Ask your Doctor About the Benefits of Physical Activity and Attain Beneficial Results

Figure 1:
Erin Juliano (left) and her friend after a race her workout support group attended¹. This photo was obtained from the UNC Health Care Newsroom¹.

Breast Cancer patients listen up! It is time to look past your diagnosis and talk to your doctor about increasing physical activity. Physical activity is proven to increase breast cancer patient’s survival rates, which can help you move one step closer to remission².

Erin Juliano, shown in figure 1 above, is a North Carolina resident and breast cancer survivor, maintained her physical activity during her treatment and is now in remission¹. After her diagnosis, Juliano heeded her doctor’s recommendations to improve physical activity¹. She was recommended medium intensity activities for about an hour and a half each week to aid in increasing her chances of survival¹. Some activities that fulfill such requirements are shown below in figure 2⁴.

Figure 2: This figure was made and obtained from the World Health Organization⁴. These workouts are recommended workouts by the World Health Organization to achieve a standard moderate to high intensity workout⁴.

Staying active during treatment can be hard, but by being open with your doctor on what you can do during or between treatment, you can work to increase your chances of survival. Juliano, during her treatment, did indeed struggle to maintain the same physical capacity prior to her diagnosis, but she never lost hope¹. Knowing the importance expressed by her doctor’s emphasis to maintain her physical activity helped her push through the tiredness her body felt from treatment¹. Juliano found that while being talking with her doctors and working to upkeep their requests for physical activity allowed her to feel like she was more than just a breast cancer patient and she felt more like herself¹. In remission now, Juliano maintains her health through the Get Real and Heel, a free exercise program for patients in remission, where she is able to keep active and thrive again in her everyday life¹.

Be sure to ask your doctor what is right for you and to be open with any concerns or troubles you may be having.