Breast Cancer: Don’t Let Your Diagnosis Make You Stop Working Out

If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, you may be wondering if you should focus on getting through treatment instead of keeping up with your physical fitness. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that exercise is not only good for you now, it may also set you on the path to a healthier survivorship.

Here are some cancer-related issues that a workout may help with.

Exercise During Treatment

Physical activity during treatment may ease fatigue, lymphedema, and mood disturbances.

Treatment-Related Fatigue

Lymphedema

When lymph nodes are removed during breast cancer surgery, you may end up with swelling and pain because of a buildup of lymph fluid.

“It used to be that we told women not to lift weights because we thought it caused lymphedema,” says Eleanor M. Walker, MD, the director of breast services in the department of radiation oncology at Henry Ford Cancer Institute in Detroit. “But data now shows that light weight lifting can actually prevent it.”

Mood

“Exercise releases endorphins, brain chemicals that make us feel better,” says Walker. “I encourage patients as they go through radiation treatments to experiment with the kinds of exercise that make them feel better — I ask them, ‘What used to make you happy when you were a kid?’”

Whatever you choose to do — hitting the gym, a dance class, bowling, gardening, playing with kids or grandkids in the park — aim for a mood-boosting session that’s at least 30 minutes at moderate intensity. A good gauge is when you’ve broken a sweat but can still speak.

When Treatment Is Done

After treatment, it’s important to keep moving to mitigate the long-term effects of treatment. Doing so can improve bone health, cardiovascular function, and cognition.

Menopausal Symptoms

“Premenopausal women often take tamoxifen, an antiestrogen, for five years posttreatment, which can put them into menopause,” says Walker, triggering side effects like hot flashes. These effects can be mitigated with exercise, she adds.

Exercise can help you maintain muscle strength as you age, which in turn helps preserve bone health and reduce the risk of fractures.

Walker says exercise may also help women who take aromatase inhibitors to stay on the medication. “If exercise helps these women lose weight and feel less pain, that means they often stay on the medication, and that improves their long-term prognosis.”

Heart Health

In fact, because of improvements in the detection and success in treating breast cancer, many more cancer survivors end up at risk for heart disease, simply because of aging. Their risk is higher if they have existing risk factors for heart disease, such as obesity or smoking.

Cognition and Memory

Many breast cancer survivors report feeling foggy — it’s sometimes called “chemo brain” — after treatment, while others experience a decline in thinking, memory, and concentration, says Sheri Hartman, PhD, a professor at UCSD Herbert Wetheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and a member of the Moores Cancer Center in San Diego.

How Do You Work Out With Cancer?

Around the country, there are a few exercise programs designed specifically for cancer patients and survivors. At Henry Ford’s ExCITE program (Exercise and Cancer Integrative Therapy Education), for instance, cancer patients are evaluated by exercise physiologists to determine their baseline fitness and create personalized plans for them.

“Patients can work out at home, at their own gyms, or on-site at our cardiac rehab facilities,” says Walker. If you don’t have access to a similar program, check with a local YMCA or gym for a trainer who specializes in cancer patients.