Breast cancer? Yoga may help you

Yoga has been becoming more popular in various health and illness areas – breast cancer is no different.

According to a press release issued by Wiley-Blackwell,

Women undertaking a ten week program of 75 minute Restorative Yoga (RY) classes gained positive differences in aspects of mental health such as depression, positive emotions, and spirituality (feeling calm/peaceful) compared to the control group. The study, published today in a special issue of Psycho-Oncology focusing on physical activity, shows the women had a 50% reduction in depression and a 12% increase in feelings of peace and meaning after the yoga sessions.

The study looked 44 women with breast cancer, 34% of whom were undergoing active treatment. Again, according to the press release, "The study found that women who started with higher negative emotions and lower emotional well-being derived greater benefit from the gentle yoga intervention compared to the control group. Women in the gentle yoga group also demonstrated a significant within-group improvement in fatigue, while no such change was noted for the control group."

This is a good finding because yoga is easy to do and it can be done alone or in a group, which is helpful as it fits your personality and need to either be alone or with others.

To read more of the study, here is the press release: Yoga provides emotional benefits to women with breast cancer.

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Tags: cancer blog, yoga, breast cancer, breast cancer and yoga