Episode #33: New Research Suggests Doing THIS To Survive and Prevent Cancer

Show Notes:

Speaker 1: (00:00)
Hey everybody, what's going on? Dr. Chad Woolner here and Dr. Buddy Allen. And this is episode 33 of the health fundamentals podcast. And on today's episode, we're going to be talking about new research and guidelines that suggest doing this to survive cancer and even in some cases prevented in the first place. So let's get started.

Speaker 2: (00:19)
You're listening to the health fundamentals podcast. I'm dr Chad Woolner and I'm dr buddy Allen. And this show was about giving you the simple but powerful cutting edge tools you need to change your health and your life. So sit back and enjoy the show as we show you the path to your best life down to a science.

Speaker 1: (00:38)
So, Hey everybody, hope you guys are having a great day. Uh, we wanted to share some new research with you guys. That's pretty, pretty powerful, awesome. But yet very simple. You know, um, there, there has been a body of, uh, research groups, uh, the American college of sports medicine. Um, I think it was also the American cancer society and 15 other, uh, international organizations who all gathered and were looking at the research in terms of, um, you know, cancer and specifically the question that they were looking at is does cancer, uh, and does exercise play a role in helping with cancer? And overwhelmingly they looked at the research and back in, uh, 10 years ago, basically there was, I think kind of, there wasn't consensus on this subject, but they've since kind of looked at it and they said resoundingly, uh, the answer that they say is very clear.

Speaker 1: (01:33)
They say that exercise definitely helps in terms of cancer survival rates, but exercise also helps in terms of helping you prevent it, uh, altogether in the first place. And, um, this might sound at first glance, like overly simplistic, but I think the implications here are, are really powerful because of the fact that exercise is something that doesn't cost you anything. Typically you don't, you don't have to have a gym membership. You can get out and walk and move and do whatever. But also exercise is such a, um, powerful tool for health. And wellbeing. You know, in this article they basically went on to say, um, that, uh, they said that, uh, exercise helps with, uh, the anxiety and depression that often accompanies cancer. Yup. But that it also helps with, uh, fatigue that can often accompany cancer and oftentimes a lot of the various cancer treatments, uh, radiation and chemotherapy, which can, I can't even begin to imagine, uh, the challenge and the strain that that puts on you, but yet, uh, exercise, um, I think oftentimes can be thought of as something that is fatiguing in and of itself.

Speaker 1: (02:51)
Exactly. Um, but the reality of it is, is just the opposite. It can be very renewing and help, uh, increase energy. Right. And you had kind of about this, you know, in terms of that initial startup of, of exercise. Yeah. I, in fact, I remember taking many, many years ago, um, my first year in college, I signed up for a swimming class, which was literally an hour of just doing laps. And I'll tell you what, the first few days, like fact, the first week I was, I was wasted. I mean, I was so depleted. I hadn't been exercising before that really. And, and I mean I was so tired and depleted for the first week, but then the following week I'm, in fact I was getting ready to drop the class cause I'm like, dude, this is killing me. I can't hardly function after. And then all of a sudden my, my energy just went through the roof, you know?

Speaker 1: (03:39)
And since then in life, I've had many opportunities or experiences with that same phenomenon where you, here you are just doing incredibly intense workouts, sometimes twice a day. And, um, and having more energy than I had when I wasn't working out at all. And it, and it kind of flies in the face of maybe logic as far as [inaudible] seem counterintuitive. Exactly. If you're drained, if you're expending more energy than you ever have, you would think that tank would be drained. But our body has this amazing ability to adapt and to, um, and really just kind of create more energy centers in our body to be able to provide the energy needed and right. And so, you know, at the end of the day here, um, the beautiful thing about this, when you look at the guidelines and everything, I'm sure they give some pretty detailed specifics and whatnot, but the last line of this article, um, that you can read in New York times, uh, the, uh, the recommendation from, from this doctor.

Speaker 1: (04:35)
Um, she basically just said, I recommend that my patients just get up and move, just do something. Something is going to be better than nothing. And so it's one of those areas where, you know, um, there's a fairly broad or wide range of things that you can do. Um, and you're not gonna get it wrong, you know. Um, the recommendation I would have is, is don't go from zero to Mach 10 overnight. You know, because sometimes that can be counterintuitive, not just from a standpoint of risk of injury. Let's just assume you're fine. You're not going to get injured there even though you certainly can. But the problem that I think is all to more common is that when, what that does is the next day or day after two days or three days after, it creates so much soreness and you can actually function. Yeah. It'll, it'll kind of beat you up a little bit and then all of a sudden you're kind of back to square one and you're, and that doesn't really help in terms of overall motivation.

