The Macmillan Cancer Support charity in the United Kingdom published a report last week recommending that exercise should be a standard part of cancer patient care. The charity said that the recommendation to rest and exert less after treatment is outdated and that research shows that exercise reduces the risk of dying from cancer and minimizes post-treatment side effects. Professor Robert Thomas said: “If you keep exercising, you can reduce the chances of cancer coming back. The health sector believes local initiatives can help people get moving. Macmillan’s report Move More noted that of the two million cancer survivors in the UK, about 1.6 million are physically inactive. The report says the health department’s recommended guidelines suggest that adults with cancer and cancer survivors should engage in 150 minutes of appropriate intensity physical activity each week. The report also notes that the American College of Sports Medicine agrees that exercise is safe for most types of cancer treatment, both during and after treatment, and recommends that cancer survivors should avoid inactivity. The report says that being active can help people overcome some of the effects of cancer and its treatment, such as feelings of fatigue and weight gain. A comprehensive analysis of the evidence showed that exercise did not increase fatigue during treatment, but rather increased post-treatment energy, and reduced the risk of heart disease and osteoporosis, death and cancer recurrence. Earlier studies have shown that the recommended level of exercise can reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 40% and the risk of death from prostate cancer by 30%. Moderate physical activity of about six hours per week was associated with a 50 percent reduction in the risk of dying from bowel cancer. The report suggests that conventional advice telling patients to rest more after treatment may instead put cancer patients at risk. As Dr. Jane Maher, chief medical officer and clinical cancer attending physician at Macmillan, said, this will be a hot topic since physical activity acts as a treatment like a drug. Martin Ledwick, chief nurse of Cancer Research UK’s information service, expressed a more cautious opinion. He believes that while any measures to improve patient health and reduce the side effects of treatment are good, the evidence that physical activity affects cancer survival is not conclusive at this time. He also pointed out that no two cancer patients are exactly alike, so rehabilitation programs, including physical activity, should be tailored to the patient’s situation. A spokesman for the health department further noted the importance of support to help cancer patients have an active life. He said that physical activity and a healthy lifestyle can have a significant positive impact on cancer outcomes. As part of the National Cancer Survivors Association initiative group, we are working with Macmillan to integrate physical activity into a number of pilots in cancer care. In addition, a number of local initiatives can be very helpful in getting patients involved in community-based physical activity.