These benefits are spelled out in a review of medical research carried out by Macmillan to accompany a survey of cancer patients’ physical activity. These benefits, identified in systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials, include improvements in physical function and psychological wellbeing.
Macmillan has also highlighted a developing body of evidence from cohort studies which has suggested that regular exercise could reduce the risk of some previously treated cancers from returning, and this in turn, improves survival rates. Macmillan cites research that found that people who took regular exercise had:
- about 40% lower risk of breast cancer returning
- about 50% lower risk of colon cancer returning or dying of colorectal cancer
- about 30% lower risk of men dying from prostate cancer