Capable of boosting heart, lung and bone health, warding off depression and keeping cancer at bay, it’s no exaggeration to call exercise a wonder drug.
And now researchers are discovering another upside: it can improve the effectiveness of drugs, such as those used in chemotherapy.
It can also counteract the side-effects of some treatments, with one recent study showing that 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cycling three times a week can dramatically improve the heart health of dialysis patients.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients with end-stage kidney disease. This is as a result of dialysis; while it helps to remove excess fluid and toxins (which build up as the kidneys fail), over time it can weaken the heart as the fluctuating fluid levels put it under stress.
Researchers are discovering another upside: it can improve the effectiveness of drugs, such as those used in chemotherapy
In a trial run by Leicester University involving 130 dialysis patients, half cycled on an exercise bike at moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes three times a week while undergoing treatment. The other half received standard care, with no exercise. After six months, scans revealed there was nearly 10 per cent less inflammation in the hearts of the cycling group, the journal Kidney International reported earlier this year.
‘Doctors often treat things with a pill, but in order to improve treatment long term, we also want to focus on more innovative ways of tackling the unique risk factors kidney patients face, particularly heart disease,’ says James Burton, a professor of renal medicine at Leicester University, who led the study.
‘Once scarring occurs, it’s irreversible,’ he adds. ‘But what the study showed is exercise could prevent inflamed heart tissue from progressing to scar tissue which would then be associated with bad outcomes including heart failure.’
One reason for this might be that a cellular messenger released from the muscles during exercise causes the heart to turn off inflammation.
The study also noted the cycling group had fewer hospital admissions with kidney-related problems, and shorter hospital stays.
Further trials are examining the potential benefits of exercise, including one due to start at Sheffield Hallam University this autumn, where patients with cancer of the lungs, colon, oesophagus,
 work better){kind=link}