And now researchers are discovering another upside: it can improve the effectiveness of drugs, such as those used in chemotherapy. She found there were five times more blood vessels in tumours in mice that exercised (on treadmills for 45 minutes a day, five days a week) compared with mice that didn’t. ‘This showed that chemotherapy combined with exercise worked better when the tumour was present, but also that it seemed there was a delay in regrowth of tumour after the treatment stopped.’But why does exercise have this effect? ‘The evidence suggests that as you’re exercising and your blood is flowing faster, you’re getting a stronger mechanical signal on the endothelial cells that make your blood vessels, and that is signalling to those cells to behave differently and become more mature, functional blood vessels,’ says Dr Schadler. Further trials are examining the potential benefits of exercise, including one due to start at Sheffield Hallam University this autumn, where patients with cancer of the lungs, colon, oesophagus, stomach and small intestine will be prescribed exercise alongside their cancer treatment, including chemotherapy.

Source: Daily Mail July 06, 2021 00:22 UTC