Powerful cancer treatments like radiation can produce a number of unwanted side effects such as fatigue. Unlike being tired after a long day or prolonged activity, resting and getting enough sleep often do not provide any relief from fatigue, which can produce a marked absence of energy and interfere significantly with quality of life. Fortunately, you can reduce the strength of this unpleasant feeling in many ways, and while exercise might be the furthest thing from your mind, it is actually one of the best tools you could utilize.
Radiation-Induced Fatigue
Radiation-induced fatigue can strike regardless of the treatment site. This type of fatigue tends to intensify over the course of treatment. Radiation-induced fatigue can linger anywhere from a few weeks to a few months after your course of treatment completes.
Benefits of Exercise
Since fatigue goes well beyond feeling a little tired and often feels like your energy stores have been completely depleted, exercise can appear unpalatable. While you need to listen to your body and rest when appropriate, forgoing exercise will actually worsen fatigue by reducing your energy level even further and worsening emotional symptoms that can accompany fatigue such as depression and anxiety. Dr. Rachel Ballard-Barbash of the National Cancer Institute says evidence linking exercise with an improved quality of life in cancer patients is "incredibly strong."
A study published in the July 1997 issue of "Oncology Nursing Forum" looked at the effects of walking on women undergoing six weeks of radiation treatment for breast cancer. Participants either exercised at their own pace or served as a control group receiving standard care without exercise throughout the course of treatment. Not only did the women exercising report significantly less fatigue, they also slept better and had less anxiety.
Recommended Exercise Time
While any type of physical activity is better than none, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends cancer patients, if they are able to, get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week, the same recommendations for the general public. This breaks down to about 30 minutes five days a week. If you find your fatigue makes it difficult to exercise for a longer period of time continuously, breaking up exercise into chunks of at least 10 minutes will offer similar benefits
Working With Your Doctor
You should discuss physical activity with your doctor before embarking on an exercise program to reduce your radiation-induced fatigue. Depending on your type of cancer, certain types of exercise might prove harmful. For example, if you have weakened bones, strength-training exercises or those that increase your risk of falling and fracture might pose a problem. The presence of other health problems, like high blood pressure or heart disease, could also influence what types of exercise are appropriate or inappropriate.
References
- The Cleveland Clinic; Cancer-Related Fatigue; Dec. 9, 2008
- National Cancer Institute; Guidelines Urge Exercise for Cancer Patients, Survivors; Carmen Phillips; June 29, 2010
- "Oncology Nursing Forum"; Effects of exercise on fatigue, physical functioning, and emotional distress during radiation therapy for breast cancer; V. Mock, K.H. Dow, CJ Meares et al.; July 1997
