CHICAGO, Oct 20, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Exercise may protect against both
memory-loss and depressive mood after whole-brain radiation treatments, U.S.
researchers say.
The study, presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Chicago,
found mice with access to an exercise wheel less likely to suffer a decline in
erasable memory after radiation and less likely to show depressive-like
behavior.
"It was remarkable that the irradiated, running mice were just like the normal,
non-irradiated mice that didn't exercise," study leader Sarah Wong-Goodrich of
Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., said in a statement.
The findings show how powerful exercise is and how many benefits it can provide,
and even restore, after radiation, study researcher Lee Jones of the Duke Center
for Cancer Survivorship said.
"Once a patient gets a doctor's clearance, I think exercise is a good thing
during whole-brain radiation," Jones said. "I think telling patients to take it
easy is the worst advice we can give, because we know they will become
deconditioned physically, and this study shows exercise potentially could
provide cognitive and psychological benefits."
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