A cancer diagnosis is not just extremely stressful, most often it is very frightening. Then when you think about what you have to go through to treat it and beat cancer, it can be downright harrowing. That is where mindfulness can help.
We’ll get into the exact definition of mindfulness in the next few paragraphs but first you should know, according to the American Cancer Society, practicing mindfulness has many benefits for cancer patients. Those include:
- Reducing stress
- Boosting mood
- Lowering depression and anxiety
But the benefits don’t stop there according to a study found in the National Institutes of Health. While more studies may be needed, mindfulness has been shown to reduce toxicity and stress.
In a study to find out whether Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) helps women with breast cancer, research showed using MBSR lowered distress, boosted immune response, and improved mental health. Mindfulness was also shown to decrease pain intensity in cancer patients. Thus, reducing the need for some pain medication. It also lowers cancer-related fatigue, improves sleep, and boosts immune response.
During radiation, mindfulness can also help reduce stress.
And according to a JAMA Network article from 2020 reviewing 28 random clinical trials with more than 3,000 participants “mindfulness-based interventions or sessions were associated with reductions in the severity of anxiety in adults with cancer up to 6 months after delivery of mindfulness sessions compared with usual care, waitlist control, or no intervention. At the same time, these mindfulness sessions resulted in less severity of depression and improvement in health-related quality of life was also observed.”
What Is Mindfulness Exactly?
The goal of mindfulness is to help a person pay attention to the present moment, which can lead to relaxation, stress reduction and healing. It is a practice that focuses on a state of mind to bring calmness, gratitude, compassion, and acceptance to the person doing the practice.
It can be practiced in many ways including:
- Meditation
- Breathwork
- Body Scans: Focusing on individual parts of the body.
- Gentle yoga
- Guided imagery
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center offers several meditations on its website for cancer patients to help with everything from preparing for procedures to managing pain to helping with sleep. Just practicing a few minutes in a day can make a difference. And while mindfulness takes time to learn and patience to practice, that benefits build over time.
CyberKnife and Mindfulness
As mentioned above, mindfulness can help patients undergoing radiation therapy, including patients undergoing CyberKnife treatment. CyberKnife is a form of stereotactic body radiation therapy or SBRT that uses image-guided robotic technology to deliver strong and precise radiation to cancerous tumors.
According to the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, for patients undergoing radiation, mindfulness may improve cancer care by lowering stress and increasing perceived social support.
The experts at the experts at CyberKnife Center of Miami, are here to help you with that journey.
Among the biggest things that set us apart from other cancer centers is our relationship with our patients. We create a calm, positive atmosphere for cancer treatment. We hold your hand through the entire treatment process, and we also take care of your family. We want everyone to know you and they are in good hands. We make it as easy as possible for you and help you get through it as quickly as possible because the whole thing can be very daunting. We put patients first, and that alone takes a lot of stress out of the process for you and your family.
“I think it is the most common comment I get from patients is that “you probably have no idea how good your staff is.” They take a potentially frightening experience and make it a warm and friendly one,” says Dr. Mark Pomper, medical director of CyberKnife Miami and board-certified radiation oncologist.
Pairing a calm environment for treatment with mindfulness can certainly be a helpful combination when fighting cancer and we set that up for you.
If you would like to find out more about how our compassionate team at CyberKnife Miami can help you, or if you want to know about treatment with CyberKnife call us at 305-279-2900 or go to our website now for more information www.cyberknifemiami.com.