A new study published by The New England Journal of Medicine on Sunday shows that adding an exercise program to recovery plans following treatment for colon cancer increased survival rates.

Newsweek has reached out to the leaders of the study via email for information during non-working hours Sunday.

Why It Matters

Across the globe, colorectal cancer rates have skyrocketed, especially among millennials, with a 2024 study published by The Lancet showing those born in 1990 being two to three times more likely to have issues than those born in 1955.

Colorectal cancer is the second most deadly and the third most prevalent in the world. In the United States, colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer for men and women, according to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance (CCA).

Symptoms of colorectal cancers can include a change in bathroom habits, cramps, weight loss as well as blood in the stool, which can still look normal, according to Cancer.org.

These cancers can cause bleeding in the digestive tract and lead to anemia. Those who experience these symptoms should get tested by a medical professional.

“Sometimes the first sign of colorectal cancer is a blood test showing a low red blood cell count,” the American Cancer Society’s website says.

What To Know

The study followed patients in 55 medical centers for a three-year period following their initial treatment of surgery and chemotherapy.

Over a 15-year period from 2009 to 2024, more than 800 patients were designated into either a health education group or exercise group.

Researchers found that patients who began a three-year exercise program following chemotherapy had “significantly longer disease-free survival and findings consistent with longer overall survival.”

The study broke people up into two groups, a health-education program or a health education program in addition to a monitored exercise regime as part of the Colon Health and Lifelong Exercise Change. Both were done through the Canadian Cancer Trials Group.

Of those who were a part of the exercise program, 80.3 percent saw a five-year disease-free survival, while 73.9 percent of the health-education group saw the same results.

“Preclinical and observational studies suggest that exercise may improve cancer outcomes,” the study said, adding that “definitive evidence” was lacking, hence the launch of this study.

The exercise program participants received behavioral-support sessions as well as 12 in-person exercise sessions over two weeks for the first six months of the study.

In the following six months, as part of phase two, patients continued to go to the support sessions either in person or virtually, along with their supervised exercise sessions.

The last two years of the study required patients to go to in-person or remote support sessions, along with supervised exercise sessions, for those attending the support sessions in person.

“Results support longer overall survival in the exercise group than in the health-education group,” the study says.

The study said that people who suffer from these diseases often have less quality of life and physical function issues, which the exercise program aims to help.

“Interventions that improve both survival and quality of life in this patient population are needed,” according to the study.

However, even after treatment, recurrence happens 20 to 40 percent of patients, but the exercise program can cut that risk down, the new study shows.

What People Are Saying

Dr. Christopher Booth, a co-chair of the international study and a medical oncologist at Kingston Health Sciences Centre in Kingston, Ontario, told The Candian Press: “It’s the first clinical trial in the world asking whether exercise can improve cancer survival. And in fact, the results were astounding…If we had a cancer drug with this amount of benefit, it would cost between $100,000 and $200,000 per year (and) it would be celebrated in all the major guidelines across oncology societies worldwide.”

What Happens Next?

Even after treatment, recurrence happens 20 to 40 percent of patients, but an exercise program can cut the risk down, according to the new study.

Those who have received treatment for colorectal cancer should talk to their doctor before starting any exercise programs.