Exercise Daily
While it’s important to get enough rest, too much rest can lead to loss of body function, reduced range of motion and muscle weakness. To combat this, it’s crucial to balance in physical activity on a daily basis. Some benefits of regular exercise include decrease in tiredness, weight control, improvement of self-esteem, decreased risk of heart disease and a lowered risk of being anxious and depressed.
There are certain factors that can affect your ability to exercise such as the type of cancer you have, your cancer treatment and your fitness level. Your exercise program should be based on what’s safe, what works best for you and simply what you enjoy doing. If you’re new to working out or it’s been a while since you’ve had any physical activity, you may want to safely and slowly ease into your new exercise program and consult with your doctor to see if they can tailor an exercise program that best suits you.
Stop Smoking
The risk of getting CML may not be affected by smoking, but, it can be a risk factor for many different cancers. This lifestyle change, alone, can enhance the length and quality of your life. Other benefits of quitting smoking include improvement of your circulation, your lung function increases, dramatic decrease in the risk of heart attacks, lower risks of different complications with your treatments and your body and immune system strengthens; within the first 20 minutes after quitting smoking, your heart rate and blood pressure drop. Quitting this habit may not be easy to do, but the good news is it’s never too late to quit using tobacco. Speak with your doctor about quitting and contact the American Cancer Society to find out what resources may be available to help you quit this habit for good. It may also help to join a support group.
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De-stress
Dealing with the stresses of every day life is more than enough for any person to deal with, but, if you’re living with CML, you may have additional feelings of anxiety or depression, even if you’ve taken on additional lifestyle changes. If you’re experiencing any of the aforementioned feelings, as well as feeling hopeless or having difficulty concentrating, speak with your doctor about referring you to a counselor.
Your counselor can help you cope with your feelings and and offer activities you can do regularly to help manage your stress which may result in getting better sleep and deceasing anxiety. Such activities include yoga, prayer, meditation, deep breathing, guided visualization and aromatherapy. Spend some time every day trying any of these activities or by simply engaging in any of your favorite activities that brings you happiness.
While you may not be able to change the fact that you have cancer, you can choose to start living your best life today. Speak with your doctor and seek a support group to help jumpstart your journey to being your healthy and best self.
