Exercise and Breast Cancer Drugs

We’re fans of exercise, but then you already know that – we like to say it can be fun and we love to mention that it reduces the risk of breast cancer. Want to know something else awesome about exercise? It can help women cope with the challenge of breast cancer fighting drugs.

Almost all pharmaceuticals have side effects, just as other breast cancer treatments do. The good and bad are carefully weighed, and a treatment plan for cancer involves a careful balance of therapy designed to kill the cancer with the least effects on the rest of the body. Anything with the potential to make treatment better is worth rejoicing over.

So, yay! Exercise!

A certain type of breast cancer medication called aromatase inhibitors has been shown to be effective in staving off cancer for women with cancers with hormone receptors. It is also used as a preventative in some high risk women, significantly reducing the risk of developing breast cancers. However in some women the medication is not well tolerated. Why? Side effects. Solution, please? Perhaps as simple as exercise. In a recent study, women who were assigned exercise regimens showed an increase in overall health and a decrease in falling off of their treatment schedules. In short, side effects became less problematic and staying on course in the fight against breast cancer improved!

Who would have thought that something as simple as an elevated heart rate on a regular basis could have such a profound effect? (Well, apparently, some great researchers thought that, but we digress…) It’s great to know that when the going gets tough – the tough can go to the gym, or even for a brisk walk – and be on the road to their best possible health.

Image credit: Schnell&Sauber Aerobics by stilinberlin.de (via Flickr) Copyright Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Originally published /12/26/13 on mammographykc.com.