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Cancer survivors often feel fatigued because of the chemotherapy or radiation sessions that are required for their survival. They can also have great difficulty sleeping due to those same treatments. A new study shows that yoga can help these people sleep better, feel more energized and allow them to cut back on sleeping medications. There are not a lot of good treatments out there for fatigue but yoga seems to be helping these people with their energy levels.
In the past, sleep medication was prescribed to these cancer patients. Sleep medications aren't always effective and they can often have side-effects too. When you compare yoga to sleep medications, yoga can be very empowering because it tends to make you feel good while you are doing it. People who have just been through cancer treatment have already been exposed to a wide variety of medications and they may not want to take anymore drugs. The natural process of participating in yoga classes can be refreshing and improve your outlook on life.
There was a study that included 410 cancer survivors who had completed their treatment in the previous two years. These were people who had been suffering from sleep problems for at least two months. All these patients were women except for sixteen and 75% of them were breast cancer survivors. Half of the study patients attended 75-minute yoga sessions twice a week for a month. This was done in addition to the standard post-treatment care that everyone received.
The sessions were based on two forms of low-intensity yoga, one called Hatha yoga and the other one called restorative yoga. Both forms of yoga included breathing exercises, meditation and 18 different poses. This is a gentle form of yoga that is designed to be low-impact. At the beginning of the study, a little less than 85% of the participants in both the yoga and the control group were experiencing sleep problems. By the end of the study, 31% of the patients who had been doing the yoga were sleeping soundly, compared to just 16% of the control group. The people utilizing the yoga exercises were also using about 20% less sleep medication. At the same time, the people in the control group actually increased their intake of sleep drugs by 5%. In addition, the yoga participants had much lower levels of fatigue and daytime sleepiness, compared to the control group.
These findings are good news because the yoga that is appropriate for recovering cancer patients is widely accessible and affordable too. If you choose to participate in one (or both) of these programs, try to find an instructor who is certified by the Yoga Alliance. It would be helpful if the instructor was also experienced in working with patients who have health problems.
Although it is not entirely clear how yoga helps cancer patients, experts agree that it is likely to involve many different processes. For instance, the breathing exercises seem to help patients cope with anxiety, nausea and pain. In addition to that, there is also the component of the group support that goes along with attending these sessions. When patients are around other patients who are optimistically pursuing better health and wellness, those feelings wear off onto everyone else in the room. Whatever it is about yoga, it is a good idea to consider pursuing the benefits that it offers to cancer survivors.
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