Effects of Yoga on the Quality of Life in Cancer Patients
6.7 Conclusions and Recommendations
Yoga has become increasingly popular as a complementary and alternative therapy for symptom management in oncology. By reducing several cancer-or treatment- related symptoms, yoga may concomitantly improve QoL. Despite the relatively poor quality and heterogeneity of studies for yoga on QoL, the evidence suggests that the use of yoga may have bene fi ts for improving QoL of cancer patients. It has
been proposed that yoga produces a relaxation response, enhances body awareness, has psycho-neuro-immunological effects, and affects melatonin levels that underlie the biopsychosocial mechanisms of yoga. To date, the evidence is insuf fi cient to conclude that yoga is an effective supportive treatment for cancer. Further research is recommended to specify the types or styles of yoga used, to develop and use standardized QoL measures agreed by the research community related, to evaluate the mechanism for the effectiveness of yoga for oncology, and to identify the feasible and effective treatment dose of yoga programs on health outcomes.
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153 W.C.S. Cho (ed.), Evidence-based Non-pharmacological Therapies for Palliative
Cancer Care, Evidence-based Anticancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine 4, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5833-9_7, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract Psychological stress in cancer patients has been identi fi ed as a signi fi cant and ongoing problem in oncology. Non-pharmacological interventions have been increasingly employed to facilitate coping with stressful circumstances. Mind-body therapies, which approach healthcare holistically as an interaction between mind, body, and spirit, have been studied as adjunctive therapies to reduce stress, enhance relaxation, reduce anxiety, and improve health outcomes. Mind-body therapies, including mindfulness/meditation, biofeedback, hypnosis, relaxation therapy, art therapy, Qigong, Taichi, and yoga have demonstrated effi cacies in their potential to mitigate stress and improve the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors.
Though the mind-body literature shows overwhelmingly positive results, method- ological de fi cits hinder adoption as evidence-based palliative care for cancer survivors. Although additional research is warranted, the body of evidence pre- sented in this chapter suggests that clinicians should give serious consideration to mind-body therapies when advising cancer patients and survivors on adjunctive treatment options.