Practicing yoga has many positive effects on our health. Now, a new study carried out by the Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas (USA) adds a new one: an improvement in the quality of life of women who have breast cancer. One of the most common side effects in women undergoing cancer treatment is feeling fatigued from radiation therapy .
To test the thesis of the positive impact of the practice of yoga, the team of researchers analyzed 191 women with breast cancer with different stages within the disease. All the women were randomly assigned into three groups: the first would practice yoga, the second some stretching, and the third no exercise. The women in the first two groups had to practice 1 hour of yoga, 3 times a week, for a period of 6 weeks.
During this period, the patients were asked about their sensation of quality of life, fatigue, depression and quality of sleep, at the same time that they underwent several electrocardiograms and saliva analyzes, to measure their levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.
The experiment found that the women who had actively participated in the yoga sessions (the first group) showed the sharpest drop in cortisol levels, thus suggesting that yoga acted as a rather than effective regulator of the hormone. of stress . In addition, the women experienced a reduction in fatigue and had a much better overall health . The women in the remaining groups did not notice any difference from their previous state, and their cortisol levels did not drop.
The study, whose results have been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, determines that the practice of a sport such as yoga, which combines the body and the mind, has enormous potential in order to combat the fatigue produced by radiotherapy through radiation therapy. stress hormone regulation, and improving overall quality of life before, during and after treatment .
