Lifting weights a couple of times a week can help women who survived breast cancer look and feel better. These women usually suffer from insomnia, weight gain, chronic fatigue, depression and anxiety.

This study is the first one aimed specially at weight training, after previous studies showed good effects from aerobic exercise such as walking. Researchers took into consideration 86 women from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in late 2001 and early 2002, between 4 and 36 months after their treatment, part of which followed a weight-training program and another part no weight training.

The first group exercised the muscles of their chest, back, shoulders, arms, buttocks, hips and thighs. They met twice a week with personal fitness trainers and were encouraged to follow the program for at least another 3 months. The team of scientists measured the women's body fat, weight and bone density.

"The results show that weight training had beneficial effects on physical and psychosocial quality-of-life scores," the investigators wrote. "These improvements were associated with increases in lean muscle mass and upper body strength."

The training strengthened bones and muscles, increased muscle mass and enhanced quality of life. Also, infection-fighting T-cell levels have increased. The study also tried to observe the effect weight lifting has on depression. However, regarding this aspect, no significant effect was reported.