Chemo Brain

Dancing Can Get You Out of Your Chemo Brain Slump

Grab a partner and get dancing at your own pace.  Take dance lessons or dance to live music.  Dance is great exercise and can have a positive effect on the attention and thinking problems caused by chemo brain.  Dancing can also help improve problems with balance and dizziness caused by cancer and treatment.

• According to the Scott Hamilton CARES Initiative, many cancer medications and treatments such as chemotherapy cause problems with balance and dizziness, which affects people's mobility and thinking.

• Results from a study by the University of Birmingham showed that aerobic exercise significantly improved quality of life measures, including depression, for breast cancer patients.

Dance can stimulate your mind because it requires you to pay attention and memorize movements, and can stimulate communication between the right- and left-sides of your brain.  It also stimulates the three parts of your mind that influence movement and balance.  For example, to dance, the back part of your brain that controls movement needs to communicate with your inner ear that controls balance and with the front of your brain that organizes everything. 

Get Dancing To Better Cope With Cancer Fatigue

According to Canadian researchers, a major reason why cancer patients don’t stick with aerobic exercise is because of fatigue.   However, participating in dance or aerobic activity (with your doctor’s approval) can equip your mind and body to better cope with fatigue.  If you ask a friend or partner to schedule time to take dance lessons each week at your own pace, you can get even more support to stick with it.  Finally, make sure to tell your dance instructor or partner about any physical or mental limitations you are experiencing so you get the support you need. 

Reduce Pressure On Your Time and Mind

Chemo brain's impact on your mind can limit your ability to do many things at once.  You may experience a slowness in your thoughts, conversations, and actions.  This situation requires you to limit the time pressure you feel when performing activities and going through your day.  You need to enhance the amount of time you give yourself to perform tasks, and simply  steps.

• According to a study by Fasotti et al. (2000), after teaching patients how to reduce the time pressure they experience on tasks throughout the day, participants ended up using more self-management strategies and had better performance on tasks requiring attention and memory.

By giving yourself more time and simplifying activities, you limit the pressure on your already slower mental processing, and enable yourself to better focus, remember, and stay on track.

Simplify In Advance

Before you start each day, imagine the activities ahead of you.  Are there multiple tasks that need to be done at the same time or ones you can only accomplish by rushing.  If so, you need to determine what to drop or change in your schedule and activities to reduce the pressure on your time and mind.

You can also create an emergency plan  about how you will keep your day simple (such as saying "no" to new activities) if something unexpected happens that puts pressure on your time.

By simplifying activities and giving yourself more time, you reduce the amount of information your mind needs to process, and you reduce pressure on your mind.

Mental Training For Chemo Brain While On The Go

If you are battling chemo brain and are always on the go with your health, family, work, and life in general, you can use the two resources below to help you train your mind anytime, anywhere.  These small books give you exercises you can do with a deck of cards to train your attention and memory.  The exercises in these books are simple and fun enough to be done anywhere and fit into your busy schedule.  All you need is a deck of cards and time while you are waiting for an appointment, receiving treatment, taking a lunch break, or relaxing at home.

• Cognition, Attention and Recall Drill Set CARDS: Attention-- Learn More

• Cognition, Attention and Recall Drill Set CARDS: Memory-- Learn More

Use Soft Belly Technique To Access Full Brain Potential

Because chemo brain can negatively affect your ability to remember, pay attention and think, you don’t feel like your normal self, which can cause you to get stressed out.  Your stress level impacts your mind:

• A research study by the Weill Medical College at Cornell and Rockefeller University found that stress can limit your ability to focus attention and to access the full potential of your brain. 

• Researcher Robert J. Ferguson, Ph.D. at the Maine Rehabilitation Center found that applied relaxation techniques for cancer and chemo brain patients can help improve attention and memory. 

To reduce stress and enhance your mind’s ability to process information, you can use a relaxation technique called Soft Belly. 

