Originally published August 6 2005
Yoga benefits women suffering from breast cancer
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Yoga has been added to the list of breast cancer treatments, since some say it can help breast cancer patients by increasing their energy flow.
Breast cancer patients are familiar with the three options in cancer treatment: radiation, chemotherapy and surgery.
Yoga as a form of complementary alternative medicine has been used in conjunction with traditional Western medicine for years.
This spring's announcement of a recent partnership between American and Indian doctors may provide the answers for just how yoga --- and its emphasis on meditation, connection to the universe and spirituality --- may benefit women undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
Cohen's formal Western medical training was in medical psychology, in which he studied the negative psychological and physiological effects of stress on the body.
"In trying to ameliorate stress in people's lives, we want to turn to all kinds of treatment modalities," said Cohen.
Though these modalities include techniques like traditional psychotherapy, he said, they also include "looking to the East, to the techniques that have been used to balance people's lives."
In the current study, Cohen and his team will monitor 80 breast cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer.
Two groups --- one practicing hatha, an Indian form of yoga, and the other having interventions in the form of social support and relaxation techniques --- will be monitored for immune system measures, including stress hormones, and measures of sleep quality.
Cohen published a study last year in the journal Cancer that looked at how Tibetan yoga affected the ability of lymphoma patients to cope with the secondary effects of treatment, including fatigue.
Dr. Julie Bower, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles' Jonsson Cancer Center, has been recruiting breast cancer patients who've been in remission for more than a year to study the long-lasting effects of fatigue from cancer treatment.
Bower's groups practice a type of Indian yoga known as iyengar --- different than what Cohen's group will practice but another form of exercise important in combating cancer-related fatigue.
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