Exercise may improve quality of life during and after cancer

Researchers from the Cochrane Collaboration found that activities such as walking and cycling can benefit those who are undergoing or have completed treatment for cancer.

The first study focused on 56 trials involving a total of 4,826 people undergoing treatment for different types of cancer, including breast and prostate cancer.

The second focused on 40 trials involving a total of 3,694 people who had completed treatment for cancer.

Exercise programmes in both reviews included walking, cycling, yoga, Qigong, resistance training and strength training.

The study found that exercise can improve health-related quality of life for people with cancer. Further, results from both reviews show that exercise improved social functioning and tiredness.

Benefits were also seen in the physical well-being of participants undergoing treatment and in self-esteem, emotional well-being, sexuality, sleep, anxiety and pain in people who had completed treatment.

"Together, these reviews suggest that exercise may provide quality of life benefits for people who are undergoing or have undergone treatment for cancer," lead author Shiraz I Mishra of the Prevention Research Center at the University of New Mexico said in a statement.