Exercise Helps Reduce Side Effects From Cancer Treatment
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, May 1, 2025 -- Exercise mitigates adverse outcomes associated with cancer and its treatments, according to a review published online April 29 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Xue-Li Bai, from the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to examine the comprehensive health impacts of exercise on people with cancer.
Based on 80 articles, all rated as moderate-to-high quality, the researchers found that 260 of the 485 associations (53.6 percent) were statistically significant and 81 (16.7 percent) were supported by high-certainty evidence according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria. There was moderate- to high-certainty evidence that exercise significantly mitigates adverse events associated with cancer and its treatments (e.g., cardiac toxicity, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, cognitive impairment, and dyspnea), compared with usual care or no exercise. In people with cancer, exercise also modulated body composition and biomarkers (e.g., insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1, and C-reactive protein) and enhances sleep quality, psychological well-being, physiological functioning, social interaction, and overall quality of life.
"Exercise reduces adverse events and enhances well-being through a range of health outcomes in people with cancer," the authors write. "This study reinforces the efficacy of incorporating exercise into cancer treatment protocols."
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted May 2025
Read this next
Helping Others Linked to Higher Level of Cognitive Function
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- Helping others, both via formal volunteering and informal helping, is associated with higher levels of cognitive function and slower cognitive decline...
TAR-200 Monotherapy Promising for BCG-Unresponsive Bladder Cancer
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- For patients with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), an intravesical...
Work-Related Income Drops for Parents of Children Diagnosed With Type 1 Diabetes
THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 -- Work-related income decreases sharply for mothers and fathers of children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, with similar effects across sociodemographic...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.