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Why I am More Motivated to Exercise and Go to the Gym
New research gives me hope that I can reduce the possibility that my breast cancer will come back by exercising regularly and getting my lazy self to the gym.
While I was being treated for breast cancer in 2011, I met people in hospital waiting rooms whose cancer had come back for a second or third time. I had a niggling fear that it would come back that has decreased over time but is still at the back of my mind.
I would do just about anything to prevent a recurrence — except exercise. Not that I am against it. I studied dance from an early age until I was in my twenties. I currently belong to a gym. I believe the hundreds of articles I read that show that exercise helps cancer patients. However, I was stunned to read: “Cancer breakthrough: Exercise may stop disease in its tracks.”
The quote is from a headline on a press release from Edith Cowan University. It talks about proteins called myokines that are secreted by muscles during exercise and work with other cells to fight cancer. Myokines can signal cancerous cells to slow down or stop their growth and suppress the growth of tumors.
During a clinical trial, obese prostate cancer patients exercised regularly during a 12 week period. Blood samples were taken before and after the training and applied onto living prostate…