Soft Belly Relaxation

To do Soft Belly Relaxation, get yourself into a comfortable position and take a few deep cleansing breaths in through your nose and out your mouth.  Then, continue breathing easily in through your nose and out your mouth.  Each inhale and exhale should last for about five seconds.  As you breathe, notice your belly moving out and in.  Try to make your belly as soft, flexible, and rhythmic as possible as you breathe.  Focus on the slow motion of your soft belly, and focus on blowing out tension in your body with every exhale.  Continue soft breathing and soft belly until you are completely relaxed.

Walking Can Improve Memory Impacted By Chemo Brain

Movement can have a major impact on the mind’s ability to focus, remember, and know where you are in time and space.  When you are battling cancer, however, you tend to be less physically active because of the toll placed on your mind and body.  If your doctor approves, walking can improve attention and memory effected by chemo brain.

• Preliminary results from researchers at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center are finding that cancer patients who walk briskly for 30-45 minutes, five days a week do better on memory tests than non-exercise patients.

• A University of Michigan study found that people who take walks through nature, trees and fields increased their short-term memory by 20% compared to people who walk through busy streets.

• According to Amnon Gimpel, M.D., Psychiatrist and Neurologist, aerobic exercise increases levels of neurotransmitters in the brain (dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine) that improve emotional stability, focus, mental alertness and calm.

Get Walking

Lace-up your walking shoes, call a friend, and hit a nature trail (with doctor approval, of course).  Walking briskly through nature helps expand your mind’s awareness, and changes your mind’s neural communications to improve attention and memory.  Walking with someone also enhances mental stimulation because your mind has to do many things at once: control movement and direction, listen and observe, formulate speech, process information, tell linear stories, and relive memories.

If you walk alone and want to further stimulate your mind, you can sing the words to an old song, count backwards by twos, or snap your fingers to your walking rhythm.

Enjoy the sites, sounds, and the feeling of a cool breeze against your face by taking a walk each day.  Your mind will love you for it.

Tip To Calm Your Worried Mind

When living with cancer, you can experience a roller coaster of emotions throughout the day.  The following is an effective method you can use at anytime to STOP and relax in order to reclaim clarity and balance in your mind and body.  Some people schedule this technique into their calendar as a special appointment with themselves so they remember to reduce stress and stop worrying throughout the day.

Stress got you down?  Try this tip to balance throughout the day

By Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., January 29 2009

I often say that there are two things we can count on in this life besides death and taxes and that is stress and pain. Two thirds of Americans claim that they are likely to seek help for stress (American Psychological Association) and over 19 million Americans alone suffer from some form of anxiety. While this may seem like depressing statistics, it’s important to know and acknowledge the facts.  When we know what the issues are, we can work toward a plan to alleviate then which cultivates the strength of hope.

Stress Control: Taking Control of the Source of Your Stress

Nutrition & Diets : Strengthening Your Immune System

Breathing Relaxation Exercise: Use It Before, During and After Treatment

Complementary Cancer Treatments: Helping You Sort Out Safe Alternative Treatments

The following is a good article from the Mayo Clinic about eleven alternative cancer treatments that the clinic believes are worth trying to address symptoms.  As the Mayo Clinic emphasizes, alternative treatments can’t cure cancer, but they may provide some relief from symptoms such as anxiety, fatigue, pain and stress.

Alternative cancer treatments: 11 alternative treatments worth a try

From the Mayo Clinic

Alternative cancer treatments can't cure your cancer, but they may provide some relief from signs and symptoms.

Many people with cancer are interested in trying complementary and alternative cancer treatments. If cancer makes you feel as though you have little control over your health, alternative cancer treatments may offer some hope. But many alternative cancer treatments are unproved and dangerous.

To help you sort out the good from the bad, here are 11 alternative cancer treatments that are generally safe. Plus, there is some evidence that these 11 alternative cancer treatments may provide some benefit.