Blood cancer and keeping active

Whether you’re living with or after leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma or any other blood cancer:

• Being active is safe – Just let your doctor or nurse know about your plans.
• It’s good for you – Being active improves your fitness and strength. It can help you recover from treatment, reduce fatigue and boost your mood and well-being.
• Anyone can get more active – You don’t have to go running or do high intensity workouts. Walking, gardening and DIY all count.

If getting more active feels overwhelming, here are seven ideas to help get you started:

1. Build up your strength – You may need to build up some muscle strength first, so you can start trying other activities. Use the videos in the next section further down this page to gradually build up strength.
2. Use free exercise videos for people with blood cancer – Watch the videos in the section further down this page, which have been created with a cancer exercise specialist and people living with blood cancer.
3. Walking is good exercise – Start with five or 10 minutes a day and slowly build it up.
4. Next week, try doing one simple activity each day (aim for 10 minutes) – Anything that gets you moving counts, whether it’s walking in the garden, going up and down the stairs, or doing some housework.
5. Do something you enjoy, as you’re more likely to keep it up – If you're not sure, ask other people for recommendations and try something new!
6. Make it social – This usually helps people stick to their plans. Find an exercise buddy (your partner, a friend, a neighbour) and follow a plan together.
7. Get tips from other people with blood cancer – Join our online community and look for the thread "How I am trying to keep fit".
8. Use an activity planner to think ahead and record your achievements – setting goals and feeling proud will help you continue.

You might also like to watch our video with Lizzy, which has ten more tips for keeping active.

Once you’ve spoken to your doctor or nurse about keeping active, you could try these simple exercises, demonstrated by Anthea and Marion, who are both living with blood cancer.

The exercises will help you to move more, gradually build up your strength and find a level of activity that feels right for you.

When there's lots going on, it can be hard to keep new things up, even when you know they’re making you feel better.

Your activity levels might change week to week, for many different reasons. Go easy on yourself, it’s normal to have ups and downs.

Talk to other people with blood cancer about getting active in our online community – you’ll find lots of people there to cheer you on!

An activity planner can help you plan activities for the week and celebrate what you achieve each day – big or small. You could draw or buy a physical one to stick on your fridge or put somewhere you’ll notice it, or use an app on your phone.

If and when you’re ready, you could think about how to build up your daily activity. Find out what is recommended for your age group – NHS UK has more information on what to work towards. As a general guide aim for:

1. 20-30 minutes of being active daily. 
2. Activities to keep your muscles strong at least twice a week.
3. Cut down on the amount of time you spend sitting down if you can. When sitting, try to get up and move every so often, even just to get a drink or make a phone call.

The websites We Are Undefeatable and OneYou have lots of activity ideas. Or If you could try the NHS couch to 5k podcasts to gradually start or get back to running.