Yoga May Help the Side Effects of Cancer Treatment
Researchers have put yoga exercises to the scientific test for years, and the results so far have been impressive. The practice has been demonstrated to lower risk for cardiovascular system disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, depression and high blood pressure levels.
But yoga can also help those who are already ill feel a lot better. A new study suggests that doing yoga twice a week may improve quality of life for men being treated for prostate cancers and may help reduce the side associated with radiation, which includes sexual dysfunction and urinary incontinence.
The analysis, published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics, followed 50 men with prostate cancer as they underwent six to nine weeks of the radiation therapy.
those men reported who took yoga exercises,less fatigue and an improved capability to go about their normal lives, compared to the group that did not do yoga.
Another common side effect among men undergoing radiation and androgen deprivation therapy is sexual dysfunction, which influences up to 85% of men during treatment.
Results for the men who took yoga stayed, while the quite a few the non-yoga group declined even further. The men who had taken yoga also had increased or stable urinary function over the course of the study, while urinary function declined in those who didn't.
Dr. Sachin says that yoga has been demonstrated to improve pelvic floor muscles, which might describe why sexual and urinary function were mainly preserved in the yoga exercise group. Yoga, like various other exercise, can also increase blood flow throughout the body--an important element of muscular and erectile health.
Physical and emotional well being scores increased as patients in both groups advanced through their treatments, but those in the yoga exercises group had more quick improvements.
The study would not include people who had health conditions restricting their ability to do yoga exercise, or whose cancer experienced spread beyond the prostatic. It also didn't compare the effects of yoga exercises to other types of exercise, a direction the authors say future research could take.
The classes in the study adopted the Eischens style of yoga, which focuses on the energy of positions rather than the difficulty, the authors wrote in their paper. The technique uses props and modifications for difficult poses, that makes yoga exercises more accessible to newbies of all body types. Each class incorporated sitting down, standing and reclining positions, and started out with five minutes of breathing and centering techniques.
Longer studies are needed to better understand the how yoga protects against the side associated with the radiation, Dr.Sachin says recommends the practice to her prostate cancer patients.
But yoga can also help those who are already ill feel a lot better. A new study suggests that doing yoga twice a week may improve quality of life for men being treated for prostate cancers and may help reduce the side associated with radiation, which includes sexual dysfunction and urinary incontinence.
The analysis, published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics, followed 50 men with prostate cancer as they underwent six to nine weeks of the radiation therapy.
those men reported who took yoga exercises,less fatigue and an improved capability to go about their normal lives, compared to the group that did not do yoga.
Another common side effect among men undergoing radiation and androgen deprivation therapy is sexual dysfunction, which influences up to 85% of men during treatment.
Results for the men who took yoga stayed, while the quite a few the non-yoga group declined even further. The men who had taken yoga also had increased or stable urinary function over the course of the study, while urinary function declined in those who didn't.
Dr. Sachin says that yoga has been demonstrated to improve pelvic floor muscles, which might describe why sexual and urinary function were mainly preserved in the yoga exercise group. Yoga, like various other exercise, can also increase blood flow throughout the body--an important element of muscular and erectile health.
Physical and emotional well being scores increased as patients in both groups advanced through their treatments, but those in the yoga exercises group had more quick improvements.
The study would not include people who had health conditions restricting their ability to do yoga exercise, or whose cancer experienced spread beyond the prostatic. It also didn't compare the effects of yoga exercises to other types of exercise, a direction the authors say future research could take.
The classes in the study adopted the Eischens style of yoga, which focuses on the energy of positions rather than the difficulty, the authors wrote in their paper. The technique uses props and modifications for difficult poses, that makes yoga exercises more accessible to newbies of all body types. Each class incorporated sitting down, standing and reclining positions, and started out with five minutes of breathing and centering techniques.
Longer studies are needed to better understand the how yoga protects against the side associated with the radiation, Dr.Sachin says recommends the practice to her prostate cancer patients.
