Exercise acts as a potent drug in the body, producing anti-inflammatory and anti-stress and anti-depression hormones, increasing oxygenation of tissues, boosting healthy mitochondria and altering the gut microbiome to produce greater numbers of good bacteria producing short-chain fatty acids, crucial to a healthy body; a review.
It's really not surprising that research shows exercise reduces the risk of cancer AND increases cancer survival.
Exercise is a powerful anti-cancer drug
Exercise increases survival times and your odds of beating cancer. Taking 45 - 60 minutes light to moderate exercise just 3-4 days a week is a crucial part of the CANCERactive survival programme guidelines on diet and physical activity to increase your personal odds of beating cancer.
This is not just our view. In the USA, the American Cancer Society conducted a seven year research study on stage 3 colorectal cancer patients, all of whom had had chemo and surgery. Those who adhered most closely to the ACS guidelines on Diet and Exercise had 31% less cancer recurrence, and 42% less deaths across the research time period. Their guidelines are almost exactly those of CANCERactive.
A Mayo Clinic report on exercise and cancer survival stated that exercise during cancer treatment can actually change the tumour microenvironment and trigger stronger antitumour activity in your immune system. Very recent animal studies have found that exercise can lead to tumor regression. This is not just a result of hormones or even oxygenation. Exercise promotes autophagy - the cleaning up and correction of damaged cells. In this way, you increase numbers of fully performing mitochondria, even as you age.
Exercise reduces the risk of cancer - Johns Hopkins researchers have shown that exercise reduces the risk of developing Lung cancer by 77% and colorectal cancer by 61%. And men who exercise the equivalent of one to three hours of walking each week have an 86% lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer.
Exercise increases cancer survival - If you have cancer, exercise reduces the risk of dying by 44% in people with lung cancer and a staggering 89% in people with colorectal cancer. Even moderate exercise increases breast cancer survival (just 2.5 hours a week decreased the risk of recurrence by 55% and lowered the risk of dying by 68%). For men completing three or more hours per week of vigorous physical activity research shows a 61% lower risk of prostate cancer death.
What current cancer drug would give these levels of increased survival?
Here is a review of 12 scientifically proven benefits of exercise relating to people with cancer:
1. Exercise produces endorphins - anti-cancer hormones (often called 'happy hormones'). They have a strong drug-like effect, even at very low levels and can overcome depression, a known catalyst in cancer. Beta endorphin is actually more potent than morphine (1):
i) Endorphins can actually unblock silenced genes, thus reversing the loss of crucial health messages.
ii) Endorphins can greatly reduce levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol has been shown to cause severe inflammation in the body linking to two cancer-causing genes; furthermore, cortisol helps cancer spread through the COX-2 pathway producing highly inflammatory hormones.
2. Exercise both oxygenates the body; and weakens cancer tumours - Cancer likes a low oxygen environment. 'Hypoxia (lowered cellular oxygen) is a critical hallmark of solid tumors and involves enhanced cell survival, angiogenesis, glycolytic metabolism, and metastasis' (2). Cancer thrives in lowered oxygen conditions, so make sure your levels are good (99%) after sitting for 30 minutes - you can buy yourself an oximeter online and test yourself. A 90-study meta-analysis has shown that oxygen pre-sensitises cancer cells making chemotherapy, radiotherapy and IVC more effective - this was replocated by people taking exercise - more cancer cells are killed if you can exercise before and during orthodox treatment; side-effects are reduced (2).
Arizona State Medical School showed that cycling for three hours prior to radiotherapy significantly improved results and reduced side-effects.
Exercise also improves lung capacity and the strength of your heart, so exercise is not just a short term benefit for oxygenation - in the longer term exercise benefits blood flow, nutrient delivery to tissues and toxin removal via the lymph (which doesn't move on its own). Exercise makes your blood and lymph systems more efficient.
3. Exercise promotes T-cell attack on cancer tumours - A study by the Exercise Medicine Research Institute in Western Australia showed that, not only did exercise oxygenate prostate tumors, it increased the numbers of Natural Killer T-cells in the tumour environment. Brad Behnke, Associate Professor of Exercise Physiology in the Department of Kinesiology at Kansas State University has also shown the benefits of exercise in oxygenation of prostate tumours. His team showed this also improved Radiotherapy results.
