Is Yoga Associated With Improved Sleep Amongst Breast Cancer Survivors?

Breast cancer survivors may experience sleep disturbances that can affect their physical and mental well-being. We sought to determine the association, if any, between yoga and sleep among breast cancer survivors in a population-based cohort.

The National Health Interview Survey is designed to be representative of the US civilian non-institutionalized population. We evaluated breast cancer survivors in the 2017 cohort to determine the association between yoga and self-reported quality of sleep.

Of the 25,905 people surveyed, representing 238,738,039 in the population, 1.59% reported a previous history of breast cancer. Breast cancer survivors were less likely to report having practiced yoga in the preceding 12 months, compared to those without a history of breast cancer (9.98% vs 13.78%, P = .011). In addition, they were more likely to report having had trouble falling asleep (44.64% vs 36.32%, P = .002), staying asleep (53.72% vs 39.43%, P < .001), and using sleep medication on at least 1 day within the previous week (23.80% vs 13.49%, P < .001) than those without breast cancer. Among breast cancer survivors, there were no significant differences in difficulty falling asleep (39.16% vs 44.98%, P = .482), difficulty staying asleep (61.17% vs 52.70%, P = .305), and needing sleep medication (19.03% vs 24.53%, P = .395) between those who practiced yoga and those who did not. Controlling for sociodemographic factors, there remained no association between yoga and difficulty falling or staying asleep among breast cancer survivors.

There is no direct association between yoga and sleep quality in breast cancer survivors.