Monday, December 12, 2011

David Haas - Fitness and Cancer- Physical Fitness Can Help

I have the privilege of David Haas writing a guest article for my blog today. David is a cancer patient advocate who cares very much about the well-being of people not only diagnosed with cancer but also their families and those who are in remission. You can check out David’s blog at http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog
Read this fantastic article written by David and let me know what you think of it in the comments section:)

XOXO - Melanoma Diva




Fitness and Cancer- Physical Fitness Can Help

It can be difficult enough to motivate a healthy person to get up and work out on even the best day. When it comes to getting a cancer patient or cancer survivor to exercise, it can be an even greater battle. Dealing with such a difficult illness, not to mention undergoing exhausting chemotherapy and radiation treatments, doesn’t leave many cancer patients rearing to get up and head to the gym. But exercise - even light exercise - can help boost dwindling energy and prevent cancer from recurring.

Many people who have battled cancer - and won - have keeping cancer away for good at the top of their priority list. Fitness and exercise can help with this goal. Not only can a healthy diet and regular exercise prevent cancer from occurring in the first place, but it can also prevent cancer from recurring. This is mainly due to the fact that people who are overweight after going through cancer treatments have a shorter life span than those who maintain a healthy weight - exercise can help people to control their weight.

Exercise has benefits for both disease-free people and people with cancer, but cancer patients may reap even more rewards than their healthy counterparts. Every regular exercise will enjoy benefits that include gaining muscle strength, having a leaner body and warding off weight gain. But additional benefits include an improved mood, more self-confidence and less fatigue…things that are all extremely important after undergoing radiation treatment. People who have cancer, whether they have common cancer like breast cancer or a rare one like mesothelioma, they often experience a depressed mood and extreme fatigue. Exercise can combat both of these problems.

It’s best to start exercising as soon as you can after getting a cancer diagnosis and undergoing treatment. While fatigue will make you feel like you simply can’t get up to work out, or that if you do, you’ll feel even more tired, the opposite is actually true. While starting a workout program may make you sleepier than you usually are, exercising actually increases your energy level. This is a huge help for cancer patients who feel constantly fatigued - instead of leading an increasingly sedentary lifestyle; people who are dealing with cancer can actually increase their energy little by little.

It’s important to perform a variety of exercises, including stretching, aerobic exercise and resistance training. Stretching and increasing flexibility is important to do even if vigorous exercise isn’t possible at the moment. Aerobic exercise is the kind that will burn calories the quickest and help you to maintain your weight.



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