4. Exercise makes cancer tumours less aggressive - research from Kansas state shows that, as well as pre-sensitising cancer cells with oxygen so more are killed during treatment, exercise actually makes tumours less aggressive.
5. Exercise improves the gut microbiome, reducing inflammation and increasing immune response. Several research studies have also shown a surprising conclusion - that exercise changes your gut microbiome for better health - it increases the numbers of bacteria making the three important Short-chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs). Propionate has 15 or so actions controlling your metabolism (for example, restricting excess cholesterol) and Butyrate heals the gut wall, is strongly anti-inflammatory and even attacks cancer cells and cancer stem cells. It also activates vitamin D. The third SCFA is Acetate and this keeps your gut acidic, helping nutrient absorption, and keeping pathogens at bay.
The 'family' Prevotella increases with the exercise time, and is found more in professional athletes. Prevotella appears to positively influence muscle recovery as it is linked to protein synthesis and reduced fatigue. Prevotella are also known to produce the crucial SCFA Butyrate.
Other bacteria that increase (such as the families Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium). can also lower oestrogen, BMI, and produce significant levels of anti-inflammatory molecules throughout the body; it is also know that exercise encourages certain gut bacteria to produce cytokines and can increase the immune response to infections (and cancer!)
Exercise produces lactate, and the 'family' Veillonella increases in abundance after physical exercise as it thrives on the lactate. Importantly, it converts the lactate into Propionate. As we said above, Propionate can correct cell metabolism. Propionate is known to reduce cholesterol and triglyceride build up in the liver, and ultimately in the bloodstream (3)
Exercise increases the 'family' Akkermansia. This is associated with a stronger gut lining membership and a stronger adaptive immune system. It promotes a healthier metabolic profile, and lowered obesity. In particular, Akkermansia reduces activity in the eicosanoid system - when this system is turned on, it causes approximately 130 highly inflammatory cancer-spreading hormones throughout the body. Akkermansia turns this off (4). Thus is reduces cancer spread and factors that damage the aging process.
6. Exercise reduces body fat levels - and many studies have now shown that higher levels of blood fat and higher BMIs and linked to more cancer and more metastasis.
i) Cancer cells use fat to protect themselves. Some cancer cells use fat droplets to increase their ability to spread. Fat helps them hide from the immune system and makes them more aggressive; and high blood fat levels makes cancer more likely to spread. For example, men with high Cholesterol and Triglyceride levels are more likely to see the return of their prostate cancer.
ii) Extra body fat is linked with increasing levels of cancer-driving hormones like oestradiol and growth hormone - not just an issue in breast, endometrial and ovarian cancers - but in male cancers such as prostate cancer and testicular cancer..
iii) Body fat is a wonderful solvent. It will dissolve and hold all the toxic compounds and excess hormones you would rather have cleared from the body.
iv) Exercise also reduces visceral fat. This is the unseen fat that lies inside you and around your organs bathing them in toxins. The good news is that it starts to dissolve after about 12 minutes of exercise.
v) Higher BMIs are known to encourage cancer cells to 'lock in' to the bone marrow in cancers such as Multiple Myeloma, and exercise reduces this.
7. Exercise reduces blood glucose and insulin levels - People with poor sugar control and the highest levels of blood glucose survive least. We have a whole article on the links between glucose and cancer. All Biochemists find out early that cancer cells in tumours need two fuels for glycolysis - glucose and oxygen. Exercise will control your blood sugar as efficiently as any drug. It will also reduce insulin levels, and high insulin can promote inflammation and cancer.
8. Exercise increases and improves your mitochondria, giving you more power and endurance. WHY? Because it stimulates AUTOPHAGY - almost all cells in your body develop faults, become polluted, or suffer pathogen attack. For example, as we age, our Power stations (the mitochondria), become less efficient maybe damaging the cell with electron release, and some shut down completely. Autophagy is rather like a garage repair check for your car - they identify what's wrong and give you new parts. In Autophagy the new parts are made from the old ones! Repair systems can correct issues or break down the ones beyond repair and recycle the components to make new parts. Autophagy can take you from a poorly working cell to one that's as good as new.
