Guest Blog Post!

This blog article is from David Haas-thanks so much for the submission David!

Elderly Cancer Patients Find Benefits with Exercise

Living a longer life with the help of modern medicine comes with more expense than the price tag associated with pharmaceuticals and surgeries. Getting older is associated with decreased physical function, and quality of life suffers from this in many ways. One of the ways is an increase in the risk of cancer, which is an especially prevalent chronic disease of the elderly. Treatment for cancer, whether active or palliative, will further damage quality of life. It doesn't have to be this way though.

Regular use of physical activity is strongly associated with better quality of life for the elderly. One reason is that exercise prompts the pituitary gland to manufacture more growth hormone, a natural substance that exists in nearly every cell of the body and decreases with age. Exercise also provides the body a prompt to produce more melatonin for a good night's sleep. Research on exercise during and after cancer treatment has found enormous benefits are possible for all cancer patients, including the elderly.

Is Exercise Safe for Elderly Cancer Patients?

A lot of research has been performed on the benefits of exercise to cancer patients, but none of these has investigated the efficacy or safety of exercise for elderly patients. Part of the reason is that elderly patients are often not subjected to active treatment options, such as chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. Palliative care is more common, especially for elderly patients with mesothelioma cancer or other types in advanced stages. There are other considerations as well.

Cancer treatment typically entails a list of damaging symptoms. Insomnia, rapid weight change, hormone imbalance, fatigue, digestive upset and emotional disorders are all common symptoms. Some types of treatment may further result in bone loss and increase the risk of other chronic diseases, such as osteoporosis. Elderly patients often experience some of these symptoms well before a cancer diagnosis.

The official recommendation of cancer and exercise experts is to avoid physical inactivity. It turns out that even the simplest types of no-impact, low-intensity exercises can reduce the experience of symptoms common to cancer treatment and aging. More exercise does produce stronger results, but any amount of physical activity regularly engaged in will be beneficial. Safety is important, however, no exercise is much more dangerous and costly to the quality of life.

Getting Started with Safe Exercises

The first step is in deciding to engage in regular workouts and talking to the doctor about appropriate choices. Patients in better health may be able to go at it alone, but most elderly patients will benefit from having a physical therapist or other fitness expert working in tandem with the cancer clinic.

The choice of exercise will be based on several factors. The current fitness status will suggest a starting place in terms of intensity. Certain types of treatment will benefit more from certain types of exercise, such as weight-bearing exercise for those using hormonal treatment or at risk of osteoporosis. Exercise is a unique and holistic intervention that can benefit all cancer patients.