Sitting for Long Periods of Time May Increase Cancer Risk

Researchers from Australia recently presented evidence from a study* that suggests sitting for long periods of time is associated with health risks – even for people who are regularly physically active.

Neville Owen, PhD, head of behavioral epidemiology at Australia's Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, says: "Sitting time is emerging as a strong candidate for being a cancer risk factor in its own right. It seems highly likely that the longer you sit, the higher your risk. This phenomenon isn't dependent on body weight or how much exercise people do.”

In the study, Dr. Owen measured waist circumference, insulin resistance and inflammation, which are indicators of cancer risk common to many physical activity-cancer studies.

His team found that when prolonged sitting is broken up with breaks as short as one minute, these biomarkers can be lowered. 

“Sedentary time is also likely an important factor for cancer survivors,” said Dr. Owen. For survivors, diabetes and cardiovascular disease are particular concerns and overweight and obesity increase the risk for both conditions. "Television viewing time, a sign of sedentary behavior, appears to increase subsequent risk of weight gain in cancer survivors."

What do you think? Based on this study’s findings, will you take more breaks away from your desk?

The Penn Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer seeks to understand more about exercise, weight loss and quality of life of cancer patients through research. Some projects at the center include studies on exercise and weight loss as they relate to cancer recurrence, and how exercise can help manage effects of cancer treatment.

Penn's Abramson Cancer Center is a national cancer center in Philadelphia providing comprehensive cancer treatment, clinical trials for cancer and is a cancer research center. The National Cancer Institute has designated the Abramson Cancer Center a Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 40 such cancer centers in the United States.

*Dr. Owen’s study called “Adults’ Sedentary Behavior: Determinants and Inteventions” appeared in the August 2011 American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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Penn Program Helps Breast Cancer Survivors Exercise During and After Cancer Treatment

Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, FACSM, is an associate professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an exercise interventionist who has led multiple trials, including the Physical Activity and Lymphedema (PAL) Trial. Dr. Schmitz's goal is to make sure oncologists, fitness trainers, and cancer patients understand the important role exercise has in cancer prevention, and cancer treatment.

Are you a breast cancer survivor who wants her strength back? Have you been looking to get back into an exercise routine but are unsure about what is safe for you to do? You’ve come to the right place.

Many breast cancer survivors want to know: Is exercise is safe during cancer treatment or after treatment is complete? The Strength After Breast Cancer (SABC) program is a new clinical partnership between the Penn Medicine and Good Shepherd Penn Partners: Penn Therapy and Fitness.

Strength After Breast Cancer program is a new program for breast cancer survivors that educates survivors about lymphedema and helps them to build strength. After just a few months, the program is quickly gaining popularity among patients and medical professionals in the breast cancer community.

The feedback from participants has been extremely helpful in shaping the program, with the goal being to deliver the best education possible to patients and empowering women to be strong-- beyond breast cancer, beyond therapy - for life.

Those of us involved in the program plan to continue to integrate the great feedback we are receiving in order to improve the program. Our hope is to develop a positive buzz due to the “word of mouth” of those who have completed the program. 

What Women are Saying about Strength After Breast Cancer

Even after cancer treatment, women are finding their bodies are strong and are learning valuable information from their activity leaders and peers, while gaining support along the way.

“I’m learning to use my body in a way that I never thought I could before cancer….and surely not after cancer.”

“The human body has a second circulation, the lymphatic system. I never knew how important this was, especially for women with breast cancer.”

“I learned a lot from my peers, and exercising in a group setting enabled me to learn more quickly than I would have on my own.”

Women in the program are providing great feedback about what they like about their classes and exercise sessions.

“The class instructors were great; they really explained the exercises well. They supplied me with everything I need to be able to continue to do this on my own.” 

“It was great to be in a class where everyone is just like you. We all could relate to each other and it was a great learning experience.”

“The small class size made it easy to get individual attention when I needed it.”
“I have been doing my exercises every day, but have some general questions.  I wish there was someone I could follow up with without making another appointment.”

“The materials that I received for doing the program at home are great, but an online resource you can visit to get the same information and updates would be even better; or maybe instructional exercise videos so that you can get a refresher if you need it.”

For more information about the Strength After Breast Cancer program, visit PennMedicine.org or email fitpal@upenn.edu.

