Relaxation Of Women With Breast Cancer

The therapeutic process that women with breast cancer face is long, and psychological support is essential from the first moment. In this sense, psychoeducation is essential: to facilitate information about the disease and about the techniques we will use to improve your physical and mental state. In other words, with the intervention we will try to improve your well-being in all areas.

It is possible to mention that breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Despite this, it is important to highlight that the mortality rate from this type of disease has decreased in recent years.

Today, in this article, we’re going to focus on talking about the importance that relaxation can have for women who have been diagnosed. The aim of incorporating relaxation techniques into the treatment is to learn to control the activation level by modifying different physiological conditions.

How does relaxation influence physiological and mental levels?

It should be noted that relaxation techniques tend to increase parasympathetic activation and decrease sympathetic nervous system activation. Thus, relaxation is considered a state of hypoactivation, characterized by a low heart rate, peripheral vasodilation, diaphragmatic breathing, low muscle tone…

However, in addition to the effects of reducing physiological activation, relaxation techniques have other effects of a cognitive nature. We talk about the increase in the subjective sensation of relaxation, of focus and reorientation of attention, of greater self-control or an increase in the ability to discriminate physiological responses.

the mental part

As Beck mentions, in reference to the cognitive part, it is our mind that leads a person to believe in certain beliefs about himself, to errors or distortions in his thoughts that, instead of calming the battle against the disease, makes it even more hard.

The cognitive aspect is fundamental in the treatment of the fight against cancer, since the thoughts these women have and feed will favor their positive state or, on the contrary, will provide a more negative view of the disease. Positive thoughts will increase self-esteem, willingness to fight, motivation and adherence to treatment.

When to use relaxation?

With relaxation in cancer patients, the aim is to avoid nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy and some types of radiotherapy (conditioned and generalized to certain stimuli that cause discomfort). Somehow, an attempt is made to reverse the effects of this type of conditioning, which, on the other hand, is common in patients who have already undergone several sessions.

Furthermore, relaxation improves the emotional state with which the patient faces the different tests and results. Finally, relaxation favors self-control and limits impulsive behaviors that often become tempting due to the frustration that the illness can cause.

What types of relaxation can you use?

The type of relaxation recommended for each situation will depend on different variables, such as our knowledge of the technique, the plane in which our anxiety appears most, or the time we have to do it. Next, we’ll look at two of the most important techniques that can be applied to breast cancer patients.

• Progressive Muscle Relaxation (Jacobson): The aim is for the woman to be able to identify her level of tension and put into practice the practice strategies every time she feels this tension in her body.

Learning about tension is carried out through various exercises that represent the application of tension, voluntarily and intensely, in different regions of the body. As you progress through the exercises, the repetitions decrease in order to be able to eliminate the tension exercises.

• Guided visualization: consists of taking a mental journey through images, looking for sensations, situations and/or places that give pleasure to each person. Thus evoking the different sensory stimuli of those places in which the person can relax.

Each day has its goal in the battle against breast cancer

When you face a complex step of the disease, a chemotherapy session, another radiotherapy session, a visit to the oncologist waiting for results… discover in fear and anxiety a way for your body and mind to find a state of relaxation, helping to cope with the disease and fight this phase you are living.

All people who have experienced cancer up close or have any idea about the subject understand that the suffering associated with the disease can hardly be measured. What a person feels when they hear “you have cancer” is a multitude of conflicting feelings, fears, anxiety, concerns…

So it’s good to remember one thing: each day has its goal. Step by step, step by step, we are facing and overcoming difficulties. In this sense, it is inevitable to think about the future and what will happen at the end of the treatment and feel afraid that it will not work, that the process will take a long time or that the measures taken to deal with cancer will not be enough. It is precisely in relation to this anxiety, these thoughts and these associated emotions that relaxation can help us.