Hundreds of millions of people are living with cancer, and advances in treatments mean that many patients are surviving the disease. However, the physical and mental effects of the diagnosis and treatment regimen may linger after treatment ends.
Until 95% of survivors of this disease suffer from sleep disturbances or insomnia at some point after treatment, and more than half experience mood disorders, anxiety or fatigue.
According to , a team of scientists presented the first clinical trial that demonstrated that regular yoga practice can improve the side effects of the disease, without the need for medication. The results were presented in Chicago at the world’s largest cancer conference, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
The researchers recruited 410 cancer survivors in the US for the trial, and none of them had practiced yoga in the previous three months and the cancer had not spread. The average age was 54 years and three out of four had been diagnosed with mother’s cancerthe most common type of cancer in the world.
A total of 204 participants was randomly assigned to receive standard care, which typically includes maintenance therapy, follow-up appointments, and monitoring for side effects.
The other 206 participants received standard care and participated in the program Yoga for Cancer Survivors (YOCAS). EITHER four week program uses 18 hatha and restorative yoga poses, breathing exercises, and mindfulness to improve symptoms in cancer survivors.
The program included two yoga classes lasting 75 minutes each, and additional yoga practice at home for at least 30 minutes or more per week.
Compared to participants who received standard care, yoga participants had a reduced general mood disturbance. They also had less anxiety and felt less fatigue.
“This study demonstrates that yoga can help alleviate some of the most consistently reported and difficult-to-treat problems in cancer survivorship, leading to a decrease in insomnia“, said the researcher Fumiko Chino.
“It is an important advance because it offers survivors, who are probably already taking several medications, a non-pharmaceutical solution to reduce four different side effects at the same time”, concluded the scientist.
