exercise

Overview

Exercise is a form of planned, structured, and repetitive physical activity performed to improve or maintain physical fitness, health, and functional capacity. In biomedical research, exercise is studied as a modifiable lifestyle intervention rather than as a drug target in the conventional sense. It is widely investigated for its effects on cardiometabolic health, immune function, cancer outcomes, cognitive function, and healthy aging.

Mechanistically, exercise influences multiple physiological systems, including cardiovascular regulation, glucose metabolism, body composition, skeletal muscle function, inflammatory signaling, and immune surveillance. Recent research contexts also link exercise with autophagy, depression-cancer interactions, and rehabilitation after major illness or surgery. Across these settings, exercise is commonly evaluated as a safe, low-cost, non-pharmacological strategy that may complement therapies such as diet modification, intermittent fasting, ketogenic diet, and oncological rehabilitation protocols.

Focus of Latest Publications

Recent publications have examined exercise across a broad range of clinical and preventive settings, with a strong emphasis on chronic disease risk reduction and supportive care.

In pediatric cardiovascular prevention, the Afterschool Rx 2.0 pilot randomized crossover trial focused on prescriptions to afterschool care for children with cardiovascular risk factors. The publication context emphasizes that childhood CVD risk factors, including obesity and arterial hypertension, can be mitigated with physical activity and a healthy diet. This positions exercise as part of early-life prevention strategies aimed at reducing later cardiometabolic disease burden.

In oncology, exercise has been repeatedly studied as supportive care. A protocol for a videoconference-delivered physical activity intervention for children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer or blood disorders in British Columbia, Ontario, and the Maritime Provinces states that physical activity is safe and beneficial in this population, although most patients engage in low levels of activity. Another study on childhood cancer survivors highlights the need to develop and implement effective lifestyle interventions promoting healthy weight and physical activity, reflecting concern about long-term chronic health conditions after cancer treatment. In adults, the CHOiCE prospective study evaluated a personalized exercise program during cancer treatment and reported real-world feasibility and effectiveness across cancer types, while a feasibility study in advanced cancer-related weight loss examined exercise as supportive care in patients with and without severe weight loss, noting that its role in cachexia remains unclear. Additional work in oral cancer during surgical hospitalization identified barriers and facilitators to physical activity, underscoring that adherence remains low despite oncological rehabilitation protocols emphasizing early mobilization. A separate colorectal cancer study assessed long-term lifestyle effects of prehabilitation, comparing validated measures of physical activity and quality of life at 6, 12, and 24 months post-surgery in the Prospective Dutch Colorectal Cancer (PLCRC) cohort.

Exercise has also been studied in relation to cardiometabolic outcomes. A Bayesian model-based dose-response network meta-analysis was designed to determine the optimal dose and type of exercise across cardiometabolic outcomes in adults with overweight or obesity, reflecting ongoing uncertainty about the best modality and dose despite exercise being described as safe and cost-effective. Another study in older Chinese adults examined the association between physical activity and cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, indicating interest in exercise-related behavior at the population level. In adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, a controlled clinical study comparing intermittent fasting combined with a ketogenic diet versus a hypocaloric diet reported improvements in physical activity and quality-of-life scores in intervention groups, suggesting that exercise-related outcomes are often assessed alongside dietary therapies.

Exercise is also being investigated in neurological and cognitive contexts. In vascular mild cognitive impairment, a study examined cognitive response to N-acetylcysteine and exercise, indicating that exercise may be part of combined interventions for cognitive decline. In stroke and transient ischemic attack populations, a qualitative study explored barriers and facilitators to maintaining physical activity after an mHealth intervention, noting that while mobile health interventions can increase physical activity in the short term, long-term sustainability remains limited. This highlights exercise as a behavior that often requires ongoing support to maintain.

Several studies addressed exercise in populations with functional limitations or sensory impairment. Adolescents with visual impairment were studied in a randomized controlled trial of music-integrated strength-proprioceptive training, motivated by the observation that restricted opportunities for physical activity can reduce physical fitness and functional autonomy. In this context, exercise was embedded in a structured training program, with music used as an adjunct to support participation and performance.

