Yoga Vs Cancer

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Stats of cancer worldwide

  • According to world health organisation's website, nearly 9.8 million people lost their lives due to cancer in 2018. It is world second most fatal disease. One out of six death in world is due to cancer.(1)
  • In 2010, 1.16 trillion US dollars were spend to tackle cancer worldwide. There is high impact on low income countries.
Age-Standardized Rate (per 100,000) of top 5 countries affected by Cancer (2)

Figures given above are in 'million' (2)

Major factors responsible of Cancer worldwide are:


What is Cancer? (In simple words)

Cancer is abnormal growth of cells in the body. There are more than 100 types of cancers in the world. Early detection is very beneficial for its cure.

Discussion (How yoga treats cancer?)

Abnormal levels of stress is dangerous for patient who is dealing with cancer. Also, high levels of stress is one of the major factor that contribute to cancer in healthy human.

Stress increases the susceptibility of the person towards cancer in the manner stated below:

  • Stress could reduce the effect of Chemotherapy.
  • Stress is not related to cancer directly but through the endocrine pathways [4,5,6]. Yoga decreases stress by various asanas, pranayamas and meditation. Thus, yoga could help in prevention and cure of cancer. However, researches remained inconclusive about the exact effects of yoga on cancer [7].
  • Enhanced energy levels and mood, sleep, decreased nausea events and reduced pain are some general positive effects of yoga during the treatment of cancer.
  • Researches had not been focused on state IV cancer patients. Because of varied interventions in studies which includes a set of asanas, pranayamas and meditation, the exact protocol for the treatment had not been established.
  • Evidences recommend that adults (especially with breast cancer) should do yoga daily to diminish various negative psychological effects like stress and depression and also to boost immunity [8].
Note: Cancer survivors lead to healthy and long life is they follow some of these common points:

  • Some people experience pre-radiotherapy sleep disorder and symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression [9]. Yoga proved beneficial in these cases. This is important as 20% to 40% patients of cancer who are going through treatment experience anxiety, stress and depression [10,11].
  • Yoga had found to be very effective in post-traumatic stress. Thus, yoga have good applications in cancer survivors, who generally feel stress and exhausted after long chemotherapy or radio-therapy.

Conclusion of discussion

There is no scientific proof to say that yoga can prevent or cure cancer of any type. But there are evidences that yoga can definitely help, to tackle side-effects and symptoms of cancer. Thus, Yoga could not be used as alternative therapy but surely as complementary therapy.



Yoga Therapy for Cancer (Protocol):

Note: "Any type of cancer, may be affected through diet and lifestyle alone." - Dr. Dean Ornish

There are set of 11 exercises in protocol for cancer [12]
  1. Tuning in: Sit on a chair and relax, with your spine, neck and head in a straight line. Check your energy, thinking and emotional levels. Remove all tensions, from head to toe of you body.
  2. Vertical head movements: 3 times
  3. Horizontal head movements: 3 times.
  4. Head tilting: 3 times.
        
(For exercise 2,3 and 4)

5. Shoulder Shrugs: 5 times. ↓
                                                                       
6. Full circular rotation of shoulder: Both clockwise and anti-clockwise.


7. Cat pose:  

                    
8. Modified Shoulderstand:

9. Extended exhalation breath: Keep ratio of inhalation and exhalation as 1:2.
10. Meditation: Do it for few minutes (minimum 5 minutes).

11. Yoga nidra: For relaxation (minimum 5 minutes)

             

References

1.      Stewart BW, Wild CP, editors. World cancer report 2014
Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2014.
2.      Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global Cancer Statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin, in press. The online GLOBOCAN 2018 database is accessible at http://gco.iarc.fr/, as part of IARC’s Global Cancer Observatory.
3.      Cancer (2018, September 12), Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer.
4.      Lutgendorf SK, Sood AK. Biobehavioral factors and cancer progression: Physiological pathways and mechanisms. Psychosom Med. 2011; 73:724–730. doi: PSY.0b013e318235be76 [pii];10.1097/PSY.0b013e318235be76. [PubMed: 22021459]
5.      Armaiz-Pena GN, Cole SW, et al. Neuroendocrine influences on cancer progression. Brain Behav Immun. 2013; 30:S19–S25. doi: S0889-1591(12)00147-X [pii];10.1016/j.bbi.2012.06.005. [PubMed: 22728325]
6.      Satin JR, Linden W, et al. Depression as a predictor of disease progression and mortality in cancer patients: A meta-analysis. Cancer. 2009; 115:5349–5361. DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24561 [PubMed: 19753617]
7.      Cramer H, Lange S, et al. Yoga for breast cancer patients and survivors: A systematic review and metaanalysis. BMC Cancer. 2012; 12:412. doi: 1471-2407-12-412 [pii];10.1186/1471-2407-12-412. [PubMed: 22988934]
8.      Greenlee H, Balneaves LG, et al. Clinical practice guidelines on the use of integrative therapies as supportive care in patients treated for breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 2014; 50:346–358. DOI: 10.1093/jncimonographs/lgu041
9.      Ratchiff, C.G. (2016). Examining Mediators and Moderators of Yoga for Women With Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy. Integrative Cancer Therapies. Vol. 15(3); pp: 250 – 262.
10.  Coyne JC, Lepore SJ, Palmer SC. Efficacy of psychosocial interventions in cancer care: evidence is weaker than it first looks. Ann Behav Med. 2006;32:104-110.
11.  Massie MJ. Prevalence of depression in patients with cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 2004;(32):57-71.
12.  McCall, T. (2007). YOGA AS MEDICINE. Random House Publishing Group. pp: 213 – 219.

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