Improve the Physical and Psychological Well-Being of Cancer Survivors with Mind-Body Practices
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.
“Mind-body techniques such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, and qigong have been found to lower distress and lead to improvements in different aspects of quality of life. . . to help patients manage the psychosocial challenges of diagnosis and treatment of cancer.” – Alejandro Chaoul
Receiving a diagnosis of cancer has a huge impact on most people. Feelings of depression, anxiety, and fear are very common and are normal responses to this life-changing and potentially life-ending experience. But cancer diagnosis is not necessarily a death sentence. Over half of the people diagnosed with cancer are still alive 10 years later and this number is rapidly increasing. But, surviving cancer carries with it a number of problems. Anxiety, depression, fatigue and insomnia are common symptoms in the aftermath of surviving breast cancer. These symptoms markedly reduce the quality of life of the patients.
Mindfulness training has been shown to help with cancer recovery and help to relieve chronic pain. It can also help treat the residual physical and psychological symptoms, including stress, sleep disturbance, fear, and anxiety and depression. Mind-body practices such as Tai Chi or Qigong, and yoga have been shown to be effective in improving the psychological symptoms occurring in breast cancer patients. There have been a number of research studies conducted on the effectiveness of mind-body practices for the relief of the physical and mental symptoms of cancer survivors. So, it makes sense to summarize what has been learned.
In today’s Research News article “Effects of Mind-Body Exercise in Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” (See summary below or view the full text of the study at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7487122/ ) Duan and colleagues
review, summarize, and perform a meta-analysis of the published randomized controlled trials of the effectiveness of mind-body practices for the treatment of cancer survivors. They found 15 published controlled clinical trials including a total of 1461 patients.
They report that the published controlled clinical trials found that mind-body practices produced significant increases in physical fitness and sleep quality and decreases in fatigue, depression, anxiety, and body mass index. Of the different mind-body practices Tai Chi practice appears to be superior in decreasing fatigue and sleep problems, Qigong practice appears to be superior in increasing physical fitness, while yoga practice appears to be superior in decreasing depression and anxiety.
These results are important in that they demonstrate that mind-body practices are effective in relieving the psychological and physical symptoms present in cancer survivors. These findings are generalizable in that a wide variety of types of cancers with a wide variety of patients were included. This suggests that mind-body practices are applicable to relieving the suffering of cancer survivors in general.
The review suggested, however, that different mind-body practices may be superior in addressing specific symptoms. Qigong appears to be best for improving physical fitness, Tai Chi appears to be best for reducing sleep problems and fatigue, and yoga appears to be best for alleviating mental disorders. So, tailoring the program for the greatest problems experienced by specific cancer patients may maximize the benefits for the individual patient.
So, improve the physical and psychological well-being of cancer survivors with mind-body practices.
“Life with cancer can be stressful. . . Mind-body medicine helps you relax and buffer some of these effects. It can also help you manage your condition better.” – WebMD
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts and on Twitter @MindfulResearch
Study Summary
Duan, L., Xu, Y., & Li, M. (2020). Effects of Mind-Body Exercise in Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM, 2020, 7607161. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/7607161
Abstract
Objective
Mind-body exercise may have potential benefits for cancer survivors according to previous studies. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the published evidence and evaluate the safety and efficacy of mind-body exercise on general quality of life (QOL) and symptom management in cancer survivors.
Methods
Four English language databases were systematically searched for existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of mind-body exercise in cancer survivors from database inception through October 23, 2019. Methodological quality was appraised with the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. A meta-analysis of comparative effects was performed using the Review Manager v.5.3 software.
Results
Fifteen studies encompassing 1461 patients were included. Analysis results showed that mind-body exercise could have a statistically significant effect on the outcomes of physical fitness, fatigue, sleep quality, depression, anxiety, and BMI, while effects on general QOL and stress were not statistically significant (all p > 0.05). No serious adverse events were reported.
Conclusions
The current evidence demonstrates that mind-body exercise is relatively safe and modestly effective for symptom management in cancer survivors. Furthermore, randomized trials with larger sample sizes and of higher methodological quality are needed to confirm these results.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7487122/