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Yoga improved sleep, fatigue, quality of life
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2010 ASCO Annual Meeting
Survivors of cancer who participated in the Yoga for Cancer Survivors program reported improved sleep, better quality of life and less fatigue compared with survivors who underwent standard care monitoring.
The Yoga for Cancer Survivors (YOCAS) program consists of breathing exercises, 18 gentle Hatha and restorative yoga postures and meditation. After four weeks of twice-weekly sessions, patients reported greater improvement in sleep quality (22% vs. 12%), reduced incidence of clinically impaired sleep (31% vs. 16%) and less daytime sleepiness (29 % vs. 5%) compared with those who did not participate in the sessions.
“The standardized YOCAS yoga program was found to be effective for improving sleep quality, fatigue, quality of life and daytime sleepiness, all while reducing sleep medication use,” said Karen Mustian, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of radiation oncology and community and preventive medicine and at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She discussed the findings last week during a press conference in advance of the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting.
Researchers recruited 410 survivors of non-metastatic disease who reported suffering from moderate or severe sleep disruption two to 24 months after completing adjuvant therapy and who had not practiced yoga for at least three months. Survivors were randomly assigned to standard care monitoring plus yoga (n=206) or standard care monitoring alone (n=204). Almost all participants were women (96%) and 75% were survivors of breast cancer.
Mustian said compared with the control group, the yoga group experienced greater improvements in sleep quality (change score = 1.96 vs. 1.07), fatigue (change score = 7.82 vs. 2.34) and quality of life (change score = 6.61 vs. 1.58).
Additionally, the yoga group decreased use of sleep medications by 21%, whereas the control group’s use of sleep aids increased by 5%. Researchers also observed a 42% reduction in fatigue, whereas the control group reported only 12% less fatigue after four weeks.
“We can state that it is possible that gentle Hatha yoga classes and restorative yoga classes might be useful for cancer survivors for helping reduce these side effects, which create impairment in quality of life,” Mustian said. “What we can’t say at this time is whether other forms of yoga, such as heated yoga or more rigorous forms that do not include gentle Hatha or restorative postures, would be successful at mitigating these side effects or be safe for cancer survivors.” – by Jason Harris
This is a readily applicable approach that improves quality of life and reduces medicine intake in cancer survivors. This is a real positive. Secondly, this is a creative application of scientific technique to complementary and alternative medicine approaches. Physicians often have trouble discussing these approaches with patients; this study applies real science to the issue. Finally, this study emphasizes the increasing importance of ameliorating complications of therapy in long-term cancer survivors. There are literally millions of patients in the United States for whom this approach might be applicable.
– George W. Sledge Jr., MD
Ballve-Lantero
Professor of Oncology, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,
Indiana University School of Medicine
For more information:
Mustain M. #9013. YOCAS yoga significantly improves sleep, fatigue and quality of life: A URCC CCOP randomized, controlled clinical trial among 410 cancer survivors. Presented at: the 2010 ASCO Annual Meeting; June 4-8, 2010; Chicago.
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