Monday, January 30, 2012

Get Physically Fit and Kick Cancer to the Curb (guest post by David Haas)


Hearing your doctor tell you that you have a rare form of deadly cancer such as mesothelioma and that you will now be required to undergo mesothelioma treatment is a difficult pill to swallow. Finding out you have cancer is not something you ever dreamed would happen to you; it happens to other people but you never once thought you would be the recipient of this news. Unfortunately, it happens all too often. The good news is that many cancer survivors will attest to the fact that their cancer diagnosis, as horrible as it was, was a life changing day for them. Becoming a cancer patient forced them to make lifestyle changes that forever positively changed their lives during the course of their diagnosis, their treatment and now their recovery. If you have been considering making a lifestyle change but have yet to make the change, there is no time like the present to do so.

The National Cancer Institute offers information for cancer patients about the benefits of physical fitness and cancer; exercising and becoming physically fit while undergoing cancer treatments is a life changing action that won’t cure you of cancer, but it will make you healthier. The main reason why doctors recommend physical fitness for everyonenot just cancer patients – is because it is good for your body, mind and soul. Your body will never look better than it will once you start exercising regularly. In addition, your body will never feel better than when you start exercising; and neither will your mind and soul. Exercise promotes positive hormones in your body. Stress promotes negative hormones. The stress of cancer and the treatment required to fight your cancer produces so much negative hormones that it wreaks havoc on your immune system, which needs to be strong to help deal with cancer treatments and the disease itself.

Exercising produces hormones that fight the bad hormones caused by stress and improves your immune system. Since your immune system is what fights infections and illness, this is imperative to fighting cancer. Your mind will feel better after exercising because of the positive hormones, which increase your mood and your quality of life. Quality of life is important to cancer patients because the treatments often make a quality life difficult to live. In short, exercising not only makes you look better but it will make you feel better both inside and out.

Your doctor will be pleased to know you are adapting a healthier lifestyle with cancer. He will help you determine what activities are good for you while undergoing cancer treatments, such as walking, biking and swimming. Remember, treatment takes a lot out of you and you may not feel able to exercise every day, but as often as you can is just as good.


~~David Haas






David is a cancer support group and awareness program advocate at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. He researches and writes about cancer support groups and also the importance of fitness on the overall health of a cancer patient.

David can be reached at:

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