sleep problems

Yoga May Reduce Fatigue in Breast Cancer Survivors

breast cancer

Yoga may help breast cancer survivors beat the debilitating fatigue and sleep problems that often follow toxic treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation, a new study shows.

Fatigue can be a big challenge for cancer survivors.

“Even some years out from breast cancer treatment, anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of women report substantial levels of fatigue,” said study author Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Ohio State University in Columbus.

That may be due, in large part, to disrupted sleep. As many as 60 percent of cancer survivors say they have trouble sleeping, she noted, a rate that’s two to three times higher than their cancer-free peers.

The end result is that many cancer survivors end up trying to drag themselves through their days.

“And it’s a nasty downward spiral where increasing fatigue means less activity and less activity means increasing fatigue, so that over time less and less translates into greater frailty and decline,” Kiecolt-Glaser said.

Kiecolt-Glaser, who studies the health effects of stress, wanted to see if it was possible to stop that cycle.

She and her colleagues, including her husband and research collaborator, Ronald Glaser, recruited 200 women aged 27 to 76 who were new to yoga and had finished treatment for breast cancer within the last three years. They had to be at least two months past their last treatment and otherwise healthy to participate.

The women were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group practiced the gentle, flowing poses of Hatha yoga for two 90-minute sessions each week for three months. The second group was placed on a waiting list.

Before and after the study, all the women answered detailed questions about their energy and vitality, mental health, the kind of support they felt they were getting from friends and family, their sleep, how active they were and even their diet. Researchers also performed blood tests to measure markers of inflammation.

The differences weren’t immediately apparent. After three months of practice, women in the yoga group reported that they had more vitality and were sleeping better, compared to the group that was waiting to take the class.

And after their group sessions ended, most who were taking yoga gradually stopped practicing. Their physical activity went back to the level it was when they signed up for the study. Despite that, they continued to improve.

At the six-month mark, the women practicing yoga reported about 60 percent less fatigue than the women on the waiting list, and their measures of inflammation were 13 percent to 20 percent lower.

The longer they practiced yoga, the greater their improvements, Kiecolt-Glaser said.

Source: webmd

Sleep problems common among middle-aged women

Almost a quarter of middle-aged women report their quality of sleep is less than good, according to a new study.

Sleep problems were tied to poor quality of life, chronic illness and medication use, researchers found.

The new study adds to earlier research by looking at common sleep problems among women before they hit menopause, according to Dr. Päivi Polo. She led the study at the University of Turku in Finland.

“Typically we think that these are problems of menopause and thus menopause is the reason for everything,” Polo told Reuters Health.

“Then we try to treat all menopausal insomnia symptoms with hormone replacement therapy … but because in some women the sleep problems are already evident before the menopause, the HRT may not alleviate all sleep problems and we physicians are wondering what to do next.”

After menopause, hot flashes and night sweats increase sleep problems, she said.

Polo and her colleagues surveyed 850 mothers about their sleep when they were 42 years old, on average. One third had a chronic illness, like diabetes or heart disease, and 28 percent were on regular medication.

Women most often reported waking up frequently at night. Sixty percent of them had that problem at least once a week.

Sixteen percent of women reported having difficulty falling asleep and 20 percent said they woke up too early in the morning on a weekly basis.

Morning sleepiness was reported by 42 percent and daytime sleepiness by 32 percent.

Sleep troubles are not new for people of any age, but they do seem to be a bit more common among women. Hormonal changes related to menstrual cycles or menopause may be partly to blame, the authors write in Maturitas.

Occasional alcohol drinking was tied to better sleep quality and less falling asleep at work, they found.

But women’s weight and physical activity levels were not linked to sleep problems. That might be because most women in the study were in the normal range for body size, Polo said. Other studies have tied obesity to sleep problems like sleep apnea.

“There is likely a bidirectional association such that obesity may induce poor sleep, and short sleep may induce weight gain and subsequent obesity,” Dr. Helen Driver, who researches sleep at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, said.

“The study was not designed to assess much detail about the relationship between physical activity and sleep, which is a complex interaction depending on factors such as physical fitness, aerobic capacity, exercise type (aerobic, non-aerobic, stretching) and timing,” Driver told Reuters Health in an email.

All sleep problems can affect daytime tiredness, work performance and quality of life, Driver said.

Women tend to get about seven hours of sleep each night during the week, but sleep needs are unique to individuals, she said.

“Sleep is so crucial, since we sleep one third of our life and it affects so much of our health,” Polo said. Sleep problems can be a symptom of a disease or mental state, which doctors should keep in mind, she said.

Women having sleep problems should talk to their doctor and be sure to note any potential sleep-related side effects of medications, researchers said.

“A good start is to keep a sleep diary and note any patterns or symptoms such as snoring, restlessness, morning headache,” Driver said. “If there is concern ask your family physician for a referral to a sleep center for a
n assessment by a qualified sleep specialist.”

Source: US web daily

Poor sleep affects mood, lifestyle in obese

Scientists have linked inadequate sleep to mood disturbances and lower quality of life in extremely obese people, said a study.

“There was a clear association between the sleep problems such as short sleep duration, and the psychological disorders, and with quality of life,” said G. Neil Thomas, lead supervisor, study methodology lead, and reader in epidemiology at the Department of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Birmingham in Britain.

The study results appear in the December issue of the journal Sleep, reports the Science Daily.

“This study emphasizes the need for physicians to conduct routine screenings for sleep problems among people with severe obesity,” said M. Safwan Badr, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

“Improving sleep quality, and quantity will provide a physical, mental, and emotional boost for people, who are making the difficult lifestyle changes involved in managing obesity.”

Source: Times of India