Special yoga classes for breast cancer survivors boost recovery

Aug 18, 2010 |

Washington

A research has found that the new specialised Iyengar yoga program for breast cancer survivors and those undergoing breast cancer treatment affects the recovery positively.

For two years groups of study participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their physical and mental health at the beginning of a 10-week session of Iyengar yoga and again at the end.

After analysing the data that was collected, Amy Speed-Andrews of University of Alberta found that after the yoga 94 per cent said they had improvements in their quality of life; 88 per cent felt better physically; 87 per cent reported being happier and 80 per cent were less tired.

Other improvements were reported in body image and in decreased levels of stress, anxiety and depression. This is significant, considering breast cancer treatments often leave women in pain, immobilised, tired and depressed. The findings were published in the journal Cancer Nursing.

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