To speak directly with a therapist about the program, please call 215-662-4793.

More articles about exercise and breast cancer:

From Breast Cancer to Figure Competitor: How I Out-Muscled Breast Cancer

Strength Training Helps Breast Cancer Patients



Penn's Abramson Cancer Center is a national cancer center in Philadelphia providing comprehensive cancer treatment, clinical trials for cancer and is a cancer research center. The National Cancer Institute has designated the Abramson Cancer Center a Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 40 such cancer centers in the United States.

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From Breast Cancer Survivor to Figure Competitor: How I Out-Muscled Cancer

Leslie Spencer is a professor of health and exercise science at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, where she coordinates both an undergraduate and graduate degree program in health promotion and wellness. She is married to Stuart Spencer, a Presbyterian minister, and they have two sons, Sam and Miles.

 

Ask the average person how someone’s body is likely to change over the course of cancer treatment and you’ll hear a variety of responses that might include:

• Weight loss
• Weight gain
• Loss of muscle mass and strength
• A general appearance of aging skin and the lack of a healthy glow
• Chronic fatigue, resulting in less energy for both pleasure and work
• Hair loss from chemotherapy treatments, though some people do not lose their hair at all

What you would not expect to hear is that this person became stronger, gained muscle, and that people told her she looked better after cancer treatment than she did before her diagnosis. Yet this is exactly what happened to me!

 

At age 44, I was diagnosed with aggressive cancer in both breasts. In April of 2009, I began my treatment journey with a double mastectomy. In August of 2010, I celebrated its conclusion by competing in my first women’s figure and fitness contest. In between were three additional surgeries (including a hysterectomy for cervical pre-cancer), 18 weeks of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation therapy. Of the above list of expected symptoms, I managed to avoid the first three entirely and minimize the chronic fatigue. The hair loss from chemotherapy was unavoidable, but it grew back thick and healthy-looking.

 

It’s ironic that a life-long believer in health and fitness who becomes a college health professor should get cancer. When I was diagnosed, people were shocked. My whole life has been devoted to healthful and whole living. I’ve taught courses and written articles that focus on behavior change and what it takes to help people maintain good health habits, including cancer-avoiding ones. What’s not ironic, though, is that I responded to my cancer with the full force of the beliefs and habits I’ve cultivated over my life. As crazy as it sounds, cancer gave me an opportunity to put to the test all I’ve been espousing for the past two decades. What’s been really thrilling is to see that it works! Someone going through cancer treatment can buck the typical, often negative, reaction to it and instead approach it with expectations of improved fitness and an enhanced joy for living.

 

So what motivated me to train for a figure competition through cancer treatment? I did it to experience victory over cancer in a direct, unexpected and powerful way. I wanted to be known as the woman who was training for an athletic competition through her cancer treatment, not just a woman who was going through cancer treatment. Was cancer the dominant theme in my life during that time? Of course it was; I would be in a state of denial if I said otherwise. But that didn’t mean that cancer was the only theme in my life.

 

I also found it highly encouraging to have a vision for something to look forward to and be excited about beyond cancer. When you have cancer, it’s easy to fill every day with medical appointments and research on your treatment options and decisions you have to make. I remember taking “days off” from cancer, i.e. days in which I would have no cancer-related appointments, phone calls or internet research. Planning for the figure competition was a very satisfying way to spend a day off from cancer.

 

Finally, you might be wondering why I chose to pursue a figure competition and not a triathlon or other fitness goal. The answer is that the figure competition gave me something unique that a different goal would not have provided in the same way. It allowed me to feel beautiful to the point of being stage-worthy in a “glitter” bikini and four inch heels! After having both a mastectomy and hysterectomy, it was special to me to feel beautiful, feminine and sexy after losing the parts of my body that are associated with being female.

 

Did I win any trophies? No, but I didn’t need to. I knew I was a winner just being there. Since then, I’ve started a website and blog, Strong and Built, to support and inspire other women to aspire to their dreams after cancer. Please visit and share your story with me!

 

Learn more about breast cancer treatment at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center.
The Abramson Cancer Center is pleased to present the Focus on Women's Cancers Conference featuring:
20th Life After Breast Cancer
10th Focus On Gynecologic Cancers
Focus On Your Risk of Breast and Ovarian Cancer

 

Attend Penn Medicine’s Focus On Women’s Cancer Conference
Friday, October 28, 2011
7:30 am to 3:30 pm
Hilton Hotel, 4200 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131

 

Register and view the full agenda at The Abramson Cancer Center, or register by phone at 800-789-PENN(7366).