Normally, people talk about fasting to promote autophagy. You need to fast for more than 36 hours before autophagy starts. We have a review on Autophagy. However a study (5) from The Center of Autophagy Research at the University of Texas showed that exercise could also induce autophagy in multiple organs involved in metabolic regulation, such as muscle, liver, pancreas and adipose tissue, with benefits also in the brain. An eight week training programme for mice (Yes, really!) showed that they had more endurance and greater cellular health. Autophagy can both suppress tumour growth and help prevent aging. Exercise rebuilds the cell and reinstates high levels of fully working mitochondria.
9. Exercise improves your lymph system. You do not have a heart to move your lymph. When you wake up in the morning, you have to move it to take the toxins away from your cells. Exercise stimulates the movement of your lymph and increases the movement of toxins out of your cells.
10. Exercise can strengthen your bones. Weight-bearing exercise is particularly relevant and beneficial to older people and people with cancers like multiple myeloma, or any cancer that might spread to the bones. Using weights helps increase bone density. In 2017, research from North Carolina School of Medicine showed that even aerobic exercise could strengthen bones by burning fat in the bone marrow and stimulating bone density. Vitamin D, magnesium, phosphorus and trace minerals such as Boron are essential for incorporating calcium into our bones.
11. Exercise reduces levels of depression in people with cancer. Depression can play a major part in cancer, not just because patients may feel they are doomed, or may feel all treatments are a waste of time. Depression can cause you to lose the cancer fight! Doctors often prescribe drugs for depression but there is now a convincing body of evidence showing that exercise can reduce depression. For example, the Australian Hunt study, which followed over 36,000 people for 11 years, showed that just 1 hour of exercise per week had a major impact on reducing depression.
12. Exercise increases the chances of cancer cure: The bottom line, as Professor Robert Thomas in his article for CANCERactive says, exercise increases the chances of cure, just as much as chemotherapy!
Keep moving - get puffed!
The concept of vigorous, sweaty exercise is fast being replaced by a view that people touched by cancer are better to do LIGHT to MODERATE exercise almost every day. For example, a brisk walk for 45 minutes to 1 hour, where at some point you get puffed - you need to be slightly out of breath for about 20 minutes.
This moderate exercise takes oxygen to all the internal organs, whereas extreme exercise - going for a 5 mile run every day, marathons etc., sees the body demand the oxygen for brain, heart and muscles and often starve the organs. Equally, strenuous exercise produces more dangerous free radicals.
Tai Chi and yoga have both been shown in research to produce the hormones (endorphins) that reduce cortisol. Meditation after exercise has been shown to produce hormones called opioids which are extremely health corrective. Mindfulness also reduces stress hormone cortisol by 20% after 1 hour.
Exercise seems to give you everything - Keep moving. All the latest research shows that while an hour of exercise every morning is good news, sitting down for the rest of the day is bad for you.
Most importantly, the overwhelming volume of research on the benefits of exercise has been developed for people with cancer. The American Cancer Society in its review on Complementary Therapies in 2012 stated clearly that exercise could increase survival and even prevent a cancer returning.
Exercise is a powerful and corrective drug - Hormones, cytokines, oxygenation, gut improving, mitochondria building, tumour weakening, microbiome building, immune boosting exercise. What more could you want?
Go To: How much exercise reduces the risk of mortality in breast cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer?
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References
1. Beta-endorphins and cancer; Holistic insight; Medicrave; Journal of cancer prevention
2. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and cancer—a review; Ingrid Moen, Linda E B Stuhr; Target Oncol. 2012 Oct 2;7(4):233–242
3, Chapter 31 - The role of the microbiome in sports nutrition; Estela González-Rodríguez et al; Microbiome, digestive health, immunity and Nutrition
4. Exercise Remodels Akkermansia-Associated Eicosanoid Metabolism to Alleviate Intestinal Senescence: Chuxia Yu et al; Microorganisms. 2025 Jun 13;13(6):1379.
5. Exercise induces autophagy in peripheral tissues and in the brain; Congcong He et al; Autophagy. 2012 Oct 1;8(10):1548–1551
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Here you can find three more helpful articles on the CANCERactive Website
Go to:
* Are you fit enough to beat cancer? - a simple article on exercise to get you started
* Why is exercise good for us - an article by Professor Robert Thomas
* A review of all the complementary cancer therapies you might consider.
CANCERactive - the appliance of Science