Regular Exercise after Chemotherapy Strengthens Immune System, Recent Study Reveals

In a recent study conducted by a team of experts at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, cancer patients who exercised for several weeks after chemotherapy were found to strengthen their immune systems, increasing their chances of fighting cancer successfully in the future.

In explaining the importance of exercise, the study’s lead author, Laura Bilek, said, “There’s a litany of positive benefits from exercise. If exercise indeed strengthens the immune system and potentially improves cancer surveillance, it’s one more thing we should educate patients about as a reason they should schedule regular activity throughout their day and make it a priority in their lives.”

For the study, the experts had put together a group of 16 cancer survivors who were to participate in an exercise program for twelve weeks. The patients’ T-cells were examined before and after the exercise program at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Rehabilitation Institute, and were found to have changed from a senescent to a naïve form.

After chemotherapy, most of the T-cells become senescent and reduces the body’s ability to fight disease and most importantly, cancer. Bilek emphasizes that it is crucial to increase the number of naïve T-cells for the immune system to function properly – and fight any chances of cancer coming back in the future.

Several studies in the past have also reached similar conclusions, some of which include:

#1: Exercise reduces the risk of developing several types of cancer

#2: It will improve the prognosis in people with cancer

#3: It will decrease the chance of recurrence as well as secondary cancers from developing