Daily yoga reduces stress in breast cancer patients

For breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, yoga exercises can help regulate stress hormones and improve the overall quality of life.

While simple stretching exercises counteracted fatigue, patients who participated in yoga exercises experienced improved ability to engage in their daily activities, better general health and better regulation of cortisol (stress hormone), says a promising research.

The study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“Combining mind and body practises that are part of yoga clearly have tremendous potential to help patients manage the psychosocial and physical difficulties associated with treatment and life after cancer - beyond the benefits of simple stretching,” explained Lorenzo Cohen, professor at University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Centre. Women in the yoga group were also better equipped to find meaning in the illness experience, which declined over time for the women in the other two groups, added Cohen.

The study also assessed, for the first time, yoga benefits in cancer patients by comparing their experience with patients in an active control group who integrated simple, generic stretching exercises into their lives. To conduct the study, 191 women with breast cancer (stage 0-3) were randomised to one of three groups - yoga, simple stretching or no instruction in yoga or stretching. Participants in the yoga and stretching groups attended sessions specifically tailored to breast cancer patients for one-hour, three days a week throughout their six weeks of radiation treatment. Women who practiced yoga had the steepest decline in their cortisol levels across the day, indicating that yoga had the ability to help regulate this stress hormone.

“This is particularly important because higher stress hormone levels throughout the day, known as a blunted circadian cortisol rhythm, have been linked to worse outcomes in breast cancer,” claimed Cohen. Additionally, after completing radiation treatment, only the women in the yoga and stretching groups reported a reduction in fatigue. According to Cohen, research shows that developing a yoga practise also helps patients after completing cancer treatment. Teaching patients a mind-body technique like yoga as a coping skill can make the transition less difficult. People suffering from sleep apnea may face higher risk of pneumonia: A new study has revealed that people who have sleep apnea, may be at a higher risk of contracting pneumonia.

According to researchers from department of Chest Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, pneumonia was more likely to develop in the people with sleep apnea than the people without it.

The study, conducted on 34,100 patients, found that people with pneumonia were older and had more co-morbidities such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia and other diseases. According to the research, higher incidence of pneumonia in people with sleep apnea could be because of increased risk of aspirating contents or liquid from the throat. Dr Vincent Yi-Fong Su and Dr. Kun-Ta Chou said that the study showed that sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for incident pneumonia, and that there was an exposure-response relation in that patients with more severe sleep apnea, as they may be at a higher risk of pneumonia than patients with sleep apnea of milder severity. The study is published in Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ). Seaweed may help lose weight: A new study suggests that seaweed fibre may help in slimming in future, thereby preventing the body from absorbing extra fat.

Researchers at University of Newcastle’s Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences conducted tests on fat-busting seaweed called alginate, which is majorly found in the sea kelp.

The findings of the test suggest that alginate can suppress the digestion of fat in the gut. The researchers found that alginates containing more of a sugar molecule called guluronate were best at blocking fat digestion. Seaweeds are the best source of minerals. Not just this, it has high iodine, calcium, magnesium, iron value. The research has been published in the journal Food Chemistry.