Researchers credit regular exercise with preventing a number of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, dementia, depression, anxiety -- and even cancer.
Being physically fit can make the cancer battle and recovery a little easier.
Linda C. Johnson, 75, admits she doesn’t love to exercise. But she started working out 17 years ago to keep up with her grandkids. According to her doctors, Johnson’s years of fitness helped her bounce back in 2018 from lung cancer treatment.
“All of them told me that because of my physical condition that I was going to tolerate the surgery so much better, and that if I resumed my exercise, that my recovery would be so much better,” Johnson said.
“She was practicing preventative care and taking really good care of herself,” said Nicole Keith, a research scientist at Regenstrief Institute in Indiana.
Keith has been her mother’s fitness partner, trainer and cheerleader. Who better than this nationally recognized research scientist and current president of the American College of Sports Medicine, or ACSM?
For patients fighting and recovering from cancer, the ACSM has issued specific guidelines from exercise oncology experts.
To improve cancer fatigue? Thirty minutes of moderate aerobic exercise and two sets of resistance training twice a week.
To relieve anxiety and depression, experts prescribe 20 to 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise, think fast walking or jogging. Plus, two sets of resistance exercise.
Johnson finished her chemotherapy in May 2019 and started working out again in July.
“I was walking four or five miles within six weeks,” Johnson said with a smile.
The prescription for cancer prevention? Research suggests that a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate activity per week can help prevent seven common cancers including bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, kidney and stomach cancers. The American College of Sports Medicine has more information on their webpage: www.acsm.org.