Can exercise help breast cancer survivors?

This study aimed to examine the effect of physical activity on cognitive function in breast cancer survivors.

This study concluded that physical activity may have a positive impact on cognitive function in breast cancer survivors. 

Breast cancer survivors can often suffer from cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment includes a range of problems that can affect learning, memory, perception and problem solving. Breast cancer survivors often have a type of cognitive impairment called cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI). Executive function and working memory are cognitive functions that are susceptible to cancer and cancer treatments. Executive function helps people to get tasks done while working memory is involved in processing and holding information.

Fatigue is also a symptom experienced by many breast cancer survivors. Physical activity is thought to be a method of improving this symptom. There is little known about treating CRCI in survivors, but it is thought that physical activity may also provide some benefit.  

This study involved 299 breast cancer survivors over the age of 21.

Patients wore a monitor for seven days to measure the amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) that they did. Patients also completed questionnaires and tests to measure fatigue and cognitive function. Tests of executive function and working memory were used to measure cognitive function.

Patients who had a greater daily MVPA experienced less fatigue when compared to those with a lower daily MVPA.

Those who had less fatigue had faster times on executive function tasks and greater accutacy on working memory tasks when compared to those with more fatigue. 

This study concluded that MVPA may be associated with greater cognitive function in BCS. The authors noted that this was an indirect association with improvements in fatigue.

Consult your physician about the benefits of exercise.