CHICAGO -- A month-long structured yoga program helped patients with cancer improve mood disturbance, anxiety, and fatigue, contributing to a reduction in insomnia, a large multicenter randomized trial showed.
Scores on tests for mood disturbance, fatigue, and anxiety all improved significantly (P<0.05 to P<0.001). The results added to previous research showing that the yoga program helped improve insomnia in patients with cancer, and the new data showed that improvement in mood disturbance and fatigue explained a substantial portion of the improvement in insomnia.
The program had good adherence, and only one adverse event occurred, which was unrelated to the program, reported Yuri Choi, RN, PhD, of the University of Rochester Medical Center and Wilmot Cancer Institute in New York, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.
"Our yoga intervention, YOCAS [Yoga for Cancer Survivors], is effective for treating mood disturbance, anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia among cancer survivors," said Choi. "Part of the reason YOCAS may improve insomnia may be because it reduces mood disturbance and fatigue. Accordingly, clinicians should recommend gentle Hatha and restorative yoga for survivors experiencing mood disturbance, anxiety, fatigue, or insomnia."
