Breast Cancer and Exercise

Breast Cancer and Exercise

We’ve all heard it so many times, ‘exercise is good for us!’ The American Cancer Society recommends that all women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer should exercise regularly (around 4 hours per week) to improve their quality of life and minimize the risk of developing new/secondary cancers.

The question though is how is exercise beneficial to those diagnosed with breast cancer? Ways that exercise help include the following:

• It’ll lower your cancer risk. Studies have shown that regular exercise reduces the risk of a recurrence of breast cancer as well as reducing your risk of developing breast cancer in the first place! Exercise has also shown to reduce your risk of lung, colon and uterus cancer.
• Exercise will help you to maintain a healthy weight. It has been shown that women who have been diagnosed as overweight or obese have an increased risk of been diagnosed with breast cancer. This has been found to be more significant in women after menopause. Being overweight also increases the risk of recurrence of breast cancer. This is due to the fact that the adipose (fat) cells are responsible for making oestrogen and therefore elevated fat cells result in elevated oestrogen levels which can cause the hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers to develop and grow.
• Exercise can improve one’s longevity. Although this issue is complex and inconclusive, research has shown that exercise can improve the survival expectancy for breast cancer patients. This is partly due to the effect of maintaining a healthy weight after being diagnosed.
• Energy levels are greater! Fatigue is a common effect for women during and after treatment for breast cancer. Regular exercise will improve your endurance levels and enhance your cardio and pulmonary efficiency (heart and lungs will need to do less work for the same workload). This will give one more energy to perform one’s normal daily activities.
• Exercise improves one’s mobility. Scar tissue forms after having surgery, reconstruction or radiation associated with breast cancer. The scar tissue can lead the arm and shoulder to lose flexibility which will also be exaggerated by not using the shoulder girdle after the treatment. With a safe stretching regime, mobility in the shoulder girdle can be improved and minimize secondary problems associated with the loss of range of motion.
• Muscle mass and strength levels will be increased. As we all age, our muscle mass and strength is in steady decline. When one undergoes chemotherapy, there is an increased risk of going into early menopause, which will accelerate the loss of muscle mass. Exercise (especially resistance training) will aid in increasing one’s muscle mass and reducing the fat tissue.
• Minimises risk of osteoporosis. Again, as we age, our bone density decreases which puts us at risk of developing osteoporosis (after age 50, females are twice more likely to develop osteoporosis). Certain breast cancer treatments have been shown to result in decreased bone density. Weight-bearing exercise will increase load on the joints/bones and increase the bone density.
• Better quality and quantity of sleep.
• Improved psychological well-being. Being diagnosed with breast cancer can result in feelings of stress, anxiety, fear and depression. Exercise causes the release of chemicals called endorphins which can improve one’s feelings of happiness and relaxation and reduce your level of stress.

Besides these life-changing benefits; exercise can help you deal with the symptoms associated with the treatment for breast cancer. It has been shown that exercise can:

• Ease the level of nausea experienced during chemotherapy.
• Reduce the prevalence of blood clots by improving blood flow to the legs.
• Improves one’s libido.
• Improves one’s fatigue levels caused by the radiation and/or chemotherapy

Although there are many benefits to exercising, one needs to ensure that the exercise performed needs to be done safely and in a controlled manner. Those who have had breast cancer are at risk of lymphedema (swelling of the soft tissues of the arm and shoulder girdle resulting in numbness, discomfort and sometimes infection). There are certain types of exercise that need to be avoided and as such, one should always consult a medical practitioner before commencing an exercise regime.

Types of exercise that could potentially be counter-intuitive (if not done safely and under supervision) are the following:

• Swimming laps using strokes with upper body movements.
• Using resistance bands (if not conditioned, wouldn’t know if exerting too much load through the arm/shoulder).
• Upper body weight exercises such as press ups or pull ups.
• Some yoga poses such as downward dog and inversions.
• Certain types of cross-trainers/ellipticals, racket sports and cross country-skiing.

As previously mentioned, it is imperative that you get approval from your main medical practitioner before you start doing any exercise and to also mention if you have any other existing conditions which may affect what type of exercise you do.

When starting an exercise regime, the following guidelines should be adhered to:

1. Take any precautions that are necessary to avoid aggravating any issues/conditions. Eg. If you’ve been diagnosed with lymphedema, special precautions will need to be adhered to when doing exercise.
2. Ensure a proper warm-up is done before you do exercise (5 – 10minutes and include a flexibility/stretching
   routine as well).
3. Once you start to become fitter and stronger, try not to be too aggressive in increasing the exercise load. A slow and steady approach to progress
   ing is advisable.
4. Focus on technique when doing training (especially resistance training).
5. STOP if you experience any pain or discomfort. Listen to your body-it’s trying to tell you something!
6. Again, listen to your body! If you’re tired or feeling sick, take a day or two off! We recommend training with heart rate monitors to monitor your stress response to exercise so you’ll k
   now when to stop!
7. Finish all sessions with a cool-down! Again, as in the warm-up, aim for a 5-10min cool-down with a stretch included.