Yoga In Stress Reduction In Childhood Cancer Patients And Their Parents

Monday, October 11, 2010, 18:12

A study has now proved that Yoga has turned out to be beneficial for stress reduction in childhood cancer patients and their parents owing to strenuous cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The research showed that following Yoga sessions conducted in the Children"s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, considerably decreased the anxiety in adolescent patients and their parents and showed an increase in the over all well being. However children from 7-12 failed to show improvement in the well being and stress reduction. Adolescents on the other hand aging between 13-18 along with their parents showed satisfactory signs of improvement.

Parents of the ailing childhood cancer patients found that Yoga helped them reduce stress and enabled them to stretch their and muscles and strengthen their bodies.

“Yoga is emerging as an effective complementary therapy in adult oncology. Promising benefits for decreasing symptom distress including fatigue, insomnia, mood, and stress resulting in improved quality of life," said the authors of the study.

When focused on the new aspect of taking into account childhood cancer patients and their families, the researchers revealed the fact that the patients and their parents underwent tremendous stress owing to the uncertainty of disease and the agony of their kids.

“Teens reported that that they felt relaxed and calmer, and that it (yoga) was fun," the authors wrote.

“Larger studies are needed to evaluate the influence of yoga on other distressing patient symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disturbance, pain and nauseam" authors add.

Yoga brings down the heart rate and blood pressure and does magic to circulation and oxygenation. It also works wonders by improving muscle tone, circulation, pulmonary function, coordination and flexibility.

The findings are published in the September/October 2010 edition of Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing.