Is it ok for cancer patients to exercise, when you don’t feel very well?

Cancer and exercise - is it ok to exercise when you don't feel well?

Is it ok for cancer patients and survivors to exercise when you’re not feeling very well?

The answer is, it depends.

Cancer patients often don’t feel very well. It comes with the territory. So if we waited to exercise until we felt fully well, we’d never get going!

I am currently nursing a bit of ‘lurgy’. Nondescript aches and pains and fatigue. A virus I’ve picked up from the kids. I’m not often ill so it’s taken me right back to chemo days. That groggy, headachy, mehhhh that makes you not want to get out of bed or do anything.

But since I’d set aside some time today to exercise, I didn’t want to completely waste it. So instead of the hard hill running session I had originally planned, I decided to listen to my body and go for a little turbo on the balcony. Close to home and complete with a podcast I’ve been wanting to listen to for weeks.

Using the 10 minute rule, I did a deal with myself to start pedalling and if I felt worse after 10 minutes, I’d stop. I stuck firmly to zone 2, which is the heart rate zone that your body can keep ticking along at comfortably for hours. ‘Chatting pace’. It’s still movement, it’s still good for you but it doesn’t stress your body. It doesn’t come naturally to me as I like to push myself, but today, I knew I really didn’t want to stress my system.

There are a few warning signs when definitely not to exercise or to stop exercising : including fever, pain, breathlessness - beyond normal exercise levels, dizziness, nausea / vomiting.

But if you’re just feeling a bit run down, fatigued and mehhhh, my view is give it a go. Exercise is known to be the best cure for cancer related fatigue, which is completely counter intuitive but true. It’s more effective at reducing fatigue for cancer patients than additional sleep.

So, even if you’re feeling a bit under the weather, stick on your trainers, head out the door and see how you feel after 10 minutes. If it feels too much then today’s not the day, give yourself grace to head home and rest.

But you’ll probably find that you feel better for a bit of movement. I definitely did!