Helping Cancer Patients Stay Positive Can Help With Their Recovery
It’s no secret that a cancer diagnosis can be a very stressful experience for everyone involved. It can require extensive medical treatment like chemotherapy and dozens of medical appointments with an oncology doctor and large medical team.
The prospect of cancer and cancer treatment often takes a tremendous toll on more than just the physical well-being of the person diagnosed. Cancer also challenges the mental health of the patient, and they may feel stress, anxiety, or depression which can cause difficulty coping.
How Does A Positive, Calm, Outlook Help Cancer Patients?
Maintaining a positive outlook is important to recovering from cancer. Why? For one thing, people with a positive outlook tend to be more likely to follow medical advice and treatment plans. A cancer patient who feels optimistic is more inclined to take steps to stay as healthy as possible by taking their medication, exercising, or following a special diet.
A positive outlook can also help cancer patients maintain relationships with friends and family members. Fostering close relationships during cancer treatments and seeking support from loved ones can reinforce positive feelings and provide renewed energy to someone with cancer.
Getting diagnosed with cancer can be emotional and result in feelings of stress and sadness, both of which can be harmful to your health. One of the best ways to help when your friend has cancer is to help them manage their stress level with activities to distract, amuse, and support them.
How Can You Help Distract And De-stress Your Friend With Cancer?
The activities listed below are designed to distract patients from their illness and keep them feeling good about themselves:
- Watch a movie with them
- Listen to music together
- Go for a walk in the park, garden, or on the beach, holding hands and talking openly about anything from their favorite activities before they were diagnosed to how you can help make things easier.
- Hang out at home and watch funny clips of their favorite TV sitcom or comedy special or watch silly videos on Youtube or TikTok.
- Cook or bake together.
- Do a great big jigsaw puzzle
- Play a game of jacks, cards, monopoly, or a nostalgic board game and laugh about antics from when they were younger.
- Have them show you how to do something new, like cooking an unusual dish or learning to crochet or knit
- Read aloud to them from a book or magazine.
- Offer to exercise with them with a walk or a yoga class
- Write letters together and mail them to friends, family members, doctors, or nurses at the hospital.
- Do any activities they enjoy that make them feel like their normal self, like playing sports, painting, drawing, writing in journals.
- Encourage them to talk about memories, funny stories, their family, or anything else they want to talk about. Listen patiently and actively.
- if you can’t be with them in person, texting or talking on the phone is an excellent way to offer distraction. Sending funny memes, quotes, emojis, and texts throughout the day can be very helpful. Even if you don’t get responses, you can bet the person’s enjoying them! Texting is an easy way to let them know you are trying to help and are likely succeeding!
This list is not comprehensive. You can’t go wrong by asking how you can help your friend cope with their cancer. You can always ask what activities they want to do or how they want to be treated on a given day. Understanding their symptoms and side effects can also help you get a sense of how to better help distract and engage them.
Send Cancer Gift Baskets from Rock the Treatment To Help Cancer Treatment
Remember this: many people just don’t want to be alone with their thoughts when they have cancer. Anything you can do to offer a respite from their disease can be a blessing.
People with cancer say that receiving gifts always makes them forget their problems for a moment. Sending a cancer gift basket from Rock the Treatment is a perfect way to let someone know you are thinking of them. If someone you love has cancer, send them a helpful cancer gift basket from Rock The Treatment. Chemotherapy and radiation gift baskets are packed with the essentials needed to ease side effects of treatment, as well as enhance physical and mental well-being. See all of our cancer care packages and find the one that best supports their journey.
