Sport helps cancer to prolong life

How sport helps cancer patients

03/01/2014

Sports helps cancer patients to noticeably reduce the side effects of therapies. This is confirmed by recent clinical studies. On its Internet portal, the German Cancer Society (DKG) reports further positive effects of physical activity. Sport should also strengthen the performance and self-confidence of cancer patients and have a direct influence on the development of cancer and the course of the disease.

Sport can prevent cancer
As the DKG informs, sport helps to prevent cancer. Thus, the risk of developing a malignant tumor is reduced by 20 to 30 percent through physical activity. In cancer patients who have been exercising regularly before their illness, the risk of relapse is also lower. Affected individuals who have been unsportsmanlike can also benefit from physical activity, the company reports. On the one hand, the risk of relapse reduces after a tumor disease, on the other hand, the chances of recovery improved. The effect of sport can therefore have the same positive effect as that of chemo or antihormone therapy. This is especially proven for colon, prostate and breast cancer by studies. The benefits of sport have also been demonstrated in leukemia and other cancers.

Increase the chances of cancer cure with sports and cancer therapy
„The biological mechanisms that explain why sport has a direct impact on cancer are still largely unknown“, writes the DKG. This is mainly due to the fact that the growth processes of tumors are very complex. However, since sport affects the entire organism, it would also appear to affect the factors associated with the development of cancer. As tumor-specific effects of physical activity would come „the influence on sex hormones, antioxidant effects or an improvement of DNA repair mechanisms in question, as well as the reduction of insulin and endogenous messengers“, reports the company. Since sport stimulates the metabolism, the residence time of carcinogenic substances in the gastrointestinal tract is also shortened. In hormone-dependent breast cancer, physical activity leads to a similar reduction in estrogen levels as drug-induced antihormone therapy.

Dr. However, Freerk Baumann from the German Sport University Cologne expressly points out in an interview with the DKG that sport is not an alternative to drug-based cancer therapy. Rather, it makes sense to do sports in addition to other measures such as chemotherapy. However, those affected should not be overwhelmed physically, because that could even have negative effects on the disease. (Ag)

Image: Stephanie Hofschlaeger