Cancer survivors often feel fatigued and have trouble sleeping for months -- or even years -- after their last chemotherapy or radiation session. Now, a new study shows that yoga can help them sleep better, feel more energized, and cut back on sleeping medications.
"We really wanted to find something useful, because right now there are not a lot of good treatments out there for fatigue," says the lead author of the study, Karen Mustian, an assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York.
Compared with sleep medication, yoga "can be really empowering," says Suzanne Danhauer, a professor of psychosocial oncology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Sleep medications aren't always effective and can have side effects, and people who've just been through cancer treatment may not want to take any more drugs, adds Danhauer, who studies the benefits of yoga for cancer patients but didn't participate in the new study.
The study included 410 cancer survivors who had completed treatment in the previous two years and had been experiencing sleep problems for at least two months. All but 16 of the patients were women, and 75 percent were breast cancer survivors. In addition to the standard post-treatment care that everyone received, half of the study participants attended 75-minute yoga sessions twice a week for a month.
The sessions, which were based on two forms of low-intensity yoga known as Hatha yoga and restorative yoga, included breathing exercises, meditation, and 18 different poses. "This wasn't some kind of power Vinyasa yoga class," says Mustian. "It was gentle."
At the beginning of the study, just under 85 percent of the participants in both the yoga and control groups were experiencing sleep problems. By the end, 31 percent of the patients who'd done yoga were sleeping soundly, compared with just 16 percent of the control group. The yoga participants were also using about 20 percent less sleep medication, on average, while the people in the control group actually upped their intake of sleep drugs by 5 percent.
Additionally, the yoga participants had substantially lower levels of fatigue and daytime sleepiness compared with the control group.
The study, the largest of its kind to date, was funded by the National Cancer Institute and will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting in early June.
Danhauer says the findings are good news because yoga that's appropriate for recovering cancer patients is widely accessible and affordable.
"You will probably find someone in your community who has training in Hatha yoga or restorative yoga," Mustian says. She recommends classes that feature one (or both) of these approaches and an instructor who's certified by the Yoga Alliance. Ideally, she adds, the instructor will also be experienced in working with patients with health problems.
Many of the nation's top cancer centers, such as the Stanford Cancer Center at Stanford University, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, have their own yoga programs.
At the Albert Einstein Cancer Center in the Bronx, New York, where researchers have been studying yoga in cancer survivors for the past 10 years, patients can continue practicing yoga at the center even if they're no longer participating in the study. "We have several patients who have been doing it for years," says Alyson Moadel, the director of the center's psychosocial oncology program.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
B Vitamins Linked to Less Depression in Elderly
Increased intakes of vitamins B6 and B12 may reduce the risk of seniors developing depressive symptoms, says a new study with 3,500 Chicagoans.
For every 10 milligram increase in the intake of vitamin B6 and for every 10 microgram increase in vitamin B12 the risk of developing symptoms of depression were decreased by 2 per cent per year, according to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The study adds to previous reports linking B vitamin intakes and a lower risk of depression. The World Health Organization (WHO) forecasts that within 20 years more people will be affected by depression than any other health problem; it ranks depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide, with around 120 million people affected.
Despite earlier reports on the potential anti-depressive benefits of the B vitamins, researchers from Rush University Medical Center in Illinois report that “very little prospective evidence from population-based studies of older adults”.
Led by Kimberly Skarupski, the researchers obtained data from 3,500 over 65 year-olds in Chicago. The volunteers were living in a normal community and were bi-racial with 59 per cent being African American. Dietary intakes were quantified using food frequency questionnaires and depressive symptoms were assessed using the 10-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale.
Over an average of 7.2 years of follow-up, the researchers noted that increased intakes of vitamins B6 and B12 were associated with a “decreased likelihood of incident depression”. The intakes of the vitamins came from both food and supplements, said the researchers.
For every 10 milligram increase in the intake of vitamin B6 and for every 10 microgram increase in vitamin B12 the risk of developing symptoms of depression were decreased by 2 per cent per year, according to findings published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The study adds to previous reports linking B vitamin intakes and a lower risk of depression. The World Health Organization (WHO) forecasts that within 20 years more people will be affected by depression than any other health problem; it ranks depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide, with around 120 million people affected.
Despite earlier reports on the potential anti-depressive benefits of the B vitamins, researchers from Rush University Medical Center in Illinois report that “very little prospective evidence from population-based studies of older adults”.
