A clinical trial has found that gentle yoga can ease emotional distress, anxiety, fatigue and insomnia among people living with cancer. Hundreds of millions worldwide have the disease, and more are surviving thanks to better treatments. Yet many continue to face lasting physical and mental effects. Up to 95 percent of survivors report sleep problems during or after therapy, while over half experience mood issues, anxiety or tiredness. The trial showed that regular hatha and restorative yoga improved these symptoms without drugs. Findings were shared at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. Researchers enrolled 410 survivors in the United States whose cancer had not spread and who had not done yoga recently. Their average age was 54, and most had breast cancer. Half received standard follow-up care; the rest also joined a four-week yoga program with two weekly 75-minute classes plus home practice. The sessions used slow movements, supported postures, breathing and mindfulness. Questionnaires tracked mood, anxiety, fatigue and sleep. Yoga participants showed moderate to large reductions in overall mood disturbance, smaller to medium drops in anxiety and medium to large improvements in fatigue compared with the standard-care group. Lead author Yuri Choi noted the lack of a single proven behavioral treatment for these combined symptoms. An independent expert, Fumiko Chino, called the results an important non-drug option for managing multiple side effects at once.
