Exercise and cancer: What "living longer" really means

Evidence suggests that exercise can keep more cancer patients alive. But what does "living longer" mean, and who does it apply to? In 2025, an international trial found that people treated for colon cancer were more likely to be alive eight years later if they had received long-term exercise coaching. The question facing doctors now is less whether people with cancer should exercise than how to build it into routine care.

In the US, that shift is reaching hospital standards. From January 2027, breast cancer centers must screen patients' physical function and recommend exercise or physical therapy where needed. Yet experts caution that the trial's findings may not apply to every cancer or every patient. The 2025 trial, called CHALLENGE , was led by the Canadian Cancer Trials Group.

It began enrolling patients in 2009 and published its results in 2025. Its 889 participants came from six countries, most from Canada and Australia. All had finished surgery and chemotherapy for stage 2 or 3 colon cancer, which had not spread to distant organs.