Exhausted, weary, tired, lethargic -- cancer patients are all this and more when undergoing treatment, and it's a problem that may be fixed with some light activity. While rest is encouraged, it's now thought that the overwhelming fatigue experienced by those with cancer can be alleviated with activity, at least according to this video. Don't get me wrong .... you don't need to run an Ironman marathon or anything, but how about going for a walk, or doing a few light resistance moves?

Think about this:

A few gentle activities can help boost your energy, and can have positive systemic benefits in your body that hopefully will help your body fight the disease. Dick, the prostate cancer patient in the video, is part of a study to prove the benefits of exercise in cancer patients and he believes that his lack of fatigue is a result of his staying active during treatment.

What do you think? Should you take it easy or get up and about?

When Someone You Love Is Being Treated for Cancer is a book of tips and insight from caregivers for caregivers when it comes to the needs and issues of being a caregiver for a loved one diagnosed with cancer. Published online by The National Cancer Institute, the introduction states, "The purpose of this book is to focus on you and your needs."

In reviewing it, I found it to be a valuable and realistic resource for family members who find themselves in the role of caregiver because a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer.

University of California researchers report there is a biological basis for why breast cancer survivors suffer long-term fatigue. According to study results, the problem of extreme unrelenting tiredness is the result of the way the immune system is behaving in relation to inflammation response. Researchers explain that one marker that seems to predict long-term fatigue is the amount of interleukin-6 receptor, IL-6R, free-floating in the blood of breast-cancer survivors, compared to the amount of that receptor remaining on the membranes of specific blood cells, where the receptor normally is found and functions within the immune response. The other marker is an index measured by the level of T cells that are characterized by CD69, a cell membrane protein that indicates early activation of those T cells.

With this new understanding, new interventions can be developed to alleviate the fatigue. For breast cancer survivors who have been complaining about how tired they feel -- no matter what self measures they attempt in lessening the feeling of being tired all the time -- will find this report encouraging and supportive. No, it's not all in your head -- and it's nothing you are doing or not doing, that is leading to physical exhaustion.