Yoga Helps Heal Heart & Emotional Scars of Cancer

By Felicia Wong, M.D.

“Cancer is a very alienating and existential disease. I know of no other common disease that immediately causes so much fear, anxiety, depression, confusion, and a sense of impending disaster in a patient or his/her significant others when they hear the word “cancer” for the first time.” --- Murray Krelstein, MD, a psychiatrist and cancer survivor.

Although oncologists, family members, and friends can provide significant sources of support, adding a mental health professional to a cancer patient’s treatment team is often helpful. Talking about the emotions and worries associated with cancer can be difficult, and it is important to have a therapist who is familiar with these situations. Additionally, cancer patients and survivors often suffer from sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and other mood changes.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that among patients receiving chemotherapy, over three-quarters suffer from insomnia. Those who suffer from insomnia are, in turn, more likely to suffer from fatigue and depression. For 65% of cancer survivors, insomnia continues even after the completion of chemotherapy.

Cancer is a diagnosis that affects both body and mind. So, it makes sense that cancer patients and survivors practice yoga to improve their quality of life.

While research on the use of yoga for cancer is relatively new, there have been recent studies confirming yoga’s mental health benefits. A Harvard Health Publication highlights the benefits of yoga for stress, depression, and anxiety:

- By reducing perceived anxiety, yoga appears to adjust stress response systems. This, in turn, reduces heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and can make breathing easier.

- There is evidence that yoga practices helps increase heart rate variability, an indicator of the body's ability to respond to stress more flexibly.

Optimizing wellness after a cancer diagnosis and beyond involves a complex integration of interventions that address both the mind and the body. Ideally, a psychiatrist is part of the cancer treatment team. However, if this is not available, please ask your doctor for referrals.

For additional resources on coping with cancer:
http://www.cancersupportivecare.com/live.html
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Introducing NAMI’s Hearts and Minds Wellness Initiative!

By Felicia K. Wong, M.D.

Thank you Dr. Blanco for your post on the beneficial aspects of support groups and sharing NAMI’s online support groups as a resource. Today, I’d like to share a fantastic new health education program recently launched by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to promote sound “mind and body” health practices among individuals who live with mental illness.

Wellness is an ongoing process of learning how to make choices and changes in your life that can enhance your physical and emotional well-being. “Wellness is everyone’s concern,” said NAMI Executive Director Mike Fitzpatrick. “But it is especially urgent for people living with serious mental illness.” People living with serious mental illness such as major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia live on average 25 years less than other Americans.

“Many kinds of risk factors contribute to health challenges for people with mental illnesses,” said NAMI Medical Director Ken Duckworth, M.D. “Many are preventable or reversible.” The “Hearts and Minds” initiative focuses on risk factors including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity for major illnesses such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The program provides useful information and resources to help those with mental illness improve their diet, exercise more, and stop smoking.

“Persons with mental illnesses deserve to live a full and healthy life,” said Steven A. Schroeder, M.D., director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center. “At present, far too many compromise that opportunity because they smoke cigarettes, are overweight and don’t get sufficient exercise.”

Here is a video introducing “Hearts and Minds” that provides helpful suggestions for how to attain wellness.

A Happy Heart may be a Healthier Heart

By Felicia K. Wong, M.D.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The month of February, “American Heart Month”, is dedicated to raising awareness about heart disease and increasing knowledge about prevention. In this post, I will discuss the connection between mental health and heart disease.


Depression is a risk factor for heart disease

Many studies have shown that negative emotions such as depression, anger and stress are risk factors for heart disease. The February 2006 issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter notes that, “the recurrence of cardiovascular events is more closely linked to depression than to high cholesterol, smoking, high blood pressure or diabetes”. Antidepressant treatment may benefit depressed heart patients and possibly reduce their risk for future heart problems. Cardiac rehabilitation programs that provide patients with stress reduction and wellness strategies may also help reduce the impact that depression has on heart disease.

Happiness may protect against heart disease

People with a tendency to experience positive emotions, such happiness, enthusiasm and contentment, are less likely to develop heart disease than those who tend not to experience it, suggests a new study published in the February 17 advance online issue of the European Heart Journal, led by Karina Davidson, Ph.D. of Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Davidson’s research team followed 1739 healthy adults living in Nova Scotia for 10 years and examined the impact of positive personality traits on heart disease risk. They found that the people in the study with the most negative emotions had the highest risk for heart disease, whereas those who scored highest for happiness had the lowest risk for heart disease.

The researchers’ speculations about how positive emotions might confer long-term protection against heart disease include:

Happy people may have a healthier lifestyle that decreases cardiac risk - eating and sleeping better, exercising more, and smoking less.

Happiness may promote a host of positive physical and chemical changes - such a reduction in stress hormones -- that are good for the heart.

There may be a genetic component - people who are predisposed to happiness might also be predisposed to have fewer heart attacks.

Davidson’s findings suggest that preventive strategies may be enhanced not only by reducing depressive symptoms but also by increasing positive affect. However, she states that the findings should be confirmed via clinical trials before making any clinical recommendations.

In the meantime, those interested in these preliminary findings can begin to take some simple steps to increase their positive affect. Dr. Davidson recommends, "If you enjoy reading novels, but never get around to it, commit to getting 15 minutes or so of [daily] reading in. If walking or listening to music improves your mood, get those activities in your schedule. Essentially, spending some few minutes each day truly relaxed and enjoying yourself is certainly good for your mental health, and may improve your physical health as well."

For more on the study, including theories on how happiness may protect the heart, as well as tips on how naturally negative people can become happy, please see the following article.