Breast cancer surviving women who are going through chemo can relieve their chemotherapy “brain fog” through aerobic exercises.
According to Health Day, a new clinical trial in Canada suggested that breast cancer patients on chemotherapy who participated in aerobics class or do exercises regularly felt sharper and had a better quality of life.
Jennifer Brunet, lead researcher of the study and professor of human kinetics at the University of Ottawa said, “Our findings strengthen the case for making exercise assessment, recommendation and referral a routine part of cancer care. This may help empower women living with and beyond cancer to actively manage both their physical and mental health during and after treatment.”
During this study, 57 breast cancer patients in Ottawa and Vancouver were selected randomly and were recommended to take either 12 weeks or 24 weeks of aerobic exercise along with their chemotherapy. Half of the participants started exercising with their chemo, while half started after completing chemo.
No significant difference between two groups were noted in terms of brain functioning, but women who did aerobics during chemo reported that they had a clearer, sharper mind and their quality of life was also improved.
Brunet explained in a news release, “To address this, we advocate for collaboration across various sectors, academic, healthcare, fitness, and community, to develop exercise programs specifically designed for women with breast cancer.”
“These programs should be easy to adopt and implement widely, helping to make the benefits of exercise more accessible to all women facing the challenges of cancer treatment and recovery,” she continued.
The researcher of the study published in the journal Cancer believes that more exercise options need to be made available for women battling with breast cancer and receiving chemotherapy.
