Chemo Brain

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.