A New Study Found That Pairing Endurance And Resistance Exercises Can Lessen The Mental Toll While Undergoing Breast Cancer Treatment
In the United States, about one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. Thus, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in America.
Fortunately, breast cancer survival rates have reached ninety percent due to various treatment options such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, and more.
While these treatment options have been growingly successful in eradicating breast cancer, they often have an equal and opposite impact on patients’ mental health.
The side effects of these treatments range from depression and fatigue to a severe decline in muscular strength and overall endurance.
By ignoring the strain these side effects have on patients, patients are also less likely to return for further cancer treatment.
This back-and-forth of determining if treatment is “worth it” is a spiral that many cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or the like have endured. But, of course, weighing the mental costs of life-saving treatment should not be the only option.
Instead, a new study conducted by Loughborough University in England has found that simply getting exercise will help lessen both the physical and mental toll associated with breast cancer treatment.
Jonathon Mok, a student at Loughborough University, led the study. Mok and his team used data from eighteen peer-reviewed studies to identify trends in the relationship between exercise and mental health.
Specifically, the researchers analyzed data from over one thousand and eight hundred breast cancer patients. They also focused on resistance exercises, like weight lifting, and endurance exercises like jogging.
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The study found that by combining both resistance and endurance exercise, breast cancer patients are likely to increase many physical health factors– including cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular endurance, and muscular strength– as well as decrease depression and fatigue.
So, this exercise regimen can significantly increase the quality of life while undergoing treatment.
Moreover, Mok believes that maintaining both physical and mental wellbeing will “help those undergoing aggressive cancer treatments return to a functional lifestyle post-treatment.”
To read the complete scientific findings, visit the link here.
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