# Yoga during and after cancer treatment

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/yoga-cancer/  
OnCo record `yoga-cancer` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Yoga combining postures, breathing and relaxation reduces fatigue, anxiety and low mood and improves sleep and quality of life, on the evidence of a Cochrane review of 24 randomised trials in women with breast cancer. SIO-ASCO guidelines recommend it for fatigue and anxiety during treatment; it does not replace aerobic and resistance exercise.

## Summary

A Cochrane review of 24 randomised trials in women with breast cancer found moderate-quality evidence that yoga improves health-related quality of life and reduces fatigue and sleep disturbance compared with no intervention, and reduces depression and anxiety compared with psychosocial or educational controls. The 2024 SIO-ASCO fatigue guideline recommends yoga for fatigue during treatment (and, with lower certainty, after), and the 2023 anxiety and depression guideline recommends it for anxiety and depressive symptoms during treatment. Most trials are of hatha or Iyengar-derived programmes of six to twelve weeks with trained instructors; hot yoga and vigorous styles have not been tested. Yoga is one form of physical activity and does not replace aerobic and resistance exercise, which have the survival-related evidence.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: complementary; supportive-care; evidence:strong
- Principle: Slow movement, breath regulation and relaxation lower sympathetic arousal and inflammatory signalling and improve sleep, mood and perceived energy; the group setting adds social support.
- Strengths: Cochrane-level evidence for quality of life and fatigue; Recommended in SIO-ASCO 2023 and 2024; Adaptable to limited mobility
- Limitations: Evidence concentrated in breast cancer; Blinding impossible; controls vary; Instructor training in oncology matters

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_as_therapy
- Cochrane: yoga for improving health-related quality of life, mental health and cancer-related symptoms in women with breast cancer (2017): https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010802.pub2
- SIO-ASCO guideline: integrative oncology care of cancer-related fatigue (JCO 2024): https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.24.00575
- SIO-ASCO guideline: integrative oncology care of anxiety and depression (JCO 2023): https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.23.00857

## Connected records

- cancers: [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/), [Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)](https://onco.cc/cancers/tnbc/)
- fronts: [Diet, Exercise & Lifestyle](https://onco.cc/fronts/nutrition-lifestyle/), [Supportive Care & Survivorship](https://onco.cc/fronts/supportive-care/)
- technologies: [Ayurvedic medicine and cancer](https://onco.cc/technologies/ayurvedic-medicine-cancer/), [Evidence-based integrative oncology](https://onco.cc/technologies/integrative-oncology/), [Exercise & lifestyle oncology](https://onco.cc/technologies/exercise-oncology/), [Psycho-oncology and distress screening](https://onco.cc/technologies/psycho-oncology/)
- terms: [Quality of life](https://onco.cc/terms/quality-of-life/)
- bottlenecks: [Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/)
- key papers: [Integrative Oncology Care of Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Adults With Cancer: Society for Integrative Oncology-ASCO Guideline](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-carlson-j-clin-oncol/), [Yoga for improving health-related quality of life, mental health and cancer-related symptoms in women diagnosed with breast cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-cramer-cochrane-database-syst-rev/)
- roadmaps: [Diet, exercise and lifestyle roadmap: causes established → interventions that disappointed → exercise proven as treatment](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/nutrition-lifestyle-roadmap/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/yoga-cancer.json