In a new and fascinating study published in the nursing journal Biological research for nursing, a research team lead by the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute and the University of South Florida suggests that stress management after breast cancer can reduce recurrence of the disease.
The study centers on pro-inflammatory cytokines among breast cancer survivors. Cytokines are protein messengers who signal the cells of the immune system to initiate inflammation as part of the body’s natural healing process. However, chronic overproduction of inflammatory cytokines, (better known as chronic inflammation) has been linked to cancer.
Stress management techniques, specifically Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, a technique that helps the patient focus on the “now moment,” and incorporates meditation, yoga and physical awareness to help patients not dwell in the past or catastrophize the future, can positively affect the immune response by reducing the pro-inflammatory cytokines.1
This is not the first study to make the link between stress management and reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence.
Recently research from a combined Chinese and American scientific team explored the positive aspects of mindfulness-based stress reduction in women with breast cancer suffering from post-treatment anxieties.
The researchers noted that after chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment completion, breast cancer survivors frequently experience residual symptoms of pain, fatigue, high levels of psychological stress, anxiety, depression, fear of recurrence, and metastasis.
The doctors note: “Post-treatment stress can adversely affect health-related quality of life, which, in turn, induces onset or recurrence of chronic diseases. Effective interventions that target these psychological symptoms and their physiological consequences are needed.”
One of the worst periods of stress, the researchers wrote, was when women completed chemotherapy and radiation treatments and then progressed to the “watchful waiting” state, a period when the physician seems to be “doing nothing.”
It is at this time survivors continue to report remaining physical symptoms of pain, fatigue, and sleep dysfunction, high levels of psychological stress, anxiety, depression, fear of recurrence and metastasis, and impaired quality of life. This the researchers report may contribute to the recurrence or progression of cancer.2 Mindfulness-based stress reduction is an effective intervention.
1 Reich RR, Lengacher CA, Klein TW, Newton C, Shivers S, Ramesar S, Alinat CB, Paterson C, Le A, Park JY, Johnson-Mallard V. A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR [BC]) on Levels of Inflammatory Biomarkers Among Recovering Breast Cancer Survivors. Biological Research For Nursing. 2017 Jan 1:1099800417707268.
2 Huang J, Shi L. The effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for survivors of breast cancer: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2016;17:209. doi:10.1186/s13063-016-1335-z. 51316