SATURDAY STRENGTH: Link Between Breast Cancer and Exercise

This week, I did some research on the link between exercise and breast cancer. I read an article on ABCNews.com by Dr. Anne McTiernan, an internist and epidemiologist, who is a member of the Cancer Prevention Research Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. She is also the author of Breast Fitness: An Optimal Exercise and Health Plan for Reducing Your Risk of Breast Cancer.

I picked 5 things from the article that I found important:

Dr. McTiernan reports that...

- "Nearly 30 studies have shown that women who exercise at moderate to vigorous levels for three or more hours per week reduce their risk of getting breast cancer by 30 percent to 40 percent."

- "Scientists believe that hormones are the link between exercise and breast-cancer protection. Exercise reduces levels of estrogen, testosterone, insulin, and growth factors, all of which may either cause breast cancer or prompt it to grow faster and larger. Women with high levels of these hormones in their blood have a high risk of developing breast cancer."

- "To reduce the risk of breast cancer, women should engage in aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes every day, preferably more. Walking is an excellent aerobic activity and can be done easily by most women."

- "Many of the benefits of exercise in breast-cancer prevention may also apply for women who have had breast cancer."

- "Overweight and obese breast-cancer patients have poorer survival than lighter-weight women. Exercise can therefore be an important part of the breast-cancer recovery process."

If you'd like to read the full article, click the link above.

I've been thinking lately of challenging myself to exercise for 1 hour per day. From everything I've read, the health benefits would be HUGE! And since I've got 24 hours in each day, taking 1 hour to work on my health doesn't seem like too much. Walking is the perfect exercise - most people can do it - but I have a hard time walking right now. I've got a problem with my heel that is the result of some surgery I had done last year. Instead of helping, the surgery caused more problems. So, for right now, I've got to figure out what else I can do. Here is my plan:

1. 15-20 minutes on the elliptical machine. This is possible, even with my bad foot, because I don't have to lift or move my foot. It stays on the machine in one place. I can work my way up to 1/2 hour on this machine.

2. For the remaining time, I can exercise with a Breast Cancer recovery video that I've got - it is full of simple exercises that help your body regain it's strength after breast cancer treatments and surgeries.

3. Strength training should be top on my list of things to do. So, I can alternate days doing upper and lower body strength training for 15 minutes.

3. I can fill in with things that target specific problems, like lymphedema.

Here is an exercise that can help with range of motion and recovery from surgery (I found this in the Oct 2011 Prevention Magazine):

Spider Walk

Stand facing wall, about 8 inches away. Place fingertips of affected side of body on wall at hip level, palm facing down. Walk fingers up wall, climbing as high as you can. Hold hand in place for about 15 seconds. Relax arm; return to start. Do 5 reps; repeat with other arm.

I hope that you'll be able to find the time to take care of yourself as well. Try making a goal of exercising 30 minutes per day, and then work up to an hour. A few other things you can try:

-yoga
-pilates
-rubber bands
-walking
-hiking

-Kara