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Exercise helps beat cancer
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Cancer survivors can cut their risk of recurrence in half by leading an active lifestyle, say researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
Despite the clear benefits of exercise, many people believe that their daily activities are sufficient to get enough exercise.
“As doctors, we recommend exercise to our patients, but no one has studied the impact of physical activity on their health, well-being and monitored the results,” says Dr. Andrea Cevilli.
Patients who had breast or colon cancer and exercised regularly were found to have a tendency to reduce the risk of cancer returning by approximately 50%.
It turned out that the people who remained physically active most often were those who had been exercising before they were diagnosed. They continued to lead their previous active lifestyle and did not slow down.
According to Dr. Chevilli, many patients are unaware that a sedentary lifestyle not only makes the body vulnerable to various diseases, including cancer, but also hinders the body's recovery after a serious illness.
"Most of the study participants sincerely believed that gardening or housework could have the same positive effect as a set of physical exercises. But in reality, such work requires minimal energy expenditure and cannot give the expected result," says the doctor.
Scientists have found out that overweight women are most at risk of developing or recurring breast cancer, despite adequate treatment of the disease. The risk of the disease returning in this case increases by 30%, and the possibility of a fatal outcome - by 50%. Experts associate such results with hormonal disorders and frequent inflammatory processes.
It was also noted that patients listened most seriously to advice about the benefits of maintaining good physical shape from oncologists. However, few of the specialists who had this information discussed the need for these activities with patients.
Scientists hope that further research will help organize work with cancer patients at the stage of recovery, and it will also become clear how to create optimal favorable conditions for physical activity for such patients, since fatigue, lack of vital energy and fading interest in life are companions of cancer diseases.
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