Elizabeth Hurley visited BSMS and the University of Brighton as she explored the benefits of yoga, exercise and mindfulness on patients being treated for breast cancer.
The actress was supporting Estée Lauder’s global call on behalf of the 2018 breast cancer campaign It’s #TimeToEndBreastCancer, ahead of the October ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month’.
Hurley, Global Ambassador for The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign, first visited BSMS to learn about new research funded by Breast Cancer Research Foundation® (BCRF), through money raised by The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign.
She met Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield, Professor of Psycho Oncology at Sussex Health Outcomes, Research & Education in Cancer (SHORE-C), whose BCRF-funded research is assessing the psycho-social aspects of breast cancer and ways in which supportive interventions, such as gentle exercise, yoga and mindfulness, can reduce stress hormones and improve patients’ well-being during treatment.
Hurley spent time in a University of Brighton research laboratory and took part in a test which measures levels of stress (cortisol) hormones, using saliva samples provided before and after a relaxing activity, as well as meeting patients at a local hospital.
She said: “Every 19 seconds, somewhere in the world, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. The work that the team at Brighton and Sussex Medical School is doing is just one example of the extensive ground-breaking research that is being undertaken by the BCRF around the world, with generous support from The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign, as part of its mission to create a breast cancer-free world.”
UK BCRF Grantee, Dame Lesley Fallowfield, DBE, BSc, DPhil, FMedSci, Professor of Psycho-oncology at University of Sussex, said, “Going through breast cancer treatment can be an extremely challenging and stressful time for patients and their families. We want to establish whether stress reducing activities performed on a regular basis could have a positive effect on not only patients’ wellbeing, but also on improving the effectiveness of their treatment as we know that cortisol can cause cancer cells to grow and also interfere with treatment. Collectively, we are committed to the mission of working towards a breast cancer-free world.”
Stress hormones interact with almost every cell in the body, including normal and cancer cells. The scientists leading the research noticed that increased levels of stress hormones interfered with the way that cells function and repair themselves in the laboratory. As many women, especially those diagnosed with breast cancer, will feel stressed at some point.The research, carried out in partnership with Dr Melanie Flint, Reader in Cancer Biology at the University of Brighton, aims to understand how incorporating stress management techniques into breast cancer treatment regimes may make chemotherapy work better.
In the 25 years that The Estée Lauder Companies has funded pioneering research through the BCRF, breast cancer mortality rates have decreased by 38 per cent, almost eight in 10 (78 per cent) women diagnosed with breast cancer in England and Wales survive their disease for ten years or more, and treatments have improved dramatically. Yet breast cancer remains the most common cancer in the UK and one in eight women in the UK will develop the disease during their lifetime. This year The Campaign hopes to raise a further $8 million to fund more research, education and medical services.
This October, The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign is inviting the public to take action through a simple but universal call: it’s #TimeToEndBreastCancer.