoma, bladder, lung, endometrial, renal, head and neck, ovarian, upper GI, pancreas, male breast, biliary, glioma and liver, and was the first to show benefits in head and neck and renal cancers.
Previous data has shown us that only 20-30% of cancer survivors meet the recommended exercise guidelines. The lack of appropriate facilities and programs appear to be the main barriers to accessing these benefits. If this is your predicament, we can help. Our resident Cancer Exercise Specialist Molly Lowther conducts group and private exercise sessions for individuals undergoing Cancer treatment and recovering from Cancer treatment at our clinic in South Yarra. Contact us at admin@theepgroup.com.au or on 03 90295590 to find out more about how we can help you.
