Patients with cancer who meditate each morning and evening could reduce the chance of it spreading, scientists say.
Twice-daily attempts to reduce stress could help prevent cancer cells becoming more robust, harder to treat and more likely to spread, a study has found.
Levels of cortisol, a chemical produced when a person is stressed, fluctuate naturally throughout the day. However, in cancer patients they often remain persistently high.
Research presented at an American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Phoenix, Arizona, found that cancer cells exposed to cortisol behaved differently. As a result, the researchers said patients should reduce stress “as much as they can”.
Suggested methods of lowering stress include “exercise, get outside in nature, engage in mindfulness practices like journaling, meditation or deep breathing, eat a healthy diet, give back to others, get enough sleep”.
Dr Kimberly Bussey, a cancer specialist at Midwestern University, who worked on the research, said: “As for time of day, I think there are arguments to be made for starting and ending the day with practices that reduce stress and promote quality sleep.
“In the morning, those practices can support a resilient mental state that helps us manage daily stress better. At night, those same types of practices can help us relax and facilitate getting quality sleep.”
The research found that cortisol permanently increased the “stemness” of cancer cells – a measure of how adaptable they are to change.
Data also showed that cortisol made cancer cells better able to spread to different tissues and survive treatment with some chemotherapy drugs. Experiments on cells in a lab indicated the changes were permanent, and not undone if a person becomes less stressed.