Exercise and Quality of Life (QOL)
Posted 11/7/2010
Posted in
Once again, I am reluctantly writing about the value of exercise. Although I go to the gym almost every morning, I rarely if ever enjoy it. My obsessive behavior is due to my belief that exercise makes a difference in my own sense of well-being, weight control, and may help me live longer. It is definitely not doe to having fun as I sweat on the machines. Some years ago, okay, a lot of years ago, I ran a marathon, and that wasn't fun either. I never experienced the touted runners' high and kept on only because I am stubborn and wanted to prove to myself that I could do something so hard.
Anyway, here is the abstract from one more article about quality of life (improved) with exercise for women after breast cancer treatment. I am including the abstract and then a link to read more. It is by M. Penniten and colleagues and from the Journal of Psycho-Oncology.
Quality of life and physical performance and activity of breast cancer patients after adjuvant treatments
Abstract
Objective: The study aimed at investigating the quality of life (QoL) and physical performance and activity, and their interrelations, in Finnish female breast cancer patients shortly after adjuvant treatments.
Methods: A total of 537 disease-free breast cancer survivors aged 35-68 years were surveyed at the beginning of a one year randomized exercise intervention. The patients were interviewed using EORTC QLQ-C30, FACIT-F, RBDI, and WHQ (for vasomotor symptoms) questionnaires. Physical performance was tested by a 2 km walking test. Physical activity was measured by a questionnaire and a prospective two-week diary. Multivariate analysis was used to study the factors associated with QoL.
Results: About 26% of the patients were rated as depressed, 20.4% as fatigued, and 82% suffered from menopausal symptoms. The global QoL was lower than in general population (69.4 vs 74.7, p<0.001). About 62% of the walking test results were below the population average. Fatigue (p<0.001), depression (p<0.001), body mass index (p = 0.016) and comorbidity (p = 0.032) impaired, and physical activity (p = 0.003) improved QoL. Physical activity level correlated positively to physical performance (r = −0.274, p<0.0001).
Conclusions: The QoL of the patients shortly after adjuvant treatments was impaired and the physical performance poor as compared to general population. In particular,
depression and fatigue were related to impaired QoL. Physical performance and activity level were the only factors that correlated positively to QoL. Thus, physical exercise could be useful in rehabilitation of cancer survivors, especially for depressed and fatigued patients. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
http://tinyurl.com/28vepmf
Tags: