Mar 4, 2014 10:43am

Yoga can help ease pain, fatigue and depression in women battling breast cancer, a new study found. (Image credit:Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images)

By Danielle Krol, M.D. (@dailydosemd)

Yoga can help ease pain, fatigue and depression among women battling breast cancer, a new study found. It might even help them survive.

The study of 191 breast cancer patients linked yoga to improvements in self-reported quality of life, including measures of mood, pain and fatigue. Practicing yoga also appeared to help regulate the stress hormone cortisol, which is tied to poor survival among breast cancer patients.

The benefits of yoga are above and beyond stretching, said Lorenzo Cohen, a professor of oncology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and lead author of the study published Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. These findings may improve outcomes in cancer survivors.

To conduct the study, Cohen and his team randomly assigned 191 women with breast cancer who were undergoing radiation therapy into one of three groups. One group did yoga, another did simple stretching exercises, and a third group did neither. The participants in the yoga and stretching groups attended sessions for one hour, three days a week throughout the six weeks of their radiation therapy.

Throughout the study, Cohens team asked patients a series of questions assessing their quality of life, fatigue level and sleep quality, and tested their cortisol levels. By comparing the groups, they found yoga significantly reduced fatigue, raised physical function and health perception scores and reduced cortisol levels.

Dr. Barrie Cassileth, chief of the integrative medicine service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said the new findings lend additional weight to the science behind mind-body approaches to cancer treatment.

Yoga is a very important intervention, and this was a high quality investigation, said Cassileth, who was not involved with the study. This study looked beyond the physical benefits of yoga by looking at the physiologic measure of stress: cortisol.

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How Yoga Can Help Women with Breast Cancer

Have you ever said, I have a bad back?

Has back pain ever interfered with your life? Welcome to the vast majority of the adult population.

Now heres the big question: Is back discomfort such a common occurrence that youve simply resigned yourself to living with it?

In a British study dating from 1984, 2,700 people between the ages of 30 and 60 practiced yoga for two hours a week for a minimum of one year.

Various conditions were studied, ranging from anxiety to migraines.

Of the 2,700 participants, 1,142 reported back disorders of some kind. Of those, 98 per cent experienced an improvement in their condition. (Source: Yoga as Medicine, by Timothy McCall, M.D.)

If your doctor were to recommend a drug that had a 98 per cent success rate in helping your back pain, Im guessing youd be willing to try it.

Perhaps you havent tried yoga for your back pain because you have a perception that yoga is only for young, strong, athletic people with lots of flexibility (its not).

Or maybe youre hesitant because you think it might interfere with your religious beliefs. (Although yoga does have a spiritual aspect, its practiced by people of all faiths.)

The right kind of yoga can be a profound addition to whatever youre already doing to care for your back. Look for a Yoga for Backs class, or sign up for some private classes with a yoga therapist.

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Yoga is good for your back

Stretching helped lessen fatigue, meditation made patients feel healthy 191 women with breast cancer assessed at the University of Texas Has sparked further research into exact moves in yoga that help

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 19:40 EST, 3 March 2014 | UPDATED: 19:40 EST, 3 March 2014

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Revelation: Women with breast cancer said they felt healthier after stretching and meditating

Yoga may improve the lives of breast cancer patients, a study has found.

Researchers say practising it can control stress and improve the wellbeing of women having radiation treatment.

Simple stretching exercises were able to lessen fatigue, the study showed.

Original post:
Yoga 'helps beat stress of cancer': Exercises control stress and improve wellbeing of women having radiation treatment

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

3-Mar-2014

Contact: William Fitzgerald wbfitzgerald@mdanderson.org 713-792-9518 University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

HOUSTON For women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy, yoga offers unique benefits beyond fighting fatigue, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

The preliminary findings were first reported in 2011 by Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., professor and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson, and are now published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. This research is part of an ongoing effort to scientifically validate mind-body interventions in cancer patients and was conducted in collaboration with India's largest yoga research institution, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana in Bangalore, India.

Researchers found that while simple stretching exercises counteracted fatigue, patients who participated in yoga exercises that incorporated controlled breathing, meditation and relaxation techniques into their treatment plan experienced improved ability to engage in their daily activities, better general health and better regulation of cortisol (stress hormone). 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.

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.

"Combining mind and body practices 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," said Cohen.

To conduct the study, 191 women with breast cancer (stage 0-3) were randomized to one of three groups: 1) yoga; 2) simple stretching; or 3) 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.

Participants were asked to report on their quality of life, including levels of fatigue and depression, their daily functioning and a measure assessing ability to find meaning in the illness experience. Saliva samples were collected and electrocardiogram tests were administered at baseline, end of treatment, and at one, three and six months post-treatment.

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Yoga regulates stress hormones and improves quality of life for women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy

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Radiation therapy is one of the main treatments for cancer, and one of the most common side effects of the treatment is fatigue. But new research from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center suggests that for breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, yoga may combat this side effect by regulating stress hormones, improving quality of life beyond treatment.

The research team, led by Prof. Lorenzo Cohen, recently published the study findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Yoga is an ancient exercise that originated in India around 5,000 years ago. The activity combines physical postures, breathing exercises, relaxation techniques and meditation, and it has been associated with other health benefits.

Last year, Medical News Today reported on a study suggesting that yoga can help lower blood pressure, while a 2012 study suggested that the exercise may help prevent adolescent mental problems.

To assess whether yoga could provide health benefits for breast cancer patients, the researchers analyzed 191 women with stages 0-3 of the disease.

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Yoga 'improves quality of life' for breast cancer patients

DeKALB Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of DeKalb will host Gary Kowalski, author of Science and the Search for God, at 7 p.m. Friday, March 7. A graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Divinity School, Kowalski is the author of seven books on spirituality, nature, history and science, including The Souls of Animals, The Bible According To Noah, and Revolutionary Spirits: The Enlightened Faith of Americas Founding Fathers.His work has been published in seven languages, voted a Readers Favorite by the Quality Paperback Book Club, and appeared in periodicals like Tikkun and Yoga Journal.

An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, Kowalski is the interim pastor at the Community Church of Chapel Hill in North Carolina.

How do people of faith grapple with findings of science, and how do we explore differing ideas about the divine? UUFD pastor Rev. Linda Slabon asked.Many of us in the faith community ask questions about the cosmos, evolutionary consciousness, and our relationship to our earth and her creatures.

Kowalskis talk is free and open to the public. The doors at the church, 158 N. Fourth St. in DeKalb, will open at 6:15 p.m. for a reception and book signing. The topic of Kowalskis talk will be Celebrating Our Kinship With All Creation.In this talk, Kowalski will share the journey that led him to appreciate nature as a sacrament and to rediscover the ancient knowledge that other species are not so different from ourselves. He suggests that a new respect for the creatures who share the Earth with humans is essential to healing the planets environmental crisis and is key to our own inner peace.

Kowalski will preach the sermon At Home in the Cosmos at the 10 a.m. service at the UUFD on Sunday, March 9. Last fall, Voyager One became the first human artifact to leave our solar system and travel into interstellar space. As modern science explores the question are we alone?, Kowalski suggests the groundwork is being laid for a new spirituality.

We invite members of the the community to bring books for signing and come with your questions, your curiosity, and with your fervent heart, Slabon said.

Read more here:
Science, God and being human in the universe

His animal-and-earth friendly philosophy has made cartoonist Patrick McDonnell a favorite with comic strip readers. Beginning next week, his popular Mutts comic will appear daily.

The strip explores the special bond between animals and their guardians, and the endearing friendship of Earl, the dog, and Mooch, the cat.

Its just cute the way the dog and cat interact, says Jan Davidson of Tipp City, who voted for Mutts in our recent readers poll, and says she finds the strip very funny.

Animals contribute to our happiness and our well-being, McDonnell says. In my strip, I try to capture those small moments of happiness that celebrate the human/animal bond. All animals are intelligent and have awareness and feelings. They are fellow beings and deserve to share this beautiful planet with us in peace. I try to see the world through their eyes, and give them a voice, while still keeping Mutts fun and entertaining.

He seems to be succeeding : Mutts is now is tickling readers fancies in more than 700 newspapers and is read in 20 countries. McDonnell has won the National Cartoonists Societys highest honor, The Reuben, for Cartoonist of the Year and five Harvey Awards for Best Comic Strip.

On an international level, it has won Germanys Max and Moritz Award for Best International Comic Strip and the Swedish Academy of Comic Arts Adamson Statuette.

Mutts has also won awards for its environmental and animal advocacy: two Genesis Awards from The Ark Trust, The HSUS Hollywood Genesis Award for Ongoing Commitment, the PETA Humanitarian Award, and a Sierra Club award.

A book author as well

McDonnell has published a number of books: In Shelter Stories: Love, McDonnells animal shelterthemed strips are accompanied by real-life pet adoption stories submitted by readers worldwide. In 2009, he collaborated with The Power of Now author Eckhart Tolle to create Guardians of Being.

The Mutts cartoons have been published in 22 compilation books in the United States and in numerous collections throughout the world. In 2003, fine art publisher Harry N. Abrams published MUTTS: The Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell, a monograph on McDonnells career.

Go here to see the original:
Mutts to appear daily

Stephen Lovekin

Hes a hip-hop mogul, New York Times best-selling author, and proud dad of two, and thats not even the half of it. As fast as you can list Russell Simmons seemingly endless achievements, he adds to them. His capacity for success and his passion for philanthropic and social initiatives seems both limitless and effortless. How does he do it? His new book, out tomorrow, called Success Through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple, goes some way to explain it. A practical guide to the benefits of meditation, it makes a compelling, thoroughly researched case, and offers readers straightforward guidance on how to get started. Here, Simmons discusses what he considers to be the greatest tool to promote happiness.

Your book includes the quote: To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. Some think of meditation as being hippy-dippy but that projects great power.

Its still a little bit of a lofty quote! But you know, the fact is those who understand what were seeking, those who know, they just need an example...like when I tell a basketball player about when hes in the zone -- when the rim feels like its as big as the ocean, you cant miss it. When you read a word and youre not even breathing, because you are in total concentration. This shock or this beauty that promotes this shock, or this music that promotes this stillness, is a catalyst.

What youre looking for is lasting stillness, stable, lasting stillness, or bliss. Whenever the noise is gone, then everything is beautiful.

And we dont know how to get into it, whether its running up and down the basketball court until finally you get a second wind and the world just opens up because you become present. You cannot induce it through the other vehicles always. Music is helpful to people who love music, and beauty for those people who want to go look at sights and say, Oh my God, look at that sunset. These things are all helpful, but they kind of shock you into presence. What youre looking for is lasting stillness, stable, lasting stillness, or bliss. Whenever the noise is gone, then everything is beautiful. You can actually see Gods miracles unfolding.

What would you say to young men who think meditating might make them look weird or weak?

I know how to talk to them. I can explain it depending on who I am talking to. I kind of made it as simple as I could, so much so that my 11 year-old daughter said that the book was written like See Spot Run. I said, This is as highbrow as Daddy can get! I said, Is there anything in there you didnt already know about meditation? She said, Yes. Some of the research. I said, Well, good, there you go, you learned something, shut up! My 11 year-old daughter thought my book was written for a child! Shes pretty smart, they both go to a school for the gifted, so theyre both geniuses and they get it from their Mama. Daddy is a little bit simpler.

I think that my job is taking complex scripture and complex ideas and simplifying them as much as I can without losing their essence.

Theres a reason that some things are written in terms that are more sophisticated, and scriptures are more difficult to grasp. Not only because people like to use big words, but because they want to really pinpoint the experiences. I think that my job is taking complex scripture and complex ideas and simplifying them as much as I can without losing their essence, and its a fun one. Writing my Twitter keeps me in prayer. And doing that with scripture and with spiritual principles is something that makes me very happy, so thats why I write these books.

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Men We Love: Russell Simmons