Cut your breast cancer risk with exercise

The health benefits of leading a physically active life are well established and the use of physical activity to manage breast cancer is no different. Medical advice touts the benefits of physical exercise in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of breast cancer. Physical activity strengthens your autoimmune system, and this improves your ability to resist the invasion and proliferation of cancer cells in the breast.

Higher survival rates

Regular physical exercise can reduce your risk of developing breast cancer as well as prevent its return if you are a recovering patient. Numerous studies have been conducted on women of varying backgrounds and have found that those who were very active at the time of their cancer diagnosis have a much higher survival rate and a lower risk of recurrence compared to their sedentary counterparts.

Impact on oestrogen

Breast cancer development is positively related to the impact of oestrogen on the breast. So a reduction in the amount of oestrogen allowed to influence breast function will help minimise the development of breast cancer. Physical activity stimulates our circulation and reroutes blood, including oestrogen, to different parts of the body.

Thus much of the oestrogen that would have impacted the breast is used elsewhere in the body such as the skeletal muscles to stimulate protein formation. Oestrogen also helps to slow down the use of glucose in the muscles to produce energy and the rate of fat accumulation.

Overweight and oestrogen

Women who are overweight produce and store more oestrogen than those who have a lower body mass index, and obese women have a greater volume of breast tissue so it's more difficult to detect breast tumours in obese women compared to lean women. This can result in the detection of cancer at a more advanced stage of development when treatment becomes more challenging, all of which could be easily corrected with exercise.

Exercise promotes circulation throughout the body, which improves the elimination of toxic wastes that are carcinogenic. It can improve the mood and minimise depression and anxiety. Exercise increases muscle mass and strength which are often lost during bouts of cancer, thus, the need to exercise the large muscle groups to reverse the atrophy associated with the onset of cancer.

Exercise during cancer treatment

Exercising during cancer treatment helps to maintain a range of motion which helps to reduce much of the pain and numbness experienced in the breast, upper arm and armpit. Exercise helps to prevent the build-up and poor drainage of lymph and other fluids which would result in painful swelling in the arms and chest as well as frozen shoulder.

Your exercise routine

If you have not been exercising, a regime of 30 to 40 minutes three times each week is a good start. Increase the frequency as you feel able and incorporate some strength-training activities, especially for your arms and upper body, on alternate days.

One hour of walking at a two-to-three miles per hour pace will lower your risk a little but three to five hours weekly of brisk walking will give you even more protection. The American Cancer Society recommends that you exercise for 30 to 45 minutes at least five days each week.

Getting active now can help you avoid a potential breast cancer diagnosis in the future.

Dr Kenneth Gardner is an exercise physiologist at Holiday Hills Research Center; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.