Posts
As strange as it sounds, you might
be able to overcome the exhaustion and shorten your recovery time by walking a
little bit each day and gradually increasing the length of your walks. Researchers,
in studying a group of people who underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer, affirmed
recently that cancer patients can literally take a step-by-step approach to
combat fatigue. The study was published in the Journal of the American College of
Surgeons.
Furthermore, the National Cancer
Institute reports that chronic fatigue affects up to 96 percent of people being
treated for cancer. It’s so common that “sometimes it’s overlooked as normal,
and people tend to write it off,” said the study’s lead author, Theresa P. Yeo,
Ph.D., MPH, MSN, associate professor of nursing at the Thomas Jefferson
University School of Nursing, Philadelphia.
“This is not the normal
‘I-stayed-up-too-late’ fatigue. It’s really being exhausted, and it doesn’t go
away with sleep. This can lead to anxiety and depression.”
Dr. Yeo and her colleagues recruited
102 patients for their study, most of whom were 66 or 67 years old. The
patients also had similar rates and types of chronic conditions, such as
hypertension or diabetes, but no conditions that could severely limit mobility.
Referring to the study, Dr. Yeo
said: “If people could walk for only three minutes, we said start with that and
work your way up. If patients felt any discomfort or shortness of breath while
walking, they were instructed to slow down or stop. The goal was to increase walking
time 90 to 150 minutes each week by the end of the three-month program. The
beauty of this program is that we’re not asking for high intensity aerobics or
a target heart rate.”
Though the study authors acknowledge
that more research is needed, patient discharge instructions have already been
changed at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to encourage walking or some
form of aerobic activity as patients recover.
No comments:
Post a Comment