There are a plethora of studies on all sorts of ways to lower your cancer risk. Your environment plays a role. Your stress and sleep levels. Genetic factors. The foods you eat and the liquids you drink. All of these certainly impact your odds of getting many deadly diseases, including cancer. 

But if you ask researchers, they will say the only double-blind tested, always proven thing you can do to lower your risk is to be physically active. 

This is why nearly every cancer hospital has added physical therapists and physical therapy as a part of discharge papers and outpatient plans. This is also why these same groups are experimenting with more third-party programs to provide physical guidance and then follow-up on that guidance. 

“If you care about what is going to stop me from getting cancer again or keep me alive after cancer? This is it,” says Kathryn Schmitz, an exercise physiologist at the University of Pittsburgh. “It helps with sleep, anxiety, depression, bone health, body composition. You name it.” 

Kathryn is long considered the godmother of exercise and physical therapy after cancer. She has led definitive research projects that connect cancer recovery and physical activity and regularly lobbies government agencies for more funds to help survivors. 

She’s also written the single best book for anyone looking to really improve their physical health after cancer, titled ‘Moving Through Cancer’. You can access over 2,300 exercise oncology programs across the U.S. at movingthroughcancer.org.

In addition to all of this work, she helped build the long-running Livestrong at the YMCA program. 

The Livestrong program, built more than a decade ago, was built on evidence-based modalities around oncology. The program lasts about 12 weeks, where a group of survivors meet with a trained specialist regularly at their local Y. It is sponsored by Livestrong, so participants don’t pay a fee. 

In talking with some users of the program, each of them said accountability really stood out. It’s one thing to tell yourself you’ll work out, it’s another to be counted on to be there. 

They also say that the program goes out of its way to morph into what you need, whether you were a gym rat or had never stepped foot in one before cancer. 

Suzanne Stone, president and chief executive of Livestrong, says the program can help anyone who has gone through cancer, even years ago. 

But it is really built to give those just coming out of treatment the physical power they need first. These people are in dire need of a fundamental level of strength after chemo or other treatment. The second part of the program is emotional power as the exercise helps you regain your emotional independence. 

No longer is a doctor telling you what to do every day and that presents a new challenge. You are in charge. 

“You get a dopamine hit from being at the gym. But it’s also the community that Livestrong at the Y creates. They get together, they show up, they live in the same vicinity and they are in the same place of their recovery. And they can connect with one another,” says Suzanne.

Livestrong’s CancerFit program has created an exercise guidebook that you can bring to your local gym. Use the code AFTERTREATMENT to take your first CancerFit class or subscribe to the video library for free.

While a local trainer may not be trained in oncology recovery, CancerFit and its recommendations can help. There are guidelines throughout, such as getting clearance from your oncology team first and avoiding exercise if you have low blood counts or pain. It explains the “talk test” that can help you measure intensity yourself. It also helps you establish a starting point today and exercise goals down the road. 

Suzanne notes that anyone starting out needs to go in with an intensity plan. How hard are you planning to work out? There also needs to be a workout log. You need to keep track of exactly what you are doing. And a coach always helps, both for guidance and accountability. 

It’s thorough, evidence-based and crucial for survivors. Below is a log book from Livestrong that I’ve even started using over the past few weeks and enjoy. 

There are also other resources at CancerFit, both for survivors and physical trainers who have taken on clients that are survivors. 

“If you can’t get to the gym, you can always come to Livestrong CancerFit. There are over 250 videos here to help,” says Suzanne. 

If you had cancer and were treated with chemotherapy, radiation, or immunotherapy, go see a cardiologist.

I’ve heard this advice a few times in the course of my reporting — and from my own doctors — in the past few years. But it came flashing red after reading this Bloomberg article last week. Cancer drugs ARE saving your life, but they are also ocassionally giving you heart disease later in life.

So, even if you are young, go see a cardiologist and get a baseline reading on your heart. I get an echocardiogram once a year. It takes about 20 minutes, and other than the weird gel, it couldn’t be easier. Please do the same.