Chinese survivors of breast cancer have a better chance to recover if they write about their fears and emotions, a new study from the University of Houston suggests.

The study, published in the scholarly journal Health Psychology, showed that recovering patients who wrote for 20 to 30 minutes a day, three to four days a week for three consecutive weeks saw improvements in their immune function.

The "release offered by writing had a direct impact on the body's capacity to withstand stress and fight off infection and disease", the report said.