Doctors should prescribe yoga to cancer patients to stop disease from spreading: Study
International Day of Yoga 2024:
Walking for 30 minutes a day and practising yoga can help cancer survivors improve their odds of survival as well as lower the risk of it spreading elsewhere, a new research study has shown.
The research conducted by the University of Rochester Medical Centre involved more than 500 cancer patients with an average age of 56 from across the US. They all had received treatment for the disease between two months and five years earlier.
During the study, the patients were asked to take up yoga or attend health education classes for a month. The two groups were also asked to take part in 75-minute sessions twice a week for four weeks.
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After the study duration was complete, the subjects underwent a series of blood tests. The results showed that those who took up yoga had “significantly lower levels of pro-inflammatory markers” compared to the other group.
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“Our data suggest that yoga significantly reduces inflammation among cancer survivors,” wrote one of the study authors in a report published at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting - the world’s largest cancer conference.
“Clinicians should consider prescribing yoga for survivors experiencing inflammation, which may lead to a high chronic toxicity burden and increased risk of progression, recurrence, and second cancers," they added.
Prescribe yoga to patients
Meanwhile, Karen Mustian, the lead researcher said she was advising doctors to recommend yoga to their cancer patients as an option.
"In the last 20 years, we've moved beyond asking the question, should we be encouraging things like traditional exercise yoga, tai chi for patients? The answer is yes," said Mustian.
Another study. also led by the University of Rochester Medical Centre, researchers found that home-based exercise prescriptions can improve outcomes in cancer patients. This time around, 100 and 73 patients aged 60 or older were enrolled in the trial and split into two - the yoga and health education class groups.
The result showed that yoga helped relieve fatigue and maintain quality of life. The researchers, based on the findings concluded that yoga was a game-changer and doctors needed to get over their preconceived notions about the ancient Indian practice.
Although yet to be peer-reviewed, the study demonstrated the advice of "taking it easy", if a person was sick was not as effective as previously thought.
(With inputs from agencies)
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