In September 2020, 43-year-old Esther Shaw underwent surgery to remove a tumor from her left breast. The operation, a therapeutic mammoplasty, marked the end of her six-month treatment for triple-negative breast cancer. Since then, the London-born mother of two has overhauled her lifestyle and threw herself into an intensive exercise regimen.
“I kept running throughout chemotherapy,” she says. “Since recovering from surgery, I’ve taken weightlifting seriously and play netball outside once a week. I have a personal trainer, Jordan Holtom, and I do a lot of squats and deadlifts. The three-hour sessions a week teach me how to pace myself, and once a week, I balance running with outdoor netball.”
Now she is cancer-free, but just hearing the word “metastasis” means that cancer cells move throughout the body and form tumors far from their primary site. , she breaks into a cold sweat.
But I was encouraged by a recent study of 3,000 participants from Tel Aviv University, published in Cancer Research in November. High-intensity aerobic exercise reduced his risk of metastatic cancer by 72% compared to those who did not exercise.
The results of this study impact all of us, not just those who have recovered from cancer. Simply put, the authors found that high-intensity exercise had a protective effect, causing organs as well as muscles to burn glucose more effectively.
Professor Carmit Levy, author of the study, told the Daily Telegraph: We therefore subjected the mice to physical activity and specifically looked at the organs that normally metastasize: lymph nodes, lungs and liver. After eight weeks of aerobic exercise, they found that not only were their muscles stronger, but these organs were also altered, altering their metabolic function. It has become a super organ. ”
The researchers then looked at epidemiological data from 3,000 participants whose physical activity was recorded over 20 years.What they found was that physical activity provided protection against metastatic cancer in 72%. [of cases]They concluded that the body modifies itself through long-term exercise.
