A new study says that the Transcendental Meditation technique can help reduce stress and improve mental health and emotional well-being among women with breast cancer.

The study, "A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Transcendental Meditation on Quality of Life in Older Breast Cancer Patients", has been published in the current issue of the peer-reviewed Integrative Cancer Therapies.

"It is wonderful that physicians now have a range of interventions to use, including Transcendental Meditation, to benefit their patients with cancer," said Rhoda Pomerantz, M.D., study co-author and chief of gerontology, Saint Joseph Hospital.

"I believe this approach should be appreciated and utilized more widely," the expert added.

One hundred thirty women with breast cancer, 55 years and older, participated in the two-year study at Saint Joseph Hospital. The women were randomly assigned to either the Transcendental Meditation technique or to a usual care control group. Patients were administered quality of life measures, including the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), every six months for two years. The average intervention period was 18 months.

Stress contributes to the onset and progression of breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women-striking about 13 percent of women. Women over the age of 50 have four times the incidence of breast cancer compared to women below 50.

"Emotional and psychosocial stress contribute to the onset and progression of breast cancer and cancer mortality," said Sanford Nidich, lead author of the study and senior researcher at the Institute for Natural Medicine and Prevention at Maharishi University of Management.