A groundbreaking clinical trial has revealed that yoga can significantly reduce emotional distress, anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia in people living with cancer. This is the first study of its kind to demonstrate these benefits through a structured program.
Study Details
Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center recruited 410 cancer survivors in the United States who had not practiced yoga in the previous three months and whose cancer had not spread. The average age of participants was 54, and three-quarters had been diagnosed with breast cancer, the most common cancer worldwide.
Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: 204 received standard survivorship care, while 206 received standard care plus the Yoga for Cancer Survivors (YOCAS) program. This four-week program included two 75-minute instructor-led yoga classes per week and at least 30 minutes of home practice. The gentle hatha and restorative yoga focused on slow movements, still postures with props, and integrated breathing and mindfulness techniques.
Key Findings
Compared to the standard care group, yoga participants experienced meaningful reductions in overall mood disturbance, anxiety, and fatigue. The effects ranged from small-to-medium for anxiety to moderate-to-large for mood disturbance and fatigue. Insomnia also improved significantly.
Lead author Yuri Choi stated, “There is no single gold standard behavioral treatment available for survivors to treat these four side effects. This trial helps fill that gap by showing that YOCAS improves all of them.”
Dr. Fumiko Chino, a cancer researcher at MD Anderson Cancer Center, commented: “This large, randomized study shows that structured yoga may help relieve some of the most consistently reported and hard-to-treat issues in cancer survivorship. It offers a non-pharmaceutical solution for reducing multiple side effects at once.”
The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute and presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.
