Adherence
High intensity (HI) exercise improves global quality of life and reduces anxiety more effectively than wait-list control, whereas low-to-moderate intensity (LMI) does not show significant benefits for these specific psychological outcomes compared to control.
If you are a woman or younger cancer survivor, high intensity exercise may offer specific mental health benefits, such as improved quality of life and reduced anxiety, that low-to-moderate intensity might not provide. Consider HI if you are medically cleared and seeking these psychological boosts.
HI showed significantly larger improvements in global quality of life (QoL) (β = 5.9; 95 % CI, 2.0–9.8) and reduced anxiety (β = −1.0; 95 % CI, −1.7 to −0.3) compared to WLC.
Why this rating
Large RCT, objective measures, but self-reported psychological outcomes.
Source
Randomized controlled trial of the effects of high intensity and low-to-moderate intensity exercise on physical fitness and fatigue in cancer survivors: results of the Resistance and Endurance exercise After ChemoTherapy (REACT) study
Caroline S. Kampshoff et al. · BMC Medicine · 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12916-015-0513-2
More from this paper
- Both high intensity (HI) and low-to-moderate intensity (LMI) exercise significantly reduce cancer-related fatigue, with no statistically significant difference between the two intensities.Good
- High intensity (HI) exercise yields larger improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (peakVO2) than low-to-moderate intensity (LMI), suggesting a dose-response relationship, although the difference was not statistically significant.Good
Related findings · Adherence
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- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
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