[MikeJBaron]

Cancer patients who exercise could halve their risk of death

by MikeJBaron on Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:00 am

Cancer patients who exercise could HALVE their risk of death, claims study
By Sarah Griffiths
Published January 24, 2014

Scientists from the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine studied 1,021 men with an average age of 71 who had survived cancer.

They found men who beat cancer and who burned more than 12,600 calories a week exercising, almost halved their risk of death.

Cancer survivors are living longer because of early diagnosis and better treatment - as well as exercise

Click for story
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2545417/Cancer-patients-exercise-HALVE-risk-death-Exercise-boosts-life-expectancy-men-disease.html

[Ron Harvot]

Re: Cancer patients who exercise could halve their risk of d

by Ron Harvot on Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:15 am

I sure am a big believer as you will note on my posts on bicycling. I find it helps in a number of ways. It increases your aerobic levels and thus helps with anemia. it helps keep your weight down, relieves stress and improves your ability to sleep at night. If you set goals for your exercise it helps you put focus on to something that you have some control over and takes your mind off of multiple myeloma. If you participate in a group, such as a cycling club, it broadens your social network. All of these are positives. The key is starting and making a commitment to it.

Ron

[coachhoke]

Re: Cancer patients who exercise could halve their risk of d

by coachhoke on Sun Jan 26, 2014 12:36 pm

1800 calories requires the equivalent of running 18 miles. No way does this make sense.

Coach Hoke

[Ron Harvot]

Re: Cancer patients who exercise could halve their risk of d

by Ron Harvot on Sun Jan 26, 2014 6:07 pm

Looking at the total of 12,600 calories does seem steep. I did a 45 mile bike ride today and my HR monitor said I burned 2,420 calories. I was not going full out but it was at an average HR of 135 so I was riding in my endurance zone. On the basis of that ride I would have to do 225 miles per week to meet the 12,600 target. That is steep. That is the equivalent of 11,700 miles a year. Only highly dedicated and professional cyclists do that level. I did about half of that last year and consider myself pretty dedicated.

However, I wouldn't want the general message getting lost in the calorie detail. Exercise increases the length of survival.

Ron

[coachhoke]

Re: Cancer patients who exercise could halve their risk of d

by coachhoke on Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:03 pm

I agree totally that exercise is very valuable; but the numbers made no sense.

Coach Hoke

[Eric Hofacket]

Re: Cancer patients who exercise could halve their risk of d

by Eric Hofacket on Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:20 pm

The average age of the group in this study was 71. There are not a lot of people, at any age, who get near 12,600 calories a week. I know people who do a lot of training for Ironman and they do exercise to this level, but they are the exception. And if you can exercise 12,600 calories a week at 71 you are in exceptional shape for your age and I would expect that you will live longer than average person cancer survivor or not, and you probably have been taking good care of your health for most of your life.

We all die sometime and this study says nothing about for how long after beating cancer does the study period cover, 1 year, 5 years, 20 years? And why set that bar at 12,600 calories for the study and not something closer to what the general population who exercises does and can achieve, not just an elite few? Maybe it does but they only discussed the best results. I do believe that exercising will increase longevity cancer survivor or not but I would not conclude that ramping up or starting to exercise at the 12,600 calories a week level means a reduction of risk by 48% based on the results of this study. Not enough information about the study is given to draw those conclusions.

[NStewart]

Re: Cancer patients who exercise could halve their risk of d

by NStewart on Tue Jan 28, 2014 2:08 pm

There have been a lot of studies in the past few years looking at the benefits of exercise and reducing the risk of cancer. One was just mentioned on the news last night about Yoga reducing inflammation in people with cancer. It was a small study, but it could be an important beginning in more in depth studies. There has been a study on Yoga and breast cancer survivors that was done at Penn a couple of years ago. There also was a study done with breast cancer survivors who had been diagnosed with lymphedema and those without lymphedema that showed that a slow, monitored return to weight training was beneficial to all of the women in the study. This study led to the change in the recommendations to women with breast cancer about that they would no longer be able to lift anything greater than 5 pounds. 5 pounds is less than the weight of a gallon of milk and far less than the weight of the children that many women are raising.

So, bottom line, exercise that is at the appropriate level for the person exercising is good. We need to be careful of what types of exercise we do if we have a history of fractures and bone lesions. Starting out slowly with the help of a therapist who is experienced in working with people with cancer and is familiar with the physical limitations we can have is recommended.

Nancy in Phila