How to Sleep Better and Win the Fight on Breast Cancer
October is a great month to discuss breast cancer and how the surgical wellness approach can help patients better deal with their diagnosis, the stress of surgery, and recovery from it all.
Today, I will suggest remedies to optimize the relationship between sleep, breast cancer, and surgery. Sleep research is a hot topic, and the latest information indicates that most people need 8 hours of sleep. Up to 70% of patients with breast cancer report sleep complaints- can’t fall asleep, can’t stay asleep, wake up frequently, poor sleep quality. The stress of breast cancer diagnosis, anticipation of upcoming surgery, recovery from surgery, and other cancer treatments, affect sleep in the majority of my patients and this is reflected in the above data. Poor sleep leads to difficulty coping with stress, anxiety, pain, and affects the healing process.
Below are some holistic ways of helping your sleep habits that will in turn help the stress, anxiety, pain and recovery from breast cancer diagnosis and surgery:
Good sleep hygiene such as a set routine at bedtime, avoiding screens within 1-2 hours of bedtime (the type of light emitted causes “awake” brain waves) and avoiding caffeine after 12pm. Click for more ideas!
Meditation- there are many great online guided meditation apps as well as websites.
Exercise- this doesn’t have to be extensive if extensive feels overwhelming. A little bit goes a long way. Adding a few extra steps to your day (like parking farther from a store you are visiting) can do a lot of good for sleep later in the day!
Valerian root tea or capsule supplement is helpful for falling asleep but it might take a few weeks of taking it to work.
Melatonin, dosing 1-10mg depending on what works for you (personally I take 3 or 5mg,) is also a good safe anti-inflammatory supplement for your whole body. Studies show that melatonin the night or two before surgery significantly helps decrease anxiety before surgery.
Nose-only breathing will help you have better sleep (yep you can place a small piece of scotch tape over your mouth and once used to this you will sleep better) but this takes a little time to get used to it.
Other breathing techniques such as box breathing (breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, and hold for 4 seconds) work with the vagus nerve to calm you and help you fall asleep.
Acupressure helps induce relaxation and thus sleep. One such point to apply pressure is behind the ear on that bony area, called the An Mian Point. A second such point is called Yin Tan and is right between the eyes. Place gentle pressure or massage in a circular motion on either of these areas and do this for 30 seconds.
These are also good techniques for your loved ones and support network if they too are losing sleep over the breast cancer diagnosis. They’ll function better and take better care of you when rested!
Now that you know how to get better rest, let’s talk about that extra sugar in food that affects breast cancer and what we can do about it!
