Recently, we have found that physical activity can help to reduce lung cancer risk by a significant amount. Several studies show that many biological mechanisms between physical activity and lung cancer may operate. They all suggest that physical activity can reduce the risk related to lung cancer by 20 to 30 per cent in women and by 20 to 50 per cent in men.
How doing regular exercise might help you?
If you have lung cancer, you may wonder how exercise might help you. You may think doing exercise will be overwhelming and straining. But doing exercise can be very beneficial. It can help increase your physical strength and endurance and boost your emotional well-being. In fact, you will be able to cope with the side effects of the treatment in a better way. You will have a better energy level and can fight fatigue. These all will contribute to enhanced quality of life for the patients.
As per a recent study, CRF(Cardiorespiratory fitness) can directly influence the risk involved with lung cancer. With an increase in CRF, the risk of lung cancer decreases by 10 per cent, while the mortality rate lowers by 13 per cent. This finding is crucial in understanding how exercise might help lung cancer patients. So, if you do exercise regularly, it can boost your fitness level and also lower the risk of developing lung cancer. Even lung cancer patients can reap the benefits of exercising regularly. In fact, one can reduce the risk of recurrence of lung cancer by doing mild exercise.
The bonus of doing exercise:
We talked about emotional well-being in the previous section. Besides the reduced risk of occurrence and recurrence of lung cancer and physical fitness, exercise bestows you with mental wellbeing. Even doing aerobics or any other activities for 30 minutes will help boost your mental health. You feel stress-free and full of energy. You can quickly deal with issues like anxiety and depression. A person can be overloaded with all sorts of negative thoughts and emotions when they have to deal with cancer. We often neglect the importance of mental wellbeing. But exercise can help a lot by taking care of your mental soundness. You will better sleep, body composition, and outlook on life.
How to include exercise in your life?
We hope that you might be hyped to include exercise in your life after knowing the wonders of doing exercise. For fellas who have tried but were unable to do so, we ask you to start with simple and easy ones. Do not keep your goals too ambitious or hard to achieve. But you shouldn’t stress out because we will discuss a few ways to include them in your life with ease.
Plan out: Before you start, plan first. Choose the kind of exercise you want to do. Don’t choose something too difficult. Be realistic while deciding on your routine.
Start slow: Be gentle at the beginning. At first, you shouldn’t indulge in heavy and straining exercise. So, begin with moderate exercise and keep a target of 20 minutes. You can slowly increase your limit and amount of exercise. This will not strain your body and slowly help to enhance your strength and stamina.
Being consistent: We often work out for a day or two and are idle on other days. Doing exercise occasionally won’t help you much. Consistency is vital when it comes to exercising. Being regular can help you to reap the maximum benefit of exercising.
Aerobics and breathing exercises:
Breathing exercises can be beneficial for your lungs. It can help to overcome shortening of breath and other difficulties of breathing. People with breathing difficulty often have trouble doing exercise. Breathing exercises can help such people. Also, it’s a great way to start being active. You can do simple breathing exercises by inhaling and exhaling five to ten times daily.
Aerobics can also help to enhance your lung fitness. It also improves your heart health by improving the level of oxygen in your body. Some examples of aerobic exercises are walking, dancing, and or any activity that increases the heart rate. Your goal should be 150 minutes a week. You may increase your minutes slowly. In the beginning, you get tired easily, but eventually, you will build up your stamina.
Strengthening exercises: You may also opt for strengthening exercises. It can benefit you by increasing your muscle strength, especially, for people who are undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It will also help you to improve your balance, and correct your posture, and is beneficial for your bones.
If exercising is too much for you, then there are fun ways to do so:
Gardening: Doing gardening can help you to get an ample amount of exercise. It is relaxing and engaging to do. You can take care of your plants and watch them grow. It instils a sense of satisfaction in the minds of the gardeners.
Dance: It is a kind of aerobics. You can play your favourite music and dance to its tune. Dance is an excellent way to enhance your fitness.
Yoga: Yoga can help you with both physical as well as mental fitness. Incorporate yoga into life and practice it for 30 minutes daily.
Count your steps: You can go on a walk with your friends. Go to parks, museums or take a walk to nearby shops. Walking can help you a lot with your daily exercise goals.