Led by Kimberly Skarupski, the researchers obtained data from 3,500 over 65 year-olds in Chicago. The volunteers were living in a normal community and were bi-racial with 59 per cent being African American. Dietary intakes were quantified using food frequency questionnaires and depressive symptoms were assessed using the 10-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale.
Over an average of 7.2 years of follow-up, the researchers noted that increased intakes of vitamins B6 and B12 were associated with a “decreased likelihood of incident depression”. The intakes of the vitamins came from both food and supplements, said the researchers.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Standard American Diet Linked to Depression in Women
Two studies link diets high in processed foods, sugar, and omega-6 fats to depression in women and ties whole-food diets to a reduced risk
Earlier this year, British researchers reported that people who ate “junky” diets – such as the average American diet – were more likely to suffer from depression. The UK team analyzed diet and health data collected from 3,486 men and women (average age 55.6 years).
Based on how often the participants had eaten specific amounts of various foods during the previous year, researchers categorized them as falling into one of two dietary patterns. A “whole food” diet was defined as one dominated by vegetables, fruits and fish, while a “processed food” diet was marked by high intake of sweets, fried foods, processed meats, refined grains, and high-fat dairy products.
Women who ate a junky “Western” diet were 52 percent more likely to develop depression and 76 percent more likely to develop anxiety.
The risk of depression or anxiety disorders was about 34 percent lower among women eating a “Traditional” Australian diet.
Surprisingly, the risk of depression was 29 percent higher in women who ate a Modern (“spa” style) diet.
Compared with the Traditional Australian diet, the Western and Modern style diets were likely higher in omega-6 fats, excessive intake of which has been associated with depression.
Five years later, the volunteers completed a questionnaire designed to measure depression symptoms.
The researchers’ analysis indicated that diets dominated by processed foods produced a greater risk of being diagnosed with depression after five years. Conversely, the recruits whose self-reported diets were highest in whole foods were the least likely to develop signs of depression by the end of the half-decade study (Akbaraly TN et al. 2009).
Now the results of another study – this one involving only women – confirm those findings and strengthen the diet-depression connection in females.
Aussie study examines food-mood links in women
Researchers from the University of Melbourne conducted an epidemiological (diet-health) study in 1,046 female volunteers aged 20 to 93 (Jacka FN et al. 2010).
The women were followed for 10 years and answered a diet survey every other year.
Based on their responses to the surveys, the women were categorized as belonging to one of three diet groups:
“Traditional Australian” Diet – Dominated by vegetables, fruit, beef, lamb, fish, and whole-grain foods.
“Western” Diet – Dominated by meat pies, processed meats, pizza, chips, hamburgers, white bread, sugar, flavored milk drinks, and beer.
“Modern” Diet – Dominated by fruits and salads plus fish, tofu, beans, nuts, yogurt, and red wine.
The “Traditional Australian” diet resembles the tradtional diet of rural Americans in the 19th century, which is enjoying a comeback in the “slow food” movement, the “locavore” (local food) movement, and among folks aware of Weston A. Price, DDS, whose pioneering diet-health research was the first to link diverse traditional diets to better overall health.
The term “Western” diet is another name for what nutrition researchers have long called the “Standard American Diet” … an eating pattern whose acronym (SAD) says it all.
Likewise, the diet pattern the Aussie team called “Modern” is one most people would recognize as a typical “spa” or “South Beach” style diet.
New findings support traditional Aussie/American diets full of diverse whole foods
The Aussie team’s analysis showed that the women who ate a Western diet were 52 percent more likely than average to develop signs of a depression disorder … and they were 76 percent more likely to develop signs of an anxiety disorder.
In contrast, the risk of depression/anxiety disorders was about 34 percent lower than average among women who ate a Traditional Australian diet.
That finding supports the view of Weston A. Price, and it supports his view – now backed by substantial evidence and accepted by many biomedical researchers – that saturated fat from whole foods like lamb and beef is not unhealthful.
Surprisingly, the risk of depression was 29 percent higher than average in women who ate the “Modern”, spa-style diet characterized by fruits and salads plus fish, tofu, beans, nuts, yogurt, and red wine. However, their risk of anxiety was seven percent lower than average.
Importantly, the associations between the three diet styles and risk of depression/anxiety disorders persisted after the research team adjusted the results to account for a variety of factors known to influence the with risk of mood disorders: age, weight, socio-economic status, education, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
Do omega-6 fats explain the depressing effects that ”modern” diets seem to share?
