Several studies were reported to reveal that cancer patients attending yoga courses have their fatigues and stress lessened. The studies also said that breast cancer patients have benefited more from yoga aside from lessened fatigues.
According to Mirror, researchers discovered that four weeks of practicing yoga improves the well-being and reduced the tiredness felt by cancer patients. The study involved 321 cancer patients which were separated into three groups. The first group consisted of 77 percent of whom had breast cancer and were sub-grouped into two.
All of the cancer patients were then invited to join a yoga course for 75 minutes twice a week for four weeks. It was then identified that 86 percent of among the participants attended at least five classes which also included the gentle Hatha program.
The result from the study was then said to have successfully relieved cancer patients of their stress and fatigue. Yet, less daytime napping was identified to be responsible for the 37 percent of improvement in fatigue. Researchers who worked on the study suggested that doctors should prescribe yoga courses to be a low-risk, low-cost treatment for those cancer patients with fatigue cases.
“One of the most striking results was that the yoga group felt less fatigued but actually spent less time asleep. This is an interesting finding because some people think they feel cancer fatigue so they just need to rest, but actually cancer-related fatigue is not like other fatigue that you can sleep off or rest away,” a researcher from the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York, Po-Ju Lin concluded.
On the other hand, Net Doctor reported that another study was conducted as well for fatigue in cancer patients. The team assessed 850 women with operable breast cancer and found out that those who included yoga in their daily activities have lesser fatigues compared to those who don’t.
The study presented in Mumbai said that 21 percent of the participants had less fatigue along with 61 percent that said that their pain was less worsened. 48 percent of the breast cancer patients also said that their mood improved same as to the 31 percent who believed that their cancer didn’t interfere with their daily activities.
Nonetheless, Clinical nurse specialist at UK charity Breast Cancer Care, Jane Murphy also stated that yoga could be considered as a complementary therapy since it eases the mind and body of cancer patients. Other studies conducted by several researchers say that yoga improves the quality of sleep in cancer patients as well.
