100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (11 page)

Perk #7: I Didn’t Have to Go to Work

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HEALTH TIP #7

If You’re Not Going to Work, You’ll Have

More Time to Work Out

F
or most of us, exercise is a four-letter word, right? We want so badly to

believe that there is a path to fitness that involves sitting on the couch

eating cookie dough.

Bad news: There is no substitute for exercise.

Good news: You don’t necessarily have to grunt and sweat and be in

pain (unless you’re into that sort of thing) to get benefits.

Bad news: You can’t pay someone to do it for you.

Good news: You can reduce your risk of cancer by as much as 40 percent

if you exercise regularly!

There are many other benefits of exercise, including:

●
more energy

●
increased strength

●
improved lung capacity

●
improved mood by increasing endorphins, the body’s “natural high”

chemical

●
better sex (because it improves your mood, gives you more energy, makes

you stronger, and improves lung capacity)

●
increased immunity power

●
reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, obesity, arthri-

tis, cancer, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure

●
promotes better sleep

●
maintains proper weight

●
helps control symptoms of menopause

●
helps maintain strong bones

Bad news: You can’t exercise while eating cookie dough.

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

Convinced? Okay, here are some tips to help you get started:

Find Your Niche

Humans are creatures of habit. The next time you take a shower, notice how

you wash each body part in the same order every day. This is not a bad thing.

Routines help us cope and help us to get things done, and we’ve learned

from an early age that routines are comforting. Picking a certain time of day

for exercise means fitting it into your schedule and making it a habit that

you can live with and stick with, too.

You Don’t Have to Sweat for an Hour

New studies show that you can break up the length of your workouts into

sections. Twenty minutes on the treadmill in the morning, twenty minutes

walking during your lunch hour, and twenty minutes walking the dog in

the evening. Done! You will get more benefits from more strenuous exercise,

but that’s your choice. Just being more “active” has its benefits as well. Park-

ing far from the door so you’ll have to walk, taking the stairs instead of the

elevator, and avoiding the moving sidewalk at the airport are ways to get

exercise with minimal effort.

You Don’t Need to Join a Gym

I don’t know about you, but I HATE working out with others. All I end up

doing is looking at all the fit people in their tight clothes with their bulging

. . . um . . . muscles and getting depressed. One option to avoid this is to

do at-home workouts, like walking in the neighborhood, doing an exercise

DVD, or jumping rope. Check your local library to see if there are some

DVDs for you to try so you can see what kind of routine appeals to you.

Most shopping malls have walking groups that walk inside the mall before

it opens. If you can resist the urge to stop and window shop, this might

work for you. Your local hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation program usually

has information on mall-walking groups if you’re interested.

Perk #7: I Didn’t Have to Go to Work

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Buddy Up

Studies show that if you exercise with someone else—a friend, a spouse, or

family member—you are more likely to keep it up and it is more likely to

be enjoyable. Gabbing always makes the time go faster. Whether it’s with a

friend or your family, exercising together makes it easier and you’re more

likely to participate, as you don’t want to let the other person down by being

a no-show.

Start Slowly

If you can’t walk for ten minutes without getting tired, that’s okay! Just do

what you can, and, in time, you will build stamina and it will get easier.

This is especially true after surgery or during chemo. Exercise will definitely

help you during these times, but it’s not the time to train for a marathon.

Listen to your body . . . take it slowly . . . don’t push it. You will get to a

point in your treatment and recovery when you will be able to increase your

intensity. Wait for it. If you’re not sure what you should be doing, get some

help either from a resource in your doctor’s office or from a certified per-

sonal trainer that has had experience with cancer patients.

Make It Enjoyable

There are many activities to choose from when looking at starting an exercise

program. You don’t have to purchase fancy equipment or buy expensive

clothes. Find something you like, and go with it. You can also mix it up for

variety—biking one day, walking the next. Try ice-skating, rollerblading, or

roller-skating at a roller rink for some serious fun. Yoga is also a great option,

especially when recovering from surgery or illness.

Think of Your Exercise as Part of Your Treatment

Just like your medication or your follow-up doctor visits, exercise plays a

big role in reducing your risk of declining health or future reoccurrence.

Would you skip taking your medication because you just didn’t have the

time?

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

Keep a Chart

Charts help you see your progress. Just like kids who need to see gold stars

on their behavior charts, adults need this, too, especially since you won’t

see the effects of your hard work right away. If you are starting an exercise

program to lose weight, weigh yourself weekly, not daily.

And remember that after you have about six weeks of exer-

Exercise is the one

cise behind you, you will start trading fat for muscle. Mus-

common factor in people

cle weighs more than fat. This means you can be getting

living longer, healthier,

fit and losing fat and inches, but you may not see it on

and happier and is a

the scale. When I first started working out, I lost 7 inches

proven risk-reducer when

total on my body. I looked and felt better and my clothes

it comes to cancer and

fit better, but I didn’t lose ONE POUND! If I had only

other major illnesses like

looked at the scale, I would have thought I was failing!

heart disease and diabetes.

There are many great resources for exercise. If you

belong to a gym or fitness center, see if you can schedule several sessions

with a certified personal trainer to get you started. Certified personal trainers

have gone to school or have taken courses and have passed a test that make

them experts in designing a safe exercise program specific to your needs.

Some trainers will even come to your home if you don’t have access to one

at a gym. Just make sure they are certified and they have experience with

whatever you happen to be going through, either chemo or surgery.

Visit these sites for more information on how to get started:

●
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Physical Activity

(www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity)

●
President’s Council on Fitness Sports & Nutrition (www.fitness.gov)

●
Health Canada (www.hc-sc.gc.ca)

With any exercise program, you should always check with your doctor

before starting one, especially if you are over forty years old or have a major

illness, as you could have some underlying issue that might make certain

types of exercise unhealthy for you.

When you get the green light to exercise, however you choose to do it,

get started and don’t ever stop!

Perk #8

I Didn’t Have to Wax

My Upper Lip

I
was mortified when, just prior to starting chemo, my aesthetician sug-

gested that I should get my upper lip waxed. Me? With facial hair?

Well, she is the expert. I was haunted by thoughts of how it would

grow back. Would it be all prickly and manly? Would I look like a

fuzzy peach? My fears were unfounded, however, because once my

chemo started, my upper lip remained as smooth as a baby’s bottom,

and my eyebrows looked perfectly groomed for months afterward (until

they eventually just disappeared all together!).

For that “just out of the salon” look that lasts for months,

have your waxings done before you start chemo.

HEALTH TIP #8

When That New Hair Finally Starts to Grow In,

Here’s How to Keep It Healthy

W
hen I lost my hair to chemo, I wasn’t as devastated as I probably should

have been. Being presented with an experience not many younger

women have (thankfully!), I was determined to “enjoy” it while it lasted

and I did . . . by getting ready in 2.5 seconds, and getting out of speeding

tickets. (Cops always have sympathy for the bald lady.)

Despite all the cool things about being bald, when my hair finally started

to grow back I realized how much I had missed it, and I wanted to do every-

thing I could to nurture and coax those wispy little strands back to being

long, strong, and healthy. (Caution: The way the following information is