While the mortality rate of women with breast cancer is decreasing, the incidence of depression in women who have undergone treatment for breast cancer is on the rise. As many as 50% of all women who are affected with the disease will experience some kind of post-recovery melancholy. Thankfully, researchers from the Sinclair School of Nursing at the University of Missouri have brought to our attention a specific meditation technique, and suggest how it can help breast cancer survivors revive their zest for life.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a type of mindfulness training that uses the mind to combat anxiety and bring about a sense of wellbeing. It includes mental practices that heighten physical awareness, as well as yoga and time spent in quiet, reflective meditation. Developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, MBSR helps people foster their own mind-body connection, as well as create a deeper awareness of how thoughts and feelings can affect physical and emotional health.
The MBSR program consists of eight to ten week group sessions including practice in meditation skills, stress response and coping techniques. The University of Missouri’s team of researchers gathered data from the participants during and after the group sessions. Measurements of blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate were recorded. Not surprisingly, the participants’ physical responses to MBSR were favorable. Blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate all decreased, suggesting a lowered stress response. In addition, the subjects said their mood improved and their level of mindfulness increased.
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Guest blogger, Carol Dunlop is certified through FiTour as a Personal Trainer and through the American Red Cross as a CPR, AED and First Aid Instructor. She has competed and placed in several Fitness America and National Bodybuilding competitions. Carol was diagnosed with breast cancer in the summer of 2011 and she is sharing her story of survival at DietsInReview.com. Check out her website, OptimumBodySculpting.com.
Are you aware that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer? That’s a sobering statement, but one that you may not really connect with unless you have a personal experience with breast cancer. I am the one in eight.
I have to admit that I was like most people, I heard about breast cancer, donated to the cause and sympathized with anyone that was diagnosed. However, I never had a personal experience with it in my family or any close friends, until I was diagnosed. My husband’s mother passed from complications from breast cancer, but that was long before we even met. Now, my outlook and my reaction to hearing that a woman has passed from having this disease is totally different. It hits me deep in my heart.
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Guest blogger, Carol Dunlop is certified through FiTour as a Personal Trainer and through the American Red Cross as a CPR, AED and First Aid Instructor. She has competed and placed in several Fitness America and National Bodybuilding competitions. Carol was diagnosed with breast cancer in the summer of 2011 and she is sharing her story of survival at DietsInReview.com. Check out her website, OptimumBodySculpting.com.
Can you imagine anything more devastating than being diagnosed with breast cancer? How about finding out that your insurance company is refusing to pay for your treatment? And that no one in the company can give you any solid or sensible answers as to why?
Now that you’ve gathered your breath from the shock, this exact scenario is what has been playing out in my life and breast cancer journey since I was diagnosed four months ago.
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Guest blogger, Carol Dunlop is certified through FiTour as a Personal Trainer and through the American Red Cross as a CPR, AED and First Aid Instructor. She has competed and placed in several Fitness America and National Bodybuilding competitions. Carol was diagnosed with breast cancer in the summer of 2011 and she is sharing her story of survival at DietsInReview.com. Check out her website, OptimumBodySculpting.com.
Weeks, days, and hours. My time is relegated to watching my calendar intently for the next procedure, appointment, lab work or medicine dose. As I have said before, I was healthy and could go months without seeing a doctor. Now, if I go a week without seeing one, something is definitely off. Not only are there doctor’s appointments for them to basically look you over and make recommendations, there are lab trips for blood draws and tests and procedures and shots. It can all be so overwhelming, if you let it.
I am getting through it by taking one day, one procedure, one medication at a time. Once I’m finished with the last dosage, I am looking ahead to what’s next. Then, I stop. I can’t allow myself to go any farther. Going farther just overwhelms me and causes me to feel anxious and powerless. When it’s just one thing on my plate at a time, I have the power.
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Guest blogger, Carol Dunlop is certified through FiTour as a Personal Trainer and through the American Red Cross as a CPR, AED and First Aid Instructor. She has competed and placed in several Fitness America and National Bodybuilding competitions. Carol was diagnosed with breast cancer in the summer of 2011 and she is sharing her story of survival at DietsInReview.com. Check out her website, OptimumBodySculpting.com.
Having watched the movie “Five” on Lifetime TV that depicts five different breast cancer stories and the impact that this disease has on everyone, including those around you, I have come to the conclusion that this disease isn’t “it” for me. I probably won’t know what “it” will be, but breast cancer will NOT cause my demise.
The movie starts with the story of a little girl wondering why her mom is in her room and wanting to know why all those people are in her home. It’s set in 1969, at a time when children were seen and not heard and neither were they told anything about “grown-up stuff” apparently. My heart went out to that child and I couldn’t imagine having my daughter in such a confused state when there was something obviously wrong with me.
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