Good for Body and Soul

Snow on every horizon this morning, eventually on us too.

Wrong way, kids. The elks have that territory til June.

Inspecting, always inspecting.

My sister hit on it yesterday. Returning from a two hour hike up into the mountains while I hung out with her four-year-old, she exclaimed, "The view up there was – expansive! I've really got to figure out a way to get back to that. I mean, I can work out on the elliptical machine for exercise, but that was for my soul."

I know exactly what she means. Fifteen years ago, when I was dealing with my own cancer, walks and hikes with my dogs of the time (Molly and Kali) connected me to the steady rhythm of life and infused me with a sense of hope and beauty. This past year, walks with Nicholai have been, and continue to be, a constant source of mindfulness, of living connected to the world, to nature, to life itself.

Exercise reduces the rate of cancer recurrence by as much as 50-60% in some cancers. There are numerous mechanisms by which exercise improves overall health. First, it reduces the amount of adipose tissue (fat), the principle storage site of carcinogen toxins in the body. Physical exercise modifies hormonal balance, reducing excess estrogen and testosterone that stimulate the growth of certain cancers. Exercise reduces blood sugar and high blood sugar feeds tumors. Physical activity even acts directly on the substances responsible for inflammation. Physical exercise has a direct effect on the immune system, seemingly protecting it against the stress of bad news. Finally, as my sister stated, it's good for the soul. For all I know, it may be as a big a reason that Mr. Pickle still lives and thrives as anything else we do.

Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, wrote in Anticancer – A New Way of Life, about his own journey with brain cancer and everything he learned in his effort to survive. His medical doctors never advised him on diet, nutrition, exercise, or stress reduction, so he figured it out himself. Over thirteen months of chemotherapy he ran every morning with his dog. He states: I was very lucky to have a dog. Not everyone so easily finds their way to the kind of exercise that suits them best. When I woke up with nausea, and sometimes with fear in my gut, he came and put his head on my knees. I patted him gently until I felt better. Then he would stretch with half-closed eyes, as if yoga came naturally to him. He would look at me, tilting his head to the side toward the street. That meant that it was time to go running together.

I confess that there are mornings when I am tired from lack of sleep, rain is pouring, or I have ten million things on my to-do list. If Nicholai didn't whine, yowl, and yammer at me, dancing at my feet, I might be tempted to skip my daily workout. And that would be a huge mistake – for my body, and for my soul.