Today's post discusses the
importance of exercise to cancer patients at any stage of recovery, drawing on
talks given by Ted Poulter, physical activity adviser to Macmillan, and Barbara
Gallani, yoga specialist, at our recent July 2014 seminar ' Breast Cancer - The
Power of Choice'. If you are interested in putting some of these ideas into
practice, Barbara is running a specialised yoga workshop with us on Monday 13th
October, for more information and a link to buy tickets please see our events
page here.
As more and more studies are
showing, exercise is an entirely natural and harm-free way to effectively
support cancer treatment and recovery. At our major annual seminar we were
fortunate to hear from two experts, Ted Poulter and Barbara Gallani, who
offered practical advice on how to go about improving health with physical
activity.
Ted is a senior adviser for
Macmillan and having been through cancer treatment himself, offered a very
personal understanding and overview of the importance of physical activity for
recovery. Ted began by admitting it was a lot easier to preach than to practice
but by the end of his talk it was clear that this was an effort worth making.
Studies by the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) shows that exercise
has no adverse effects and can improve health in many areas including aerobic
capacity, muscular strength, reducing fatigue, slowing disease progression and
contributing to protection from recurrence. Benefits have been studied in
breast, colorectal, prostate and haematological cancer (which account for 50%
of cancers in the UK) and particularly in breast cancer.