Speaker 1: (05:29)
You know, it's, it's a, you, you kind of punish yourself a little bit too much. And I understand where that comes from for a lot of people. Sometimes you get this surge of like motivation and you're just, you know, this, you almost like this emotionally euphoric state where you're just like, I'm gonna conquer. I'm not doing anything. You know, I'm going to climb a mountain. Then you go out and you just overdo it. And it's just one of those things where it's like, yeah, that's not a, that is a counterintuitive strategy. That's not a terribly sustainable longterm, you know. Um, I read, uh, you know, the advice given by Darren Hardy in the book, the compound effect, which we recommend all the time. In fact, we've probably talked about that on multiple episodes, but his recommendation to a friend of his who was wanting to get started in running is he said, run to the point where you just are winded and then stop and walk the rest of the way.

Speaker 1: (06:18)
And then he said, and then run a little bit further the next day and then run a little bit further the next day and just add to it day by day by day. Just take it one day at a time. And, and, and sooner than you think. You'll see that, that over time you begin to grow and develop and improve your, your resilience and your resistance and your endurance. Um, and, and it's one of those things where it's like this doesn't require you to have some sort of a full time dedicated strength and conditioning coach showing you the way and helping you to develop some really highly scientific process or plan. Although I don't discourage that. If you've got the means and the resources to do that, by all means, that's awesome. Do that. But for people who are, are watching or listening to this podcast who are like, man, I want to get started with exercise, take that approach, take it that just kind of improving one day at a time, just by a percentage point, you know, a percentage at a time just kind of slowly but surely that long game.

Speaker 1: (07:18)
Yeah, it is just just making sure. And, and what that does is that really helps establish a habit, you know, and honestly more than that, like I have trained on two different occasions to run a half marathon, something that I, I hated running prior to. I still don't much care for it, but you know, like six weeks before I'm just grinding out, running, getting prepared for this, this really brutal half marathon. And um, and then afterward I'm like, Oh, I did it. And I totally just dropped the ball. And it was a year and a half later where I was like, I'm going to do that same race again. Yeah. And I did the same thing. You know, I put all this energy in and I, and I am 100% certain that, I mean if I were to just run a half a mile every day versus 50 miles trying to prepare for this one event.

Speaker 1: (08:08)
Right. You know what I mean? It's like a half a mile a day for over longevity is going to have way greater impact than running a hundred miles in eight weeks. Right. You know, I think, I think it's a lot of the same type of mentality and discipline that you hear in terms of advice on investing for retirement. Sure. You know, like, and they've, you know, they've shown these examples of somebody who starts investing for retirement at age 30, let's just say, and it's just doing small amounts, but consistently over years, you know, over the years versus somebody who puts in tons of money, you know, by age 50 or 60 a, you know, and, and even though they're making way higher payments that because of that compounding time, you know, and I would say that it's the same, you know, mentality that we want to approach in terms of our health that, that you can, you can yield compounding interest, so to speak, in terms of your health, if nothing more than just really solidifying sure.

Speaker 1: (09:08)
Those habits, you know, over time those habits become deeper and deeper and deeper ingrained into your system. Um, that, that it really does pay bigger dividends because it becomes that much easier for you to stick with. So, so powerful. So, uh, in terms of, you know, the, the, the point of all this, you know, this research is powerful because it's, it's simple and it reinforces something that I think most people intuitively can think and believe. And that is that exercise has such a profound therapeutic role in helping our lives even with something as profound and, and seemingly ominous as cancer. You know, that it helps not only survival of cancer but also in terms of overall prevention of, of developing cancer. So, um, hopefully this has been powerful food for thought for you guys in terms of your own health. Um, get out and exercise, get moving, keep it simple, stay consistent with it and uh, share this with others. If you know others that can benefit. Um, this is a powerful new study. Again, New York times, check it out yourself and uh, yeah, we look forward to sharing more with you guys on the next episode. Have a good one.

Speaker 2: (10:19)
Thanks for listening to the health fundamentals podcast. Be sure to subscribe so that you stay in the loop. And in the note with all of the cutting edge health information that we share, if you know other people that could benefit from this information, please share it with them as well. Also, be sure to give us a review. These really help us to ultimately help more people. Last but not least. If you have questions that you want answered live on the show, or if you have ideas for topics that you would like us to cover, please shoot us an email and let us know at [email protected].