 

Please register for only one conference but feel free on the day of the conference to attend sessions at any of the 3 conferences.

 

Portions of the program will be livestreamed at PennMedicine.org/Abramson/WomensCancersLIVE on the day of the conference.

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From the Lab to the Gym: Strength Training Helps Breast Cancer Patients

A few years ago, Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, proved through the Physical Activity and Lymphedema (PAL)Trial that slowly progressive weight training reduced the likelihood that breast cancer survivors who had been previously diagnosed with lymphedema would suffer a flare-up, and reduced the risk of onset for those breast cancer survivors who had not previously developed lymphedema.

Lymphedema is a side effect that can begin during or after breast cancer treatment. When lymph nodes are removed, the vessels that carry fluid from the arm to the rest of the body are also removed making it harder for fluid in the chest, breast, and arm to flow out of this area. If the remaining lymph vessels cannot drain enough fluid from these areas, the excess fluid builds up and causes swelling that may be accompanied by numbness, discomfort, and sometimes infection. It isn't life threatening, but can last a long time.

The PAL study was groundbreaking, since clinicians had previously thought breast cancer survivors should be cautious about overusing their arms, paying particular attention to how much weight they lift, in order to prevent lymphedema. No one doubted the value of the findings of the PAL Trial, but translating the program into one that could be done by any breast cancer survivor, anywhere in the country, in a safe and simple way is not quite as easy as it might sound.

The Strength After Breast Cancer Program was created after Dr. Schmitz and her colleagues took the essential elements of the PAL Trial and developed a six-session physical therapy-based exercise program for breast cancer survivors.

Consisting of a physical therapy evaluation, lymphedema education session, and four group physical therapy sessions, the Strength After Breast Cancer Program teaches breast cancer survivors how to safely perform strength training exercises so that they can exercise on their own either at home or in a gym setting.

Though the exercise sessions during the PAL Trial were led by personal trainers, exercise sessions in the Strength After Breast Cancer Program are led by physical therapists. A training program was created to educate the physical therapists at Good Shepherd Penn Partners Rehabilitation (GSPP) about how to lead these exercise sessions. Logistics were addressed in order to ensure that this program was easy for participants to access while also being representative of the challenges that participants in other cities might face when enrolling in a similar program. Once the physical therapists were trained and ready to enroll patients into the program, they began working with the doctors at the Abramson Cancer Center to refer women o the program.

Dr. Schmitz and her team have been educating clinical providers at Abramson Cancer Center, so they can refer breast cancer survivors to this program. From the front desk staff to the nurse practitioners and medical oncologists, all providers who interact with breast cancer survivors at Abramson Cancer Center are aware of the benefits of strength training for breast cancer patients, and how women can join the program.

The first group physical therapy session for the Strength After Breast Cancer Program were held in August. The first four participants have completed the program and plan to take what they have learned to exercising independently at home or in the gym.

Dr. Schmitz said everyone involved is excited that these women now have the necessary tools to improve their lives post-cancer. It is been an amazing journey trying to get from the setting of a clinical trial to the rollout of a clinical program, and it’s been an incredible learning experience for everyone involved, she said.

Learn more about Dr. Schmitz's groundbreaking research here.

Learn more about the Strength After Breast Cancer Program or email fitpal@upenn.edu. To speak directly with a therapist about the program, please call 215-662-4793.

Learn more about Breast Cancer Treatment at the Abramson Cancer Center.

The Abramson Cancer Center is pleased to present the first Focus on Women's Cancers Conference featuring:

• 20th Life After Breast Cancer
• 10th Focus On Gynecologic Cancers
• Focus On Your Risk of Breast and Ovarian Cancer

Attend Penn Medicine’s Focus On Women’s Cancer Conference

Friday, October 28, 2011
7:30 am to 3:30 pm
Hilton Hotel, 4200 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131

Register and view the full agenda at The Abramson Cancer Center, or register by phone at 800-789-PENN(7366).

Please register for only one conference but feel free on the day of the conference to attend sessions at any of the three conferences.

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