Exercise is an important part of everyday life, especially for children battling cancer. Treatment can oftentimes take a serious toll on their bodies. Physical activity can help to reduce cancer-related fatigue and help to keep their bodies strong. In addition, to exercise helping to improve your physical well-being, it also helps to improve your mental and emotional well-being. Simply stated, research shows that physical activity helps to improve one's overall quality of life.
Here are four ways to help your child stay physically active during and after cancer treatment:
Undergoing treatment majorly affects muscle movements, endurance, and flexibility. Physical activity helps to build strong muscles, which allows your child to move more freely. We suggest helping your child focus on exercises that target building strength and gaining flexibility. These could include yoga, tossing a ball, going for a walk, taking a hike, riding a scooter or a bike, or simply just taking 30 minutes out of the day to sit down and get a good stretch in.
Limiting the amount of screen time your child has throughout the day encourages them to find other activities to help keep them entertained. This can often lead to activities that involve some kind of physical movement. We recommend limiting screen time to less than two hours per day.
Encourage your child to engage in some type of physical activity four to five days a week. Consider planning these activities ahead of time with your child so that they have something fun to look forward to each week! A few ideas we have for this active time include: playing outside, having a dance party, going on a walk, visiting a park, or kicking around a soccer ball.
According to The CDC, it is recommended that children be physically active for 60 minutes or more each day of the week. If your child is battling a cancer diagnosis, the activities that they participate in may change, however, it does not mean that they have to stop being active. Physical activity will help aid in their recovery and will make the transition after treatment much smoother.
Believe it or not, physical activity helps to enhance sleep-wake rhythms, which in turn helps to cut down on cancer-related exhaustion and fatigue. Studies show that children who are more active throughout the day tend to sleep better at night. In addition, when children get quality sleep at night they tend to have fewer emotional and physiological issues. Overall, a solid sleep routine is very important for children battling cancer.
Always remember to have fun! Staying physically active is crucial to helping your child recover both during and after cancer treatment. It is important that no matter what type of physical activity your child is participating in that they are thoroughly enjoying it. At the end of the day a fun activity will make the most impact!