It’s Movember this month and in many countries men are asked to  think about their health, to learn more about prostate cancer and to help each other live a healthy long life.

Like any cancer prostate cancer  is feared by men and women, but we can alleviate some of these fears by educating ourselves and sharing the important information that helps men see the bigger picture and understand the consequences of the choices they make to prevent cancer and perhaps one day the choices to  treat prostate cancer.

To begin here is a study of how exercise improves life for men who have bone metastasis , a serious health condition which occurs in advanced prostate cancer. This is not common and most men who have prostate cancer will never experiences this.

Associations between aerobic exercise levels and physical and mental health outcomes in men with bone metastatic prostate cancer: a cross-sectional investigation

Cancer patients with bone metastases have previously been excluded from participation in physical activity programmes due to concerns of skeletal fractures. Our aim was to provide initial information on the association between physical activity levels and physical and mental health outcomes in prostate cancer patients with bone metastases.

Between 2012 and 2015, 55 prostate cancer patients (mean age 69.7 ± 8.3; BMI 28.6 ± 4.0) with bone metastases (58.2% >2 regions affected) undertook assessments for self-reported physical activity, physical and mental health outcomes (SF-36), objective physical performance measures and body composition by DXA. Sixteen men (29%) met the current aerobic exercise guidelines for cancer survivors, while 39 (71%) reported lower aerobic exercise levels.

Men not meeting aerobic exercise guidelines had lower physical functioning (p = .004), role functioning (physical and emotional) (p < .05), general health scores (p = .014) as well all lower measures of physical performance (p < .05). Lower levels of aerobic exercise are associated with reduced physical and mental health outcomes in prostate cancer patients with bone metastases.

While previous research has focused primarily in those with non-metastatic disease, our initial results suggest that higher levels of aerobic exercise may preserve physical and mental health outcomes in prostate cancer patients with bone metastases.