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.
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