Exercise and Breast Cancer: Benefits, Workouts, Safety

Exercise is key for disease prevention and treatment and improving overall quality of life, and this is especially true for both people with breast cancer and breast cancer survivors. Exercise can help reduce risk factors and negative side effects of treatment. This article will review the benefits of regular exercise during and after breast cancer treatment, types of exercise, and how exercise can decrease your risk of breast cancer recurrence. 

Benefits of Exercise With Breast Cancer

Regular exercise is important for everyone, but there are particular benefits for people undergoing treatment for those with breast cancer and breast cancer survivors. A 2020 systematic review suggests that regular exercise can reduce breast cancer risk factors, reduce the negative side effects of breast cancer treatment, and improve the overall quality of life.

During Treatment 

Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are the main methods for treating breast cancer. Though these treatments are effective in killing cancer cells, they also cause a variety of negative side effects. Fatigue after chemotherapy is one of the most common and debilitating breast cancer treatment symptoms that can severely impact the quality of life, while radiation treatment is associated with side effects like fatigue, heart and lung issues, and swelling (lymphedema). Exercise can combat these negative side effects.

During breast cancer treatment, exercise can:

• Improve muscle strength
• Increase muscle mass
• Improve cardiovascular endurance
• Decrease fatigue
• Reduce pain
• Lessen anxiety and depression
• Decrease blood levels of inflammatory markers

Throughout all studies examining the effects of exercise in patients undergoing breast cancer treatment, no adverse effects were associated with exercising.

After Treatment

Exercise also offers several benefits after completing breast cancer treatment, including:

• Increased muscle strength
• Greater muscle mass
• Improved cardiovascular endurance
• Decreased fatigue
• Pain
• Decreased anxiety and depression
• Improved balance
• Decreased bone breakdown
• Improved overall quality of life

Lowering the Risk of Lymphedema

A 2020 systematic review reports that up to 20% of patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer develop upper body lymphedema, a condition characterized by increased swelling and fluid accumulation in the arms from damage to or blockage of the lymphatic system. Lymphedema can result from lymph node removal during surgery for breast cancer or from lymph node damage from radiation. Lymphedema also causes pain, tightness, decreased strength and range of motion, and impaired daily functions.

Regular exercise can help decrease lymphedema by improving circulation, which can help decrease swelling by directing the flow of lymph into lymph vessels, maintaining upper body strength and range of motion, and helping you maintain a healthy weight, which can reduce lymphedema swelling.

Exercise Examples 

Though there are no specific exercises recommendations for people with breast cancer or breast cancer survivors, general exercise recommendations include at least one of the following:

• 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity
• 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity
• An equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous physical activity

Exercise intensity is grouped into the following categories:

• Light intensity: walking slowly, cooking, light housework
• Moderate intensity: brisk walking (2.4–4 miles per hour), bicycling (5–9 miles per hour), dancing, active yoga, recreational swimming, gardening, vacuuming, raking leaves
• Vigorous intensity: jogging, running, hiking, bicycling (≥10 miles per hour), swimming laps, jumping rope, aerobics, weightlifting, stair climbing, snow shoveling

Cardio

Cardio, also known as cardiovascular exercise or aerobic exercise, is any activity that exercises your heart and lungs enough to pump oxygenated blood to your working muscles. Over time, regular aerobic exercise strengthens your heart and lungs, making them work more efficiently. Aerobic exercise includes:

• Walking
• Running
• Hiking
• Swimming
• Jumping rope
• Dancing
• Bicycling
• Jumping jacks
• Stair climbing
• Playing sports

Strength Training

Strength training is an exercise tailored specifically to increasing muscle strength through resistance training. Resistance can be applied in the form of:

• Weights
• Exercise machines
• Resistance bands
• Your own body weight with movements like push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, and step-ups

Strength training should include a variety of exercises that target your upper and lower body and ideally be performed two to three days per week.

Does Exercise Reduce Risk of Recurrence?

Regular exercise can help keep you healthy to decrease your risk of breast cancer recurring and potential negative complications. Regular exercise increases the activity of various immune system cells, which can decrease the risk of breast cancer recurrence. 

An increased risk of breast cancer recurrence is associated with increased levels of insulin, estrogen, and inflammatory markers like interleukins and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), all of which are elevated when a person isn’t physically active. Regular exercise has been shown to decrease these elevated levels, significantly reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Summary

Regular exercise has proved to offer several benefits both during and after breast cancer treatment, including reducing pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and levels of inflammatory markers and increasing muscle mass, muscle strength, cardiovascular endurance, and overall quality of life. Regular exercise promotes a healthy lifestyle that can also reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence and breast cancer-related death. It is recommended to complete at least 150 minutes of exercise per week with a combination of cardio and strength training exercises.

A Word From Verywell

Regular exercise is key for decreasing inflammation throughout the body and promoting overall health to improve quality of life and life expectancy, especially if you have breast cancer or are a breast cancer survivor. If you don’t know where to start, consider consulting with a physical therapist or personal trainer to create a workout routine for you.