Regular exercise like brisk walking, swimming, cycling and playing badminton acts like a ‘super drug’ for cancer survivors and can stop the disease returning, according to a new study.
Macmillan Cancer Support has suggested that cancer patients who exercise after treatment have higher survival rates.
Rather than patients being told to rest as in the past, doctors should prescribe exercise as part of cancer care, it said.
A review of more than 60 studies for the charity found that being active during treatment does not worsen fatigue and has positive effects on mood and well-being.
Once treatment has finished, exercise can reduce the impact of side effects, such as swelling, anxiety, depression, fatigue, impaired mobility and changes to weight.
The charity found that women with breast cancer who exercise for 150 minutes a week at moderate intensity have more than a 40 per cent lower risk of dying and recurrence of disease compared to women who are active for less than one hour a week.
Macmillan Cancer Support found that more than half of GPs, practice nurses, oncologists and cancer nurses did not speak to their patients about the possible benefits of exercise, or only spoke to a few of them.
"If physical exercise was a drug, it would be hitting the headlines,” the Daily Mail quoted the charity’s chief medical officer Jane Maher as saying.
"There really needs to be a cultural change so that health professionals see physical activity as an integral part of cancer aftercare, not just an optional add-on,” she added.
