Cancer Patients: Reducing Stress and Anxiety
What is mindfulness and meditation? How can one practice meditation? These are the simple questions that cancer patients should always ask themselves. Cancer patients have undergone a lot of research, and it has been noted that they experience a lot of stress and anxiety from the physical and emotional toll of their diagnosis and treatment. Mindfulness and meditation share the common ground of developing awareness of the present state of affairs and have been found helpful in reducing these psychological loads.
A cognitive technique that enables patients to accept their condition but not to ruminate over it is called mindfulness, which actually means watching our thoughts and feelings without getting caught up in them. There is evidence-based literature to support that mindfulness-based treatments like mind fullness-based stress reduction lessen anxiety, depression and fatigue in patients with cancer. Some techniques help patients get rid of thinking about the future or thinking about the things or decisions that were made in the past.
Meditation, which relates very much to mindfulness, is another good way to beat stress. Meditation is a valuable tool in helping patients to calm their brains and to diminish the signs of anxiety. Methods like guided imagery enable a person to watch pleasing images, while body scans help a person to focus on their body and feel relaxed.
Research on the blending of mindfulness and meditation in cancer has been associated with an increase in positive mental health and life status. Firstly, these practices help to minimize stress and, at the same time, give control over patients’ psychological conditions despite the possibility of unpredictable medical prognosis. Mindfulness and meditation are not only inexpensive but also entirely devoid of side effects – both of them can be considered as non-pharmacological complementary therapy targeting the psychological aspects frequently encountered during cancer therapy.
WRITTEN BY: AMEDICC.COM
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