Irish Cancer Society Launches Physical Activity Programme for Prostate Cancer Survivors

To mark Men’s Health Awareness Week (June 11th – 17th), the Irish Cancer Society is recruiting men to take part in their free Physical Activity Programme for prostate cancer survivors. The programme will begin in August in Dublin and will run for 16 weeks and will include a cardiovascular and weight training programme.

Studies have shown that regular physical activity can help rebuild health and well-being after a prostate cancer diagnosis and may also help increase survival. The Irish Cancer Society programme has been specially designed for prostate cancer survivors by exercise specialist and former Irish Olympian, Marie Murphy. It is based on metabolic equivalents or METS.

Exercise produces energy which gives off heat. The amount of heat relates to the rate of energy used when exercising and this is measured in METS.  METS measure how hard your body is working at any given time. Participants will be set a target to achieve over the course of the programme in terms of METS.

An information session will be held in early August in Dublin. To register your interest for the programme, email fitness@irishcancer.ie or call Eimear on 01 231 6624.

About the Irish Cancer Society’s Physical Activity Programme

The Irish Cancer Society runs free exercise programmes for women and men who have had breast and bowel cancer. This is the first programme for men with prostate cancer. The aim of the programme is to encourage and support people who have had cancer to become active and to increase their physical activity levels. This will help improve their health following a cancer experience and to help reduce their risk of their cancer coming back. These programmes involve people gradually increasing their activity levels over the course of a number of weeks and are closely supervised by trained exercise specialists.

About prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men in Ireland after skin cancer. Over the course of their lifetime, men having a one in eight chance of developing prostate cancer. According to the most recent statistics, 2,978 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010. See www.cancer.ie/cancer-information/prostate-cancer for more information about prostate cancer.

See also

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