The Importance of Physical Activity for Breast Cancer Patients
- “Chemo brain,” or brain fog, is a cognitive decline that patients often experience when undergoing chemotherapy. Patients may have trouble remembering, focusing and completing tasks.
- A new study focused on breast cancer patients has found that patients who maintain a degree of physical activity throughout cancer treatment experience less mental fogginess and make a more complete cognitive recovery in the months after treatment.
- Small changes to daily habits can likely help breast cancer patients remain active enough to mitigate the effects of chemo brain.
A new study published by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis finds that physical activity may be a helpful defense against some kinds of cognitive decline experienced by breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
What Is “Chemo Brain?”
Read MoreThe Study
Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the study followed a sample of 580 breast cancer patients, as well as a control group of 363 people without cancer. At three different points, scientists collected information about patients' exercise habits and had them complete tests that measured cognitive function. These tests included four metrics: one objective memory test, one objective attention test, and two self-reported assessments of cognitive function.The breast cancer patients were assessed right before beginning chemotherapy, right after finishing chemotherapy and six months after completing chemotherapy. The members of the control group were asked to complete these tests and report their physical activity routines at the same times as the breast cancer patients. Participants’ physical activity levels were evaluated according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s recommendation for weekly physical activity (150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise).
The Case for Physical Activity
The study’s central finding is that breast cancer patients who maintained a level of physical activity throughout the course of their cancer treatment performed better cognitively than breast cancer patients who did not exercise or who were inconsistent.
“Patients who were always meeting guidelines, staying consistently active during treatment, demonstrated better cognitive function scores after chemotherapy. They also had a better cognitive recovery six months after chemotherapy was over. They actually recovered to their pre-chemo level of cognition,” says study author Dr. Elizabeth Salerno. Although all patients experienced some level of cognitive decline over the course of chemotherapy, active patients consistently outperformed patients who did not exercise.
Dr. Salerno was careful to note the limits of her study’s approach.
“Measuring cognition after cancer is tricky,” she said. “It's difficult for us to say how well our measurements capture all of the very nuanced connected changes that may be occurring in the brain after cancer diagnosis and treatment.”
Although further research is necessary, this study provides promising evidence that maintaining a level of physical activity can make a real difference for breast cancer patients.
“These findings support continued promotion of physical activity during cancer survivorship as early as possible,” Dr. Salerno said.
Dr. Salerno hopes that cancer patients who experience cognitive issues because of treatment know that they are not alone: “It’s incredibly common. Most patients will experience some degree of that decline in their cancer experience,” she says.
Physical activity can help, and the change doesn’t need to be big.
“Physical activity doesn’t have to look like a Jillian Michaels program. It can simply be moving more throughout the day,” she says.
The TAILORx trial changed the game when it comes to how chemotherapy is used to treat breast cancer.
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