Gentle yoga sessions could improve cancer survival rates

Gentle yoga sessions could reduce the spread of tumours in cancer patients and may improve survival odds, scientists believe.

Two 75-minute long sessions of steady Hatha yoga was shown to reduce signs of inflammation in a study of more than 600 cancer patients.

Hatha yoga combines gentle postures with deep breathing exercises.Credit: iStock

Inflammatory chemical signals are known to be linked to tumour growth and reducing them is a key component of cancer treatment.

Scientists from the University of Rochester in the United States now want clinicians to consider prescribing yoga for patients experiencing inflammation as it “may lead to a high chronic toxicity burden and increased risk of progression, recurrence, and second cancers”.

Few studies have looked at the effectiveness of yoga and meditation on improving a cancer patient’s prognosis but several projects now show promising data.

Scientists are finding that lifestyle factors such as physical activity can help reduce the inflammatory chemicals and work in tandem with pharmacological interventions.

“The basic take home story is that inflammatory chemicals were lowered by yoga,” said Prof Karen Mustian, lead author of two yoga studies from the University of Rochester which were presented at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago this week.

“This shows that if you choose to do yoga you are going to lower inflammation. These were not advanced patients so we are probably going to have to wait five or 10 years to see survivorship data. It is something I really want to do.”

Prof Mustian’s study involved an accessible and gentle form of Hatha yoga – not the more strenuous Bikram, Vinyasa, Ashtanga or “hot” yoga – which was modified for each patient.

The team found biological signs in their phase three randomised clinical trial that yoga was linked to a becalming of the immune system and the individuals had fewer harmful chemicals in their blood produced by a haywire immune system.

A separate study from almost 3,000 Brazilian cancer patients found that over-60s who are active (at least one 30-minute walk five days per week) are a fifth less likely to die in six months than their sedentary peers.

Elderly cancer patients were followed for six months each and a quarter of those who did not exercise died during the study period. In contrast, only ten per cent of active patients died. Data show therefore that those who were active were 18 per cent less likely to die. Dr Jurema Telles de Oliveira Lima, from the Instituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando Figueira in Brazil, who led the study, said just three weeks of exercise “could be enough to change the risk of cancer”.

Change in mindset

Prof Mustian says in the last 20 years there has been a change in mindset among scientists in regard to how non-clinical interventions such as exercise are viewed. She said that at the turn of the century there was a tendency to think cancer patients should take it easy and there was cynicism towards recommending yoga and exercise. However, she believes oncologists have “bought into it” over the last two decades as more data supports physical activity and its beneficial role in cancer treatments.

Dr Melissa Hudson, a leading expert in cancer survival from St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis said: “I think a message that oncologists need to be telling their patients is that it is important they are as active as they can withstand, based on current symptoms.” Dr Paul Mulholland, a consultant medical oncologist and brain tumour expert at UCL Hospitals said he would “100 per cent recommend” yoga and meditation to his patients. “If they don’t want to do yoga then they can do Tai-Chi or something similar because it is actually very good for patients,” he told reporters in Chicago.

The Telegraph, London