Sunday 16 February 2014

Guardian News - Mind over cancer: can meditation aid recovery?

On 14th February 2014, The Guardian online published in article in the News>Society>Living with cancer section titled: Mind over cancer: can meditation aid recovery?.

Here are some of the key quotes:
"In the largest trial to date, published last year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, breast cancer survivors who practised mindfulness were found to have increased calm and wellbeing, better sleep and less physical pain.
[...]
Headspace's chief medical officer, Dr David Cox, prescribes cancer recoverers a dose of 10 to 40 minutes mindfulness practice a day.
[...]
Cox says medical professionals have known about the benefits for a while and mindfulness offers a "glimmer of hope" for tackling the spiralling cost of healthcare on the NHS. Because sufferers of depression tend to be more apathetic about looking after themselves and taking medication, compliance with treatment is therefore worse.
One of the reasons that mindfulness is really catching on is that it can be delivered in a way that is entirely secular, stripped of any religious connotations, making it entirely acceptable to the wider population.
"Around 30 years ago, yoga was probably sniffed at a little bit and now it's much more mainstream," Cox adds. "To me, it's the perfect storm for something that can really help a vast number of people. I hope in five years' time it will have the same level of acceptance as brushing your teeth every day, eating your five a day and doing 30 minutes' exercise.""

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