The Olive Tree

Helping those with cancer

Helping those with cancer - the benefits of breathwork

The Olive Tree

Based in Crawley and Horsham, the Olive Tree Cancer Support Centre aims to help everyone affected by cancer.

I discovered the Olive Tree charity back in May and now have the opportunity of helping both volunteers and members.

This fantastic charity provides a range of services to support people dealing with cancer - from the point of diagnosis, through to treatment and beyond.

What attracted me to the charity was the number of complementary therapies available to help those affected by cancer. Complementary therapies are used alongside conventional treatments - as opposed to being alternatives.

The therapies aim to help people to relax, reduce stress levels, alleviate the side effects of cancer treatments and enhance feelings of well-being. Medical studies show that breathing exercises may help:

Breathwork and chemotherapy

A trial in Japan (Hayama and Inoue 2012) investigated the effect of deep breathing intervention on 'tension-anxiety' and fatigue in 23 Japanese women having adjuvant chemotherapy (chemo after primary treatment) and found both symptoms of the intervention group were relieved more than those of the control group.

Breathing exercises and the improvement in post-operative pulmonary function and quality of life in patients with lung cancer

Similarly, a meta-analysis study (W Liu et al 2013) - the aim of which is to establish statistical significance with studies that have conflicting results and develop a more correct estimate of effect magnitude - pooled 8 clinical studies with 398 lung cancer patients.

When all the eligible studies were pooled into the meta-analysis, there was a significant difference between the pre-intervention and post-intervention results of breathing exercises on post-operative pulmonary function.