Research
Slow hands, quiet nights? Tai chi and a matched exercise class nudged sleep about equally in older men after cancer
The Brief
- A study compared tai chi with a matched exercise class in older men after cancer treatment.
- Both interventions improved sleep by roughly similar amounts, according to the report.
- Sleep disturbances affect up to 60% of people after primary cancer treatment, per the source.
Why it matters
Sleep problems after cancer are common and often dismissed, and little evidence has targeted older men, so the finding gives clinicians and researchers a comparison point for non-drug options.
Who’s affected
- older men who have completed cancer treatment
- clinicians and researchers working on cancer survivorship and sleep
Sleep disturbances affect up to 60% of people after primary cancer treatment, and they are often waved away as the price of treatment, or of age. For older men in particular, science has had little to offer. Most research on behavioral treatments for insomnia has studied women…