Hey everyone, it's Coach Jane here. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend. I just wanted to recap the Fitness for Cancer seminar that we presented earlier this week.
It ran on Tuesday and Wednesday evening and basically over-viewed the benefits for exercise during and after cancer treatment.
As most of you know, exercise is important for healthy lifestyles, and there is some research that suggests that it can help prevent certain cancers from occurring (although much more research is still needed to fully confirm this). However, exercise during cancer treatment is very important as it helps to reduce negative side effects from treatment, increase energy levels, and preserve physical and mental health. In the presentation, we covered these topics in detail, as well as discussed the common misconceptions, fears, and precautions that many people have around exercising during treatment.
***Chris here...
A couple of my key takeaways include:
Fitness is recommended by all health associations globally (Canada, US, Australia etc) for all types of cancer. Sure there may be modifications or things to keep in mind with certain patients. But this is no different than programming for any type of client.
[caption id="attachment_5814" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A pie chart showing the percentage of cancer patents that would benefit from exercise.
The other comment that stuck was that exercise can be beneficial for preventing secondary types of cancer. For example, with exercise there is increased circulation and this facilitates digestion. As food is moved along at a more optimal rate this helps minimize the the potential for cancers such as rectal.
Now back to Jane...***
I am planning on creating an exercise group for people going through or recently finished cancer treatment that would like to increase their health with movement. If you know anyone who you think would benefit from attending this fitness group, feel free to pass our contact details on to them so they can find out more information!
Going forward, we are looking to continue to put on presentations like this around a number of different health conditions. These would include topics such as exercise benefits for healthy hearts, stroke, diabetes, dementia, chronic pain, pregnancy, and women's health. If there is a certain health topic you would like me to present on, just let me know next time you are in the gym! If you have any feedback for presentations, that is always appreciated!
Thanks everyone, and remember, exercise is medicine!
Coach Jane