Live data from Hacker News

Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

utu.fi

101–110 of 139 posts

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#101

Diet, exercise, enough sleep, and a good social support structure are pretty much the keys to good health in general. The fact that we have so many health issues in western society are because its so easy to neglect these things.

These are luxuries, not mandatories. That's why many people don't get them. They can't. I absolutely can't.

For the most profoundly addicted, the acutely dying, and those who are mentally ill to the point of being unable to participate in society these are luxuries.

For everyone else, they are mandatory.

Exercise is the easiest. Exercise isn't running and weightlifting, exercise is pushing your body to the limits so that its limits slowly increase over time. For 600lbs people exercise may be standing up and sitting down. For the elderly, like my 92 year old grandmother with COPD, exercise is curling and doing overhead presses with a heavy book while seated. People with cystic fibrosis exercise, and are usually exercise machines because if they stop they die. Patients in iron lungs exercise. The only people who can't exercise are those in hospice care. If you can stand, standing until you cannot stand anymore is exercise. If you can walk, 5 seconds more walking than you did yesterday is exercise. Wheelchair-bound patients with Osteogenesis Imperfecta can (and are highly encouraged to) exercise. Exercise costs $0.00.

If you are so ill that you cannot pick up a 1 lbs dumbbell, putting a rubber band around your fingers and opening and closing your hand is exercise and will have benefits. If you are not acutely dying, you can exercise.

All forms of exercise at all levels for all people has a benefit-- however small, it is a benefit.

Eating right is harder, but is accessible to any able-bodied, homed, person. Able-bodied doesn't mean healthy. Able-bodied means "able to turn on a hotplate and lift a bag of beans."

Social support is the hardest, but is doable for all but the most mentally ill. There are roughly 35,000 social support groups full of people looking for a social support network dotted across the country. Many of them meet online so anyone who can read HN can participate as a first step. I do not believe they are adequate. I do believe that online support groups are an outstanding and effective first step.

Lacking a social support network is often fatal to human beings, and those who lack support need to work extremely hard to obtain one, but it isn't impossible.

There are human being for who exercise, diet, and friends are luxuries.

Someone active on hacker news is PROBABLY not one of them.

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#102

When I was undergoing chemotherapy to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma, I tried to keep up some exercise but it was just too difficult. I ended up needing to take a drug to boost my white blood cell production so that treatment could continue. White blood cells are produced in your bones and this drug made it feel like every bone in your body was broken. It was awful. Had I known this at the time, I probably would've forced…

I take the same injections, but further take Claritin as recommended and I’ve not experienced any bone pain. I’m also younger so that may play a factor, idk.

I workout before & after chemo days (later days I’m mostly just walking to get 10k steps).

Off weeks I’m cycling and lifting.

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#103

Interesting. I'm about to start chemotherapy in a month or so, and I've been told that I'm supposed to get it injected while pedalling on an exercise bike. Could it be for the same reason as mentioned in the article: better distribution of the cancer-fighting thing to where the cancer is?

My cancer centre only delivers chemo while ina comfy recliner. They encourage gentle exercise each day. For me this is walking with my dog and wife, and maybe a little safe DIY. I have low platelets and WCC at the moment so can't afford to do anything to rigourous.

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#104

When I was undergoing chemotherapy to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma, I tried to keep up some exercise but it was just too difficult. I ended up needing to take a drug to boost my white blood cell production so that treatment could continue. White blood cells are produced in your bones and this drug made it feel like every bone in your body was broken. It was awful. Had I known this at the time, I probably would've forced…

Probably filgrastim. I have had a daily shot the last 6 days.

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#105

Diet, exercise, enough sleep, and a good social support structure are pretty much the keys to good health in general. The fact that we have so many health issues in western society are because its so easy to neglect these things.

It's because western culture jumped the shark long ago. Half of every longevity tips is basically "no modern life". Eat fresh, few, move a lot, sleep a lot, talk a lot.

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#106

im not surprised i've always opposed the "you're sick therefore you should rest" advice, your lymph nodes are mechanical pumps, maybe you shouldn't go run 10 miles or do heavy lifting but definitely walk around or ride a bike if you feel up to it

always opposing this advice is draconian and incorrect because resting is the correct advice for many ailments

Correct. rest is as important for recovery as exercise. gentle exercise, ie walking, to your energy capacity is good. Your brain also uses energy. I registered some domain names and obtained a business number during the wee hours yesterday ( not everyone is excited by this, but I can't really control my enthusiastic brain). I definitely need more rest than exercise at this point. I'm using my smartwatch to track my "body battery" which is helpful.

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#107
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t forget all the evidence suggesting adult neurogenesis specifically from running. As for VO2max, Levitt had a longevity researcher on his podcast who found that a high VO2max (used as a proxy measure) is causally related with higher impacts on 5 year all cause mortality than smoking. In the good direction. As in: being in shape reduces your risk of death more than smoking increases it. Sauce: https://freakonomic…

Figured that would be Peter Attia. https://peterattiamd.com/podcast/ His podcast is amazing but can be dense and technical at times. He's evidence based and would probably fit in with the HN crowd.

Peter Attia got me into having a weekly MRI and wearing a dexcom 24/7. Costly, but great stuff.

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people don't realize that muscle use helps pump blood. Movement is important for helping circulation.

Yeah but a 15min walk will get you nowhere.

It will get you more than 15 minutes on the couch watching TV. How disingenuous can you be.

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#109

Interesting. I'm about to start chemotherapy in a month or so, and I've been told that I'm supposed to get it injected while pedalling on an exercise bike. Could it be for the same reason as mentioned in the article: better distribution of the cancer-fighting thing to where the cancer is?

My cancer centre only delivers chemo while ina comfy recliner. They encourage gentle exercise each day. For me this is walking with my dog and wife, and maybe a little safe DIY. I have low platelets and WCC at the moment so can't afford to do anything to rigourous.

Lance Armstrong still did hard training rides between chemotherapy sessions. While his reputation is tarnished by doping and legal disputes, if you look at his case purely from a medical standpoint it indicates that more rigorous exercise could benefit some cancer patients depending on their overall state. (I am just making a general comment, not about your particular case.)

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1999/jul/18/focus.ne...

Re: Exercise increases number of immune cells in cancer patients

#110
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t outrun a bad diet. It takes a lot of exercise to burn off excess calories, and virtually no effort to simply not consume them. I understand that health is more than just calories, and you can come to the same conclusion about other bad things like trans fats, alcohol, etc. If someone had to choose only one thing to do for health, a healthy diet is far more important than exercise.

This is only true to a point. When I was cycling 20 miles 5x per week, I literally couldn't eat enough to avoid losing weight. (This was not a problem, I've never been thin.)

This is very common among endurance athletes. It's extremely difficult to consistently recover from a >1,000-2,000 calorie deficit every time you do a weekly long run or ride. Glycogen reabsorption is optimally effective for only a relatively brief time period post-exercise and there are upper limits on your rate of glycogen resynthesis.
Post reply on HN