Cancer patients ‘should be prescribed YOGA to stop disease spreading’
Doctors should prescribe yoga to cancer patients to prevent it from spreading or coming back, new research suggests.
Two sessions a week were found to “significantly reduce inflammation,” which is known to drive cancer growth.
The “gentle” form of the exercise may also help reduce cancer severity and reduce the risk of it spreading elsewhere, the study suggests.
Experts said there has been a gradual shift in attitude, with doctors now preferring to stay active over rest to aid recovery.
A separate study presented at the world’s largest cancer conference found that cancer patients who remained active into old age reduced their risk of dying by nearly 18 percent.
Doctors should prescribe yoga to cancer patients to prevent it from spreading or coming back, new research suggests
Those who walked just 30 minutes a day or continued with basic tasks like carrying shopping bags or digging the yard gave themselves the best chance of survival, it suggests.
Both studies add to growing evidence of the role exercise can play in helping cancer patients, experts say.
Exercise is known to have anti-inflammatory effects, so researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, New York, wanted to see if yoga might be beneficial for cancer survivors.
Karen Mustian, the project’s principal investigator, has spent the past two decades studying its impact on treatment toxicity and side effects in cancer patients, “when there were no yoga studios on the corners of every city.” In this study of 502 cancer survivors, about half participated in 75-minute sessions twice a week for four weeks.
Blood tests were taken at the beginning and end of the month to assess levels of inflammation, which showed they had significantly lower markers of stress.
“The basic take-home story is that inflammatory chemicals were lowered by the yoga,” she said.
“In the past 20 years, we’ve moved beyond asking the question: should we encourage things like traditional practice yoga, tai chi for patients? The answer is yes.
‘The question now is what exactly should we do? I think coming from the health and fitness industry you think it should become a lifestyle, but from a medical perspective you want to know what the least amount of exercise is that is effective.”
The body’s inflammatory response is essential for telling the immune system to send white blood cells and chemicals to fight infection or repair an injury.
But long-term inflammation can damage the body’s healthy cells and tissues and weaken the immune system.
The findings, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, suggest that just eight yoga sessions may be enough to make a real difference.
They conclude: ‘Our data suggest that yoga significantly reduces inflammation in cancer survivors.
“Clinicians should consider prescribing yoga for survivors experiencing inflammation, which can lead to a high chronic toxicity burden and an increased risk of progression, recurrence and second cancers.”
According to NHS guidelines, 85 per cent of cancer patients should be seen within this time frame, but this figure has not been met since December 2015″ class=”blkBorder img-share” style=”max-width:100%” />
The latest NHS data on cancer waiting times showed that the 62-day backlog in cancer has fallen for the first time since before the pandemic. However, almost 6,000 patients did not start treatment within two months after an urgent referral from their GP. It means that a total of only 63 percent of cancer patients were seen within the two-month deadline. According to NHS guidelines, 85 per cent of cancer patients should be seen within this time frame, but this figure has not been met since December 2015
Meanwhile, a separate study of 2,692 Brazilian cancer patients over the age of 60 found that the risk of death was higher in those with a sedentary lifestyle.
The study, which included people with prostate, breast, colon and lung cancer – the most common types – found that inactive people were 28 percent more likely to die within six months of their diagnosis.
Patients were ranked according to their activity level, with ‘active’ classified as at least one 30-minute walk five days a week.
After 180 days, 90 percent of people in the active group were still alive, compared to 74 percent in the sedentary group.
Dr. Jurema Telles de Oliveira Lima, of Brazil’s Instituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando Figueira, who led the study, said exercise slows down harmful aging processes, including cell breakdown and DNA mutations.
She said: ‘Lifestyle accounts for 30 or 40 percent of cancer cases today.
‘So we would have less cancer if we had a different lifestyle and our study shows that we would probably have lower mortality as well.
“Sometimes we can’t control having cancer, but we can control how the body responds and how we respond to treatment.”
Melissa Hudson, a leading cancer survival expert from St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn., said both show it’s vital for patients to stay active during treatment.
Tai chi or yoga, she suggested, were an easy way to “integrate back into physical activity if you’re very intimidated by it.”
She said: ‘I think more and more people are aware that we need to get these messages earlier – that they can be active and tolerate physical activity.
“I think it’s a message that oncologists need to tell their patients that it’s important for you to be as active as possible, based on your current symptoms.”