How to Improve Quality of Life in Cancer Patients — 5 Techniques

Are you trying to find coping mechanisms for stress related to cancer?

It’s not easy to live with cancer! Patients with cancer have to fight with themselves daily to stay strong while they witness their deterioration.

This disease can affect a person’s emotional health for the rest of their life, even after treatment.

I’m writing this because I’m watching my father going through the same. Trying to stay positive, hopeful, and strong are the only ways to cope with cancer stress.

Covid-19 has increased more anxiety and stress that is already associated with receiving a diagnosis of cancer. Many cancer patients are fearful of catching this deadly virus and being compromised because they already have weak immune systems.

But don’t worry this article will help you to improve your loved one’s medical condition and will also promote their emotional well-being.

These tactics will help to improve cancer patients quality of life:

1) Meditation (Mindfulness)

Meditation techniques help to calm the mind. Half of the cancer patients have problems sleeping because of the physical changes caused by surgery or chemotherapy and this also affects their diet too. Meditation is a great way to improve quality of life after chemotherapy.

If you’re relaxed then you will sleep well so, in cases of cancer, meditation helps.

Mindfulness meditation uses breathing techniques and guided imagery to calm the mind:

Simple Breathing Exercise

Guide them to follow these steps:

• Take a breath first and feel your belly expand
• Hold it for a minute or seconds and
• Then exhale slowly
• Relax and feel the calmness and repeat the steps when you feel stressed

Guided Imagery

This stress-reduction technique is also called visualization or imagery. Have you ever seen videos on youtube with ambient voices, nature sounds with a therapist's voice? The motive of these videos is to guide you into a state of deep relaxation.

In this state, a person thinks about a peaceful and safe place. The main method that is used for cancer patients of guided imagery is:

Simonton Method- In this method, people who have cancer imagine themselves fighting cancer cells. Then the therapist might ask them to imagine breathing in a peaceful place with deep breaths and feel the healing in their body.

Additionally, some studies have proven that cancer patients’ feelings of fatigue, stress, anxiety, and fear about a cancer recurrence can all be reduced by mindfulness meditation.

2) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Research has proved that cognitive-behavioral therapy reduces the fear of recurrence, distress, and anxiety in cancer patients.

CBT includes these steps:

• Recognizing the distressing factors and events in your life
• recognizing one’s feelings, ideas, and convictions regarding the issues
• Then identify the negative thinking
• Next, reframe that false and negative thought.

3) Exercise or Physical Activity

For cancer patients, maintaining an active lifestyle is a good way to manage daily stress. Yoga and other forms of physical exercise provide people with a feeling of power over their bodies and help to reduce stress and anxiety.

Simple activities like walking several times a week and yoga help to reduce fatigue and boredom and also produce mood-boosting endorphins that help them relieve stress and worries.

4) Psychotherapy (Talk Therapy)

Consulting with a licensed mental health practitioner, such as a psychologist, counselor, or psychiatrist, can help cancer patients feel less stressed and have better emotional health and a higher quality of life. Patients who are undergoing psychotherapy can better comprehend their emotions, ideas, and actions. Some people prefer counseling in a group setting and some prefer one-on-one counseling.

5) Social Support

Social support refers to the advantages you receive from connecting with those who share your life, such as practical assistance, emotional support, and other benefits from:

• your friends
• your family members
• Health care providers
• Supervisors and co-workers

Social support can improve cancer patients’ quality of life. They cope with the stress better emotionally than those people who have little social support. Try to make them laugh because nothing eases their tension better than a good laugh! Talk to them about exciting things but not about their illness because they are already tired of hearing that from everyone.

I know it’s not easy to watch someone you love in pain but you’re not alone. If you are going through this, try to stay positive in this difficult time and motivate your loved one to fight back! It will pass. I hope that these coping techniques will make their life better than before.