June 7, 2023 – New studies suggest that walking and yoga combat fatigue in cancer patients and reduce the chance of spread, return or death. The guard reports.
The newspaper reported that three studies presented on the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world's largest cancer conference, “support the growing evidence that physical activity can help patients, not harm them.”
In the primary study, the University of Rochester Medical Center followed greater than 500 patients across the country, whose average age was 56. They had been treated for cancer between two months and five years previously and were then randomly assigned to either do yoga or attend health education classes.
Those who practiced yoga were found to have significantly lower levels of pro-inflammatory markers. Inflammation promotes the expansion and spread of tumors within the body.
“Our data suggest that yoga significantly reduces inflammation in cancer survivors,” the study authors said. “Physicians should consider prescribing yoga to survivors suffering from inflammation, which can lead to high chronic toxicity burden and increased risk of progression, relapse, and second cancer.”
In one other study, researchers from Rochester examined the consequences of yoga on fatigue and quality of life. Participants were divided into two groups, one which took part in yoga and the opposite that took part in training. The study found that yoga improved each fatigue and quality of life.
“A third study found that active cancer patients can reduce their risk of death by almost a fifth,” The guard wrote. The study involved 2,600 cancer patients in Brazil over a six-year period, a few of whom were considered “active” because they walked for half-hour five times every week.
People with a sedentary lifestyle are at the next risk of death than individuals with an energetic lifestyle.
“After 180 days, 90% of people in the active group were still alive, compared to 74% in the sedentary group,” The guard wrote.