Cancer

Prayer helps Cancer Patients

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“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Depression affects approximately 15% to 25% of cancer patients. This is not surprising as a diagnosis of cancer can cause a number of patients to become depressed. The problem is, though, that depression can affect the course of the disease, with mortality rates 25% to 39% higher in cancer patients who are also depressed. So it would appear that the two are linked such that cancer diagnosis can induce depression and depression can reduce the prognosis for recovery.

Many cancer patients pray to help cope with the disease, but it is not known if prayer is in any way affective in helping the patients with either depression or with dealing with cancer and its treatment. In today’s Research News article “Types of prayer and depressive symptoms among cancer patients: the mediating role of rumination and social support”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1074914312532494/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4183194/

John Perez and colleagues investigated the relationship between different kinds of prayer and depression in cancer patients and find that certain types of prayer are associated with lower depression in these patients.

They investigated eight different types of prayer—adoration, confession, reception, supplication, thanksgiving, prayer for one’s physical health, prayer for emotional strength, and prayer for others’ well-being. They found that more adoration prayer, reception prayer, thanksgiving prayer, and prayer for the well-being of others the lower the level of depression.

In looking deeper at the pattern of results they determined that prayers of thanksgiving acted by decreasing ruminative self-focused attention which in turn reduced depression. It would make sense that prayer that helped focus the patient on what they are thankful for in life would result in an increase in positive emotions and a decrease in the time spent ruminating about the cancer, leading to lower depression.

They also found that that prayer for the well-being of others was directly associated with lower depression and indirectly by being positively related to social support which is in turn associated with reduced depression. Praying for others directs attention away from the patient toward the problems of others. This can help provide a perspective on their problems with cancer and thereby reduce the depression. People who are thinking of the well-being of others tend to be better cared about and liked by others. The increase in the social support for them may follow. If someone cares about others, others care about them.

Reception and adoration prayer are both forms of contemplative prayer which is a form of meditation. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to improve the negative psychological issues that can go along with a cancer diagnosis http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/tackle-cancer-with-mindfulness/. So engaging in these forms of prayer may work through the same mechanism as meditation in improving the mood of cancer patients.

Hence it appears that the common response of cancer patients to pray is more than just an expression of religious faith. It has a positive impact on the patient’s psychological well-being which is known to improve the prognosis for recovery.

So, pray when cancer is diagnosed, reduce depression, and increase survival chances.

CMCS

 

Tackle Cancer with Mindfulness

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Cancer is arguably the most feared disease. Just the word seems to strike fear in the hearts of most everyone, let alone a diagnosis of cancer. Unfortunately this fear is well founded. It is the second leading cause of death. It is estimated that in 2015, 1,658,370 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. and 589,430 people will die from the disease.

But beyond the mortality figures, cancer is so feared because the treatments are so difficult. It can take years of treatments that produce horrible side effects and even if they are effective there is a never ending fear of reoccurrence. There is a need to not only treat the cancer itself, but to find ways to help the victim to endure the treatments and deal with the difficult psychological and social issues that go along with the living with diagnosis, treatment, and recovery.

Mindfulness training has been found to be very helpful with the physical and psychological issues associated with diagnosis, treatment, and recovery from cancer. In today’s Research News “The impact of mindfulness-based interventions on symptom burden, positive psychological outcomes, and biomarkers in cancer patients.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4457221/

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1042255255798400/?type=1&theater

A large amount of research is reviewed and summarized. It suggests that mindfulness appears to be helpful in dealing with all of the issues surrounding cancer.

Based upon the available evidence, mindfulness training appears to be helpful with the psychological issues of distress, stress, sleep disturbance, and fatigue, quality of life and spirituality. It can assist with regulating the fear associated with cancer. Mindfulness training focuses the individual on the present moment, while fear is focused on potential future negative events. By focusing on what is transpiring now and not in the future mindfulness can ameliorate fear. It doesn’t eliminate fear. It simply makes it more manageable.

Mindfulness is known to improve emotion regulation. With training the individual is better able to deal with emotions as they arise and respond to them more appropriately. So, it helps the victims cope with the myriad of emotions associated with cancer and its treatment. The improved regulation of emotions and the reduction in fear can facilitate better sleep and increase feelings of well-being. Indeed, mindfulness has been found to be associated with improvements in sleep and increases in feelings of calm and well-being in cancer patients.

Mindfulness can help manage the pain associated directly with the cancer and indirectly with the treatments. It appears to slightly reduce the pain but has a larger impact on the psychological perception of pain. Mindfulness decreases the nervous systems responses to pain, helping the patients cope with the persistent discomfort.

Mindfulness has been well documented to reduce stress. This is particularly important in cancer patients who are under intense physical and psychological stress. Reducing this stress in turn improves the body’s ability to fight off the disease and also improves the individual’s psychological capacity to weather the storm.

All of these psychological effects of mindfulness result in an improvement in the patients’ quality of life. This is very important as fighting cancer is usually a long term-proposition. The better the quality of life with cancer the better the individual’s ability to persevere and continue to fight over the long haul.

Beyond the psychological help provided by mindfulness it also appears to help physically. It has been show to improving immune function and even alters the expression of genes associated with inflammation. It improves the regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis which is associated with stress hormones. It reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system which is associated with activation and stress. In addition, it can affect the body’s cells themselves increasing the important indicator of cellular aging, telomere length. All of these physical changes are indicators of improvements in the body’s ability to fight off the cancer, withstand the treatments, and improve recovery.

So, use mindfulness as a tool to improve your ability to tackle cancer.

CMCS

Age Healthily – Mindful Movement and Cancer Recovery

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Age Healthily – Mindful Movement and Cancer Recovery

Arguably the most feared disease is cancer. It is the second leading cause of death in advanced countries. In the US it accounts for over a half a million deaths annually. But, even if cancer is survived the debilitating effects of the disease may so weaken the individual to interfere with further recovery from the cancer or can lead to death from other causes.

Fatigue and distress are common symptoms among cancer survivors. This can lead to declines in quality of life, and poor adherence to cancer treatment. For older survivors, fatigue and distress can become debilitating.  The survivors lack the energy to manage the side effects of the treatments. The fatigue can also impair the elderly person’s ability to stave off other age-related diseases. It can also further exacerbate the declines in physical functioning associated with aging. The joint effect of all of these fatigue related issues  may create a downward spiral towards poor health and functioning. This can threaten their ability to maintain their independence into late life or even their life itself.

In today’s Research News article, “Levels of Fatigue and Distress in Senior Prostate Cancer Survivors Enrolled in a 12-Week Randomized Controlled Trial of Qigong,”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1030202173670375/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945387/pdf/nihms536092.pdf

it is discovered that engaging in an ancient practice of mindful movement, Qi Gong, helps to relieve the fatigue and distress resulting from recovery from prostate cancer.

This is a potentially important finding as mindful movement practices are virtually an ideal exercise for the elderly. The slow mindful movements tend to increase mindfulness and also improve muscle strength and balance. The increased mindfulness can lead to marked psychological benefits of greater happiness and engagement in life as well as decreased depression and anxiety.

The increased muscle strength tends to help counteract the deterioration of the muscles associated with aging. While the improved balance aids in preventing falls that can have disastrous consequences given the fragile bones of the elderly. Mindful movement can do all of this and not produce further problems since the practice is not stressful on the muscles and bones. So it can be practiced without fear of injury.

So, engage in mindful movement practice and improve health particularly if your recovering from a debilitating health challenge.

CMCS