Yoga therapy, as a complementary treatment for cancer patients, improves quality of life by reducing stress, enhancing heart rate variability, and altering hormonal regulation (e.g., lowering cortisol), oxidative stress, and inflammation. However, direct evidence for yoga's effect on tumor response or overall survival is lacking. This narrative review details findings from randomized clinical trials on yoga's biochemical mechanisms, but concludes that the biochemical effects on the cancer disease itself remain unknown, calling for more research.
A systematic review of four randomized controlled trials (275 patients) examined whether mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) helps adults with migraine. For migraine frequency, the meta-analysis of three studies found no statistically significant benefit from MBSR. For depressive symptoms, a meta-analysis of three studies showed a statistically significant benefit favoring MBSR. No study measured headache intensity during an attack. The evidence is currently insufficient to recommend MBSR as a non-drug preventive treatment for migraine; further high-quality trials are needed.