Initial studies reveal improved attitude of patients toward their disease with yoga.
Can a routine of yoga help ease the side effects of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients? Possibly.
The U.S. government's National Cancer Institute (NCI) has decided to spend $2.4 million to find out. The NCI has given the money to the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to expand research it began in 2004 to determine if practicing a particular discipline called Tibetan yoga will help breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
According to a news release from the Anderson Center, its 2004 research, published in the journal Cancer found that practicing Tibetan yoga improved the sleep of lymphoma patients, and a smaller study revealed that breast cancer patients had a better attitude toward their disease if they practiced Tibetan yoga.
What is Tibetan yoga? "Like other types of yoga, Tibetan yoga involves breathing, physical movements and meditation, but it puts greater emphasis on meditation and visualization," the press release quotes Alejandro Chaoul, an expert in the discipline who will help conduct the study, as saying.
Lorenzo Cohen, the director of the Integrative Medicine Program at M. D. Anderson is the study's principal investigator. According to the news release, the study will involve comparing a Tibetan yoga routine with simple stretching or usual care in women who will be undergoing chemotherapy to treat their breast cancer.
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