yoga practice helps during treatment for breast cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have shown that breast cancer patients who participate in a yoga program during treatment have improved quality of life, compared to patients who do not.

The study, by Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at M. D. Anderson, is one of the first to incorporate
yoga as part of a treatment plan for people suffering from cancer. It's also the first collaborative research effort between M. D. Anderson and India's yoga research institution, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (research foundation) in Bangalore, India.

The yoga program was designed for the patient - emphasizing breathing and Relaxation , and excluding some positions, for example, that would be difficult, given the patients' possible weakened range of motion.

After just one week of yoga and radiation, the patients reported significantly increased physical function, as well as general health, compared to the control group. The study participants also reported marginally better social functioning, significantly lower levels of sleep-related daytime dysfunction, as well as marginally lower levels of fatigue overall.