Exercise has also been linked to immune and aging biology. A study of moderate physical activity in young, healthy women examined NK cell populations and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, supporting the idea that physical activity can modulate immune function and may partly explain reduced disease risk, including cancer. A review on autophagy and healthy aging described exercise among the factors that can influence autophagy, alongside dietary restriction, sleep adjustments, and temperature modulation. Another publication on the bidirectional relationship between cancer and depression identified exercise as part of integrated treatment strategies with antidepressant medications, NSAIDs or TNF-α inhibitors, Mediterranean diet, and psychotherapy such as CBT.

Across these studies, exercise is consistently framed as a preventive, rehabilitative, and supportive intervention. Its relevance spans childhood risk reduction, cancer care, poststroke recovery, metabolic disease management, and healthy aging, with outcomes ranging from physical activity adherence and quality of life to immune markers, cognitive response, and cardiometabolic endpoints.

Key Publications

• Jun Protocol for Afterschool Rx 2.0: A pilot randomized crossover trial to determine the feasibility of prescriptions to afterschool care for children with cardiovascular risk factors. (Contemporary clinical trials, 2026, PMID 42009101): "CVD risk factors in childhood, including obesity and hypertension, can be mitigated with physical activity and a healthy diet."
• May The effect of moderate physical activity on NK cells populations and cytotoxic T lymphocytes in young, healthy women. (PloS one, 2026, PMID 42213729): "Physical activity is a modifiable lifestyle factor known to reduce the risk of many diseases, including cancer, partly through improvement of immune function."
• May Moving Forward Together: A Protocol to Co-Adapt and Scale a Videoconference-Delivered Physical Activity Intervention for Children and Adolescents Diagnosed With Cancer or Blood Disorders in British Columbia, Ontario, and the Maritime Provinces. (JMIR research protocols, 2026, PMID 42214066): "Physical activity (PA) is safe and beneficial for children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer, yet most engage in low levels of PA."
• May Potential for risk reduction of chronic health conditions through lifestyle in childhood cancer survivors. (Nature communications, 2026, PMID 42215482): "We need to further develop and implement effective lifestyle interventions in childhood cancer survivors, promoting healthy weight and physical activity."
• May Barriers and facilitators of physical activity in patients with oral cancer during surgical hospitalization: insights from a qualitative study. (Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2026, PMID 42207318): "Adherence to physical activity (PA) during hospitalization remains low in patients with oral cancer, despite the benefits of early mobilization emphasized in oncological rehabilitation protocols."
• May Long-term lifestyle effects of prehabilitation in colorectal cancer. (Acta oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden), 2026, PMID 42200312): "Longitudinal data-including validated measures of physical activity and quality of life-were compared between prehabilitation and control groups at 6, 12, and 24 months post-surgery."
• May Barriers and Facilitators to Maintaining Physical Activity After an mHealth Intervention for People Poststroke or Transient Ischemic Attack: Reflexive Thematic Analysis. (JMIR cardio, 2026, PMID 42202232): "Although mobile health (mHealth) interventions have shown promise for promoting short-term increases in physical activity, evidence on their long-term effects and the mechanisms that support sustained behavior change remains limited."
• May Music-integrated strength-proprioceptive training improves lower-limb performance and postural balance in adolescents with visual impairment: a randomized controlled trial. (Scientific reports, 2026, PMID 42173929): "Adolescents with visual impairment (VI) often exhibit reduced physical fitness (PF) and functional autonomy due to limited sensory input and restricted opportunities for physical activity (PA)."
• May Effect of a Personalized Mobile Health Intervention Using Artificial Intelligence (the WARIFA App) Versus a Nonpersonalized Intervention on User-Defined Objectives, Healthy Lifestyles, and Management of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D): Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial. (JMIR research protocols, 2026, PMID 42172625): "...common risk factors that can be addressed: physical activity, a healthy diet, and avoiding smoking and alcohol."
• May Optimal dose and type of exercise across cardiometabolic outcomes in adults with overweight or obesity: protocol for a Bayesian model-based dose-response network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. (BMJ open, 2026, PMID 42082211): "Exercise is a safe and cost-effective non-pharmacological strategy to improve cardiometabolic health, yet the optimal combinations of exercise modality and dose for key cardiometabolic outcomes remain uncertain."