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A life-saving prescription for breast cancer patients might be a simple: Get moving!
A new study released Monday says women who pick up the pace during their recovery — mostly by just walking — appear to substantially reduce their risk of dying from the disease.
"We know that physical activity has been shown to improve the quality of life for women with breast cancer " said Dr. Michelle Holmes of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "We conclude it may also help them live longer as well as better."
Holmes presented her findings at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research a gathering of 13 500 researchers in Orlando.
Holmes' results were based on the Nurses Health Study which has followed the health of almost 122 000 female nurses since 1976. The researchers looked at physical activity in 2 167 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer after the study began.
During up to 16 years of follow-up it turned out that those who got lots of exercise were most likely to survive their disease although even a little bit clearly helped.
Most of the women walked for exercise. Those who put in one to three hours a week at a leisurely 3 mph lowered their risk of dying from breast cancer by one-quarter compared with the most sedentary women. Those who walked between three and eight hours a week cut their risk in half.
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