Leading cancer specialist Dr Lorenzo Cohen ran a clinical trial that was published this month, which revealed that women who did yoga after recovering from breast cancer had a much better quality of life.
So how did downward dog leave them feeling?
Amazingly, they had lower stress levels and had lower levels of fatigue.
Dr Cohen - who is the professor and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Texas - is interested in finding out how lifestyle affects cancer and recovery from the disease. In particular, he specialises in large-scale studies that looks at the effects of practices such as yoga, meditation, tai chi and qi-gong.
He will be presenting his findings at the Yoga and Health: Research and Practice conference in early April, but we wanted to find out more about this groundbreaking study which involved 160 women.
What was the aim of the study?
That clinical trial was specifically to look at the benefits of incorporating yoga into a radiation treatment plan for women. We had done a previous study using same model comparing yoga to standard care, but in this study what was important and unique in comparison to oncology studies was that in addition, we also included a stretching control group.
The stretching and yoga participants - who were receiving radiotherapy treatment - did it three days a week for one hour. We collected data before the radiotherapy and 6 months later.
What did you find?
We had found that the yoga group had improvements in physical function, lower levels of fatigue, better general health perception and better regulation of stress hormone cortisol. The effects were lasting as far as six months after the end of radiotherapy.
Why the difference between the yoga and the stretching group?
So what’s interesting about yoga is that it incorporates physical movements and postures - asanas - that regulate breathing as well as aspects of relaxation and meditation. Most importantly, one of the goals is to synchronise the body, breath and mind – the origins of the practice is union.
With standard exercise there wasn’t an incorporation of breath and the mind. It was more mechanical stretching to help stretch muscles post-surgery. So what is interesting here are the roots of yoga clearly lead to beneficial effects. But it needs to be studied further and the phase three clinical trial will involve 600 patients using a similar model, where group will be more active.
Obviously yoga won’t cure cancer, but how does it improve a person’s quality of life?
We know that for example the regulation of cortisol is found to be predictive of breast cancer patients with stage 4 disease.
I’ve found in research in kidney cancer patients with stage 4, where cortisol was present in the cells.
People with less cortisol regulation don’t live as long. Chronic stress can lead to biological changes in the body impacting the immune system as well as having direct impact on the tumour micro environment, These could lead to worse survival, so programs that help patients to manage stress may be very useful.
With that said, there hasn’t been specific research to document how stress impacts the mind and body's survival but studies show mind body practice can help survival.
So stress is a killer?
We know chronic stress has a profound impact on quality of life. Now we have research that shows the immune system and the direct impact on cancer-related pathways.
Studying stress in humans is different because of the challenges around the definition of what stress is. But animal research around stress and vulnerability and in part, progression of disease, is documenting clearly that stress can get in, making it more hospitable to cancer growth.
To find out more about the Yoga and Health: Research and Practice conference, which takes place on 4,5 and 6 April, click here. It is run by The Minded Institute.
So how did downward dog leave them feeling?
Amazingly, they had lower stress levels and had lower levels of fatigue.
Dr Cohen - who is the professor and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the University of Texas - is interested in finding out how lifestyle affects cancer and recovery from the disease. In particular, he specialises in large-scale studies that looks at the effects of practices such as yoga, meditation, tai chi and qi-gong.
SEE ALSO:
Women Who Exercise Cut Their Risk Of Breast Cancer By 12%
Would You Take A No Make-Up Selfie For Cancer Awareness?
He will be presenting his findings at the Yoga and Health: Research and Practice conference in early April, but we wanted to find out more about this groundbreaking study which involved 160 women.
What was the aim of the study?
That clinical trial was specifically to look at the benefits of incorporating yoga into a radiation treatment plan for women. We had done a previous study using same model comparing yoga to standard care, but in this study what was important and unique in comparison to oncology studies was that in addition, we also included a stretching control group.
The stretching and yoga participants - who were receiving radiotherapy treatment - did it three days a week for one hour. We collected data before the radiotherapy and 6 months later.
Story continues below the slideshow:
What did you find?
We had found that the yoga group had improvements in physical function, lower levels of fatigue, better general health perception and better regulation of stress hormone cortisol. The effects were lasting as far as six months after the end of radiotherapy.
Why the difference between the yoga and the stretching group?
So what’s interesting about yoga is that it incorporates physical movements and postures - asanas - that regulate breathing as well as aspects of relaxation and meditation. Most importantly, one of the goals is to synchronise the body, breath and mind – the origins of the practice is union.
With standard exercise there wasn’t an incorporation of breath and the mind. It was more mechanical stretching to help stretch muscles post-surgery. So what is interesting here are the roots of yoga clearly lead to beneficial effects. But it needs to be studied further and the phase three clinical trial will involve 600 patients using a similar model, where group will be more active.
Obviously yoga won’t cure cancer, but how does it improve a person’s quality of life?
We know that for example the regulation of cortisol is found to be predictive of breast cancer patients with stage 4 disease.
I’ve found in research in kidney cancer patients with stage 4, where cortisol was present in the cells.
People with less cortisol regulation don’t live as long. Chronic stress can lead to biological changes in the body impacting the immune system as well as having direct impact on the tumour micro environment, These could lead to worse survival, so programs that help patients to manage stress may be very useful.
With that said, there hasn’t been specific research to document how stress impacts the mind and body's survival but studies show mind body practice can help survival.
So stress is a killer?
We know chronic stress has a profound impact on quality of life. Now we have research that shows the immune system and the direct impact on cancer-related pathways.
Studying stress in humans is different because of the challenges around the definition of what stress is. But animal research around stress and vulnerability and in part, progression of disease, is documenting clearly that stress can get in, making it more hospitable to cancer growth.
To find out more about the Yoga and Health: Research and Practice conference, which takes place on 4,5 and 6 April, click here. It is run by The Minded Institute.