Cancer patients and survivors need to do everything they can to maintain physical and emotional health, and yoga can be a valuable weapon in their battle against cancer.
Regular exercise allows the body to release endorphins, a group of hormones produced in the central nervous system that affect your physiological functions and can boost your mood. Numerous studies evaluating yoga’s benefits for cancer patients have found that practitioners enjoy higher quality of sleep, reduced anxiety and depression and improved spiritual well-being. By helping patients better manage their emotional stress, which can exacerbate physical discomfort, yoga can likewise help patients better manage their physical pain.
Before trying yoga, the American Cancer Society recommends cancer survivors:
- Talk to their doctors to make sure it’s safe for them.
- Use yoga alongside, not instead of, conventional medical treatment.
- There are many different types of yoga. Some are gentle, meditative and therapeutic. Others involve challenging poses for advanced practitioners. Before signing up for a class, talk to the instructor about what the class will entail and what is right for you. Ask about his or her experience and training. When taking a class, don’t overdo. If you suspect a pose is too difficult, ask the instructor to suggest a modification.
- Listen to your body; don’t exercise if you’re not feeling well or running a fever. If exercising for 30 minutes at a time is exhausting, try breaking up your practice into shorter sessions.
But yoga isn’t only about exercises and poses.
“There’s a lot more to yoga than just movement,” says Tina Walter, a certified yoga therapist who works with infusion patients at the St. Elizabeth Healthcare Cancer Center.
Walter works with patients to understand their needs and identify yoga interventions that can help them address their problems. Yoga techniques, such as mindful meditation, three-part breathing and certain head and neck movements, for example, can help cancer patients reduce anxiety. “It really is all about destressing so that your body can heal.”
St. Elizabeth Power Lunches provide the rare opportunity to catch up with up to 10 friends while enjoying a free, delicious, healthy meal. You’ll each receive a mammogram and a complimentary chair massage. Call 859-655-8777 to reserve your spot or click the button below for more information.
