Exercise can cure the most common cancer side effect, affecting up to 90% of patients.
What is the most common side effect of cancer and cancer treatment?
What is the most common side effect of cancer and cancer treatment?
It affects over 90% of cancer patients.
It can linger on for many months or even years after treatment stops.
It can be life affecting. Mood affecting. Debilitating.
FATIGUE
We’re not talking big night out knackered. Pull an all nighter at work tired. Or even new born baby never been so shattered tired.
Real fatigue is bone aching, soul destroying exhaustion. That can’t be cured by sleep. Getting off the sofa becomes the day’s mission. Driving to the shop or playing with the kids feels like climbing Everest. Going out for a walk might as well be flying to the moon.
So it comes as a surprise to many cancer patients to know that the best cure for cancer related fatigue is exercise.
It’s completely counter intuitive. When you’re that tired, how and why would you waste energy tokens on exercise? How could that possibly help?
But it does.
I credit sport and movement for keeping me going through chemo and radiotherapy. I had moments of being exhausted. Times where I was on my knees. Days where I dug so deep just to get downstairs to say goodnight to my kids.
But overall, I did good. I kept going. My promise to myself to move a little every day kept me going.
The longest ultra of my life.
And now?
Honestly?
I’m still quite tired.
But nothing like I was!
Hormone therapy? Age? Small kids? Insomnia? Long term side effects?
All of the above.
But the one thing I know makes me feel better. Sport. It makes me feel like me. It boosts me. It keeps me sane and strong. It gives me energy.
Will I ever feel the same again?
Probably not. Because I’m not the same. But I do feel better and better as cancer drifts into the distance.
Ps. I’m all for pushing through a little bit - endurance athletes are good at suffering! But it’s also important to listen to your body. If you’re not sure if exercise is the right answer for you, try the 10 minute rule. Do something for 10 minutes. Walk, dance, stretch. If you feel better for it, you have your answer. If you feel worse, stop. If in doubt, always ask your doctor 👍
Fatigue affects as many as 90% of cancer patients
Cancer related fatigue can be cured with exercise
Exercise helps cancer related fatigue
Exercise for cancer patients reduces or cures treatment side effects