ATLANTA, the United States, June 4 (Xinhua)-- Yoga can improve quality of life of the breast cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy, scientists reported on Sunday.

    Women may feel better when they participate in a yoga program while undergoing radiation therapy, a research team reported at the annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta.

    "Because yoga deals with both mind and body, we hypothesized that cancer patients would benefit both physically and emotionally," said Lorenzo Cohen, an associate professor at the University of Texas and lead author of the study.

    "And we found that to be the case," Cohen told a press conference.

    The researchers developed a yoga program for breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. Sixty-one women were randomly assigned to attend the biweekly yoga classes during the entire course of radiation treatment or to be on the control group.

    The participants reported their ability to lift groceries, walk a mile and perform other physical activities. They also were asked about feelings of fatigue, their sense of well-being and other aspects of their quality of life at the end of six weeks.

    The average patient was 52 years old, 48% of patients had undergone breast -conserving surgery, and 75% had received chemotherapy.

    Their scores were converted to a scale that ranged from 0 to 100. The researchers found the yoga group consistently had higher scores in almost every area. The yoga group had a mean score of about 82, compared with 69 for the control group.

    Participants said they were in better general health, less fatigued and had fewer problems with daytime sleepiness. But the researchers found no differences between the groups in measurements of depression or anxiety.

    The team is now planning a future study, in which one group do general stretching exercises and another yoga, to see if there is a difference in the result, Cohen said.

    This test will allow the researchers to determine if the benefits seen in the current study are the result of mind-body aspects of yoga or the emotional and social support received from the classes, according to Cohen.

    Recent studies have demonstrated the benefits of yoga for cancer patients and people with carpal tunnel syndrome, the researchers said. Enditem