Three recent studies have shown that walking for half an hour every day and performing a gentle version of yoga can help slow the spread of cancer to other regions of the body and prevent its recurrence. The findings of these three studies were presented at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, Illinois.

The first research, headed by the University of Rochester Medical Centre and not yet peer-reviewed, recruited more than 500 cancer patients to investigate the influence of yoga on inflammation, a characteristic feature of cancer that can stimulate or limit tumor growth as well as lead to metastasis of cancer across the body.

The study recruited patients who were treated for cancer between two months and five years before taking part in the study that included 75-minute sessions of "hatha yoga" specially designed for cancer survivors. A series of blood tests after four weeks of the 75-minute session revealed that those who took up yoga had "significantly lower levels of pro-inflammatory markers" compared to patients in the placebo group.

The second study, which included 173 patients in the age group of 60 years and older, examined the impact of yoga on fatigue and quality of life. The participants attended 75-minute yoga or health education classes twice a week for four weeks. The research team found that yoga helped relieve fatigue and maintain quality of life in older adults.

A third study from the Instituto de Medicina Integral in Brazil showed that the risk of morality was reduced by one-fifth among physically active patients who went on a 30-minute walk for at least five days a week.

The results of the study showed that the risk of death was higher for those with a sedentary lifestyle. After 180 days, 90% of the participants in the active group were still alive, compared to 74% of the participants in the sedentary group.

(Source:https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/06/walking-and-yoga-can-cut-risk-of-cancer-spreading-or-returning )