The researchers posed two explanations for why women eating a “Modern”, spa-style diet had a higher risk of depression, compared to women who fell into the Traditional diet category.
First, they thought it could be a consequence of “reverse causality”, wherein the younger, more educated women that dominated the Modern diet group were more likely to have mild depression and had turned to the diet in an attempt to improve their mood.
And the Aussies posed a second possible explanation for the mood advantage of the Traditional diet versus the Modern diet:
“[It could be that the key] … components of the traditional dietary pattern, such as vegetables, red meat, whole-grain foods, and high-fat dairy products, are particularly pertinent to the outcomes in question.”
In other words, they think that there may something about that particular mix of whole foods that does more do deter depression, compared to the mix of foods in the Modern, “spa” style diet.
However, they failed to address another likely explanation – excessive intake of omega-6 fats – for the higher depression risks seen in women eating the Western or Modern diets.
Judging from the limited lists of foods provided in their descriptions of the Western and Modern diet patterns, it seems safe to presume that those diets also included vegetable oils and packaged/frozen foods that are high in omega-6 fats.
So, compared with the Traditional Australian diet, the mix of foods in the Western and Modern style diets would probably deliver more omega-6 fats, excessive intake of which has been strongly associated with depression risk.
The association between excessive intake of omega-6 fats and greater depression risk holds true even when a diet contain reasonable amounts of omega-3s, as the Modern diet would, given that it included fish.
The bottom line seems clear: diets high in non-nutritious, processed foods put women (and men) at greater risk of developing anxiety and/or depression disorders.
Sources
Akbaraly TN, Brunner EJ, Ferrie JE, Marmot MG, Kivimaki M, Singh-Manoux A. Dietary pattern and depressive symptoms in middle age. Br J Psychiatry. 2009 Nov;195(5):408-13.
Jacka FN, Pasco JA, Mykletun A, Williams LJ, Hodge AM, O’Reilly SL, Nicholson GC, Kotowicz MA, Berk M. Association of Western and traditional diets with depression and anxiety in women. Am J Psychiatry. 2010 Mar;167(3):305-11. Epub 2010 Jan 4.
Print This Article
Earlier this year, British researchers reported that people who ate “junky” diets – such as the average American diet – were more likely to suffer from depression. The UK team analyzed diet and health data collected from 3,486 men and women (average age 55.6 years).
Based on how often the participants had eaten specific amounts of various foods during the previous year, researchers categorized them as falling into one of two dietary patterns. A “whole food” diet was defined as one dominated by vegetables, fruits and fish, while a “processed food” diet was marked by high intake of sweets, fried foods, processed meats, refined grains, and high-fat dairy products.
Women who ate a junky “Western” diet were 52 percent more likely to develop depression and 76 percent more likely to develop anxiety.
The risk of depression or anxiety disorders was about 34 percent lower among women eating a “Traditional” Australian diet.
Surprisingly, the risk of depression was 29 percent higher in women who ate a Modern (“spa” style) diet.
Compared with the Traditional Australian diet, the Western and Modern style diets were likely higher in omega-6 fats, excessive intake of which has been associated with depression.
Five years later, the volunteers completed a questionnaire designed to measure depression symptoms.
The researchers’ analysis indicated that diets dominated by processed foods produced a greater risk of being diagnosed with depression after five years. Conversely, the recruits whose self-reported diets were highest in whole foods were the least likely to develop signs of depression by the end of the half-decade study (Akbaraly TN et al. 2009).
Now the results of another study – this one involving only women – confirm those findings and strengthen the diet-depression connection in females.
Aussie study examines food-mood links in women
Researchers from the University of Melbourne conducted an epidemiological (diet-health) study in 1,046 female volunteers aged 20 to 93 (Jacka FN et al. 2010).
The women were followed for 10 years and answered a diet survey every other year.
Based on their responses to the surveys, the women were categorized as belonging to one of three diet groups:
“Traditional Australian” Diet – Dominated by vegetables, fruit, beef, lamb, fish, and whole-grain foods.
“Western” Diet – Dominated by meat pies, processed meats, pizza, chips, hamburgers, white bread, sugar, flavored milk drinks, and beer.
“Modern” Diet – Dominated by fruits and salads plus fish, tofu, beans, nuts, yogurt, and red wine.
The “Traditional Australian” diet resembles the tradtional diet of rural Americans in the 19th century, which is enjoying a comeback in the “slow food” movement, the “locavore” (local food) movement, and among folks aware of Weston A. Price, DDS, whose pioneering diet-health research was the first to link diverse traditional diets to better overall health.
