Motivation for Cancer Patients

Staying motivated to put on your running shoes after a long a stressful day at work takes a lot of effort. But with a disease like cancer it takes the extra push to tie the laces and get out of the door. This extra needed motivation is extremely important for cancer patients because it could be the one thing that will be sure to make them feel better.

Complications such as exhaustion, nausea, depression, anxiety, and pain are all reasons why cancer patients can put exercise on the back burner. But this is a time when finding the inspiration to exercise is more important than ever. It has been shown that regular exercise reduces stress levels, reduces fatigue, boosts immune systems, improves lung function, and reduces anxiety and depression more than remaining inactive. This is true for everyone, not just cancer patients. Exercise proves to have both physical and mental benefits.

What especially helps cancer patients are the mental benefits from exercise. Although pain and nausea are issues cancer patients cope with, fatigue and sleep disorders are two of the most common side effects after cancer treatment. These two side-effects have different sources, but the mental taxation cancer supplies is often a clear cause. Exercise provides reduction in this anxiety which gives cancer patients the ability to rid themselves of these mental burdens.

Cancer patients need a way to clear their minds and find peace with their disease and exercise is the exactly the way the accomplish this. So knowing how important exercise is for cancer patients they need to dig deep and be able to find the motivation to accomplish this. Many people either find motivation from within or look to others for support. Cancer patients often have support systems during this difficult time. There are support groups for most cancers such as breast cancer and liver cancer, and there are even mesothelioma support groups, for those with the extremely rare cancer. These groups can be used for help with motivation.

Once motivation is found and exercise is able to become a routine part of cancer treatment it is much easier for cancer patients to stay positive.

Liz Davies is a recent college graduate and aspiring writer especially interested in health and wellness. She became particularly interested in ways cancer patients can cope with the side-effects of their treatment after her mother became an oncology nurse for lung cancer.