A US study indicated Wednesday that breast cancer patients who practice yoga experience lower stress and improved quality of life compared to counterparts who do stretching exercises. Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center studied 163 women with an average age of 52 who were undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer, ranging from early onset to stage three. The women were randomly assigned to one of three groups -- yoga, simple stretching and no instruction in either.
Those assigned to yoga or stretching practiced in one-hour sessions three times a week for the duration of the six-week radiation therapy. At the end of their radiation treatment, they were asked to report on their own health and well-being at one, three and six months after treatment, and they also underwent tests to measure heart function and stress hormone levels.