The term “Western” diet is another name for what nutrition researchers have long called the “Standard American Diet” … an eating pattern whose acronym (SAD) says it all.
Likewise, the diet pattern the Aussie team called “Modern” is one most people would recognize as a typical “spa” or “South Beach” style diet.
New findings support traditional Aussie/American diets full of diverse whole foods
The Aussie team’s analysis showed that the women who ate a Western diet were 52 percent more likely than average to develop signs of a depression disorder … and they were 76 percent more likely to develop signs of an anxiety disorder.
In contrast, the risk of depression/anxiety disorders was about 34 percent lower than average among women who ate a Traditional Australian diet.
That finding supports the view of Weston A. Price, and it supports his view – now backed by substantial evidence and accepted by many biomedical researchers – that saturated fat from whole foods like lamb and beef is not unhealthful.
Surprisingly, the risk of depression was 29 percent higher than average in women who ate the “Modern”, spa-style diet characterized by fruits and salads plus fish, tofu, beans, nuts, yogurt, and red wine. However, their risk of anxiety was seven percent lower than average.
Importantly, the associations between the three diet styles and risk of depression/anxiety disorders persisted after the research team adjusted the results to account for a variety of factors known to influence the with risk of mood disorders: age, weight, socio-economic status, education, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.
Do omega-6 fats explain the depressing effects that ”modern” diets seem to share?
The researchers posed two explanations for why women eating a “Modern”, spa-style diet had a higher risk of depression, compared to women who fell into the Traditional diet category.
First, they thought it could be a consequence of “reverse causality”, wherein the younger, more educated women that dominated the Modern diet group were more likely to have mild depression and had turned to the diet in an attempt to improve their mood.
And the Aussies posed a second possible explanation for the mood advantage of the Traditional diet versus the Modern diet:
“[It could be that the key] … components of the traditional dietary pattern, such as vegetables, red meat, whole-grain foods, and high-fat dairy products, are particularly pertinent to the outcomes in question.”
In other words, they think that there may something about that particular mix of whole foods that does more do deter depression, compared to the mix of foods in the Modern, “spa” style diet.
However, they failed to address another likely explanation – excessive intake of omega-6 fats – for the higher depression risks seen in women eating the Western or Modern diets.
Judging from the limited lists of foods provided in their descriptions of the Western and Modern diet patterns, it seems safe to presume that those diets also included vegetable oils and packaged/frozen foods that are high in omega-6 fats.
So, compared with the Traditional Australian diet, the mix of foods in the Western and Modern style diets would probably deliver more omega-6 fats, excessive intake of which has been strongly associated with depression risk.
The association between excessive intake of omega-6 fats and greater depression risk holds true even when a diet contain reasonable amounts of omega-3s, as the Modern diet would, given that it included fish.
The bottom line seems clear: diets high in non-nutritious, processed foods put women (and men) at greater risk of developing anxiety and/or depression disorders.
Sources
Akbaraly TN, Brunner EJ, Ferrie JE, Marmot MG, Kivimaki M, Singh-Manoux A. Dietary pattern and depressive symptoms in middle age. Br J Psychiatry. 2009 Nov;195(5):408-13.
Jacka FN, Pasco JA, Mykletun A, Williams LJ, Hodge AM, O’Reilly SL, Nicholson GC, Kotowicz MA, Berk M. Association of Western and traditional diets with depression and anxiety in women. Am J Psychiatry. 2010 Mar;167(3):305-11. Epub 2010 Jan 4.
Print This Article
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Meditating can Decrease Pain Perception
People who meditate regularly find pain less unpleasant because their brains anticipate the pain less. "Meditation is becoming increasingly popular as a way to treat chronic illness such as the pain caused by arthritis," said Dr Christopher Brown, who conducted the research. The study, to be published in the journal Pain, found that particular areas of the brain were less active as meditators anticipated pain, as induced by a laser device. Those with longer meditation experience (up to 35 years) showed the least anticipation of the laser pain.
Meditation trains the brain to be more present-focused and therefore to spend less time anticipating future negative events. This may be why meditation is effective at reducing the recurrence of depression, which makes chronic pain considerably worse.
The easiest way to begin meditating is simply to focus on the breath.
Meditation trains the brain to be more present-focused and therefore to spend less time anticipating future negative events. This may be why meditation is effective at reducing the recurrence of depression, which makes chronic pain considerably worse.
The easiest way to begin meditating is simply to focus on the breath.
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