Weight training may help improve the quality of life in breast-cancer survivors

Weight training may help improve the quality of life in breast-cancer survivors, suggests Monday one of the first studies to scientifically measure the effects of such exercise.

Breast-cancer survivors often struggle with a variety of quality-of-life complaints, including insomnia, weight gain, chronic fatigue, depression and anxiety.

To see if weight training might help boost patients' quality of life, researchers recruited 86 women who had completed successful treatment of breast cancer.

Half the women were assigned to an exercise group. For three months they met twice a week with personal fitness trainer to develop a weightlifting regimen.

They were taught how to perform nine common weight-based exercises using free weights and resistance machines to work the muscles of their chest, back, shoulders, arms, buttocks, hips and thighs. They were then encouraged to follow it for another three months.

The second group had no weight training.

Researchers assessed the women's body fat, weight, bone density and upper and lower body strength, among other measurements. And they asked the women about daily problems and their quality of life, such as state of mind and satisfaction with relationships.

The women in the exercise group said they felt they had more strength, speed and self-confidence as a result of the workouts. It appears the weightlifting helped them regain a feeling of control of their bodies, researchers said.

Researchers also found that women who did strength training increased their infection-fighting T-cell levels. And they had better upper-body strength, less fatigue and better quality of life compared with those who didn't exercise.

The women who trained with weights had increases in lean muscle mass, compared with those who did not.