Yoga reduces exhaustion and inflammation in breast cancer survivors, according to a new Ohio State University study. Researchers said that practicing yoga for three months consecutively could prove beneficial for cancer survivors.
They added that the more they practiced the better the results would be.
Inflammation resulting from the cancer treatment makes a person weak and can cause various health diseases including coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease.
For the study, the researchers asked half of the recruited 200 women, who had survived breast cancer, to attend 90-minute yoga classes twice a week. The other half was the control group.
After three months, the experts found that women who attended yoga sessions were 57 percent less tired than the second group. And those who attended yoga classes, plus practiced the postures at home experienced enhanced energy levels.
The blood tests of participants belonging to the first group displayed reduced amounts of compounds linked to the inflammation. Their inflammation was lowered by up to 20 percent.
"This showed that modest yoga practice over a period of several months could have substantial benefits for breast cancer survivors," Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology at The Ohio State University and lead author of the study, said in a press release.
Kiecolt-Glaser, an investigator in Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, said that yoga therapy can not only help cancer survivors but also prove beneficial for healthy people who experience too much fatigue.
Talking about their focus just on breast cancer, Kiecolt-Glaser said, "One of the problems they face is a real reduction in cardiorespiratory fitness. The treatment is so debilitating and they are so tired, and the less you do physically, the less you're able to do. It's a downward spiral,". "That's one reason we think there are higher levels of inflammation in cancer survivors, meaning that an intervention that reduces inflammation could potentially be very beneficial."
The finding has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
