>> Did you know that the most common side effect for cancer and cancer treatment is fatigue?
And it's not just sleepiness, wanting to go to bed a little bit earlier at night.
It's actually a weakness, a bone kind of weariness.
The inability to have the energy to do the things that you typically want to do in a day.
And there are kind of four areas that you can adjust without any medications.
One could be sleep, and there's a term that's called sleep hygiene.
And what that means is just set a bedtime routine
like you used to do maybe with your kids.
Or going to sleep at the same time and waking up at the same time each day so that your body kind
of gets trained to know when it should be sleeping,
make it easier to fall asleep at night.
You can also make sure that you turn off your electronics a couple of,
an hour or two before bedtime because that can actually stimulate the body to wake up.
And then of course, nap as you need.
You know, this is your time to take a little bit of extra time for yourself if you need it.
Activity is another thing that can help with fatigue.
It sounds counterintuitive, that if you were tired you probably shouldn't exercise.
But light exercise such as a comfortable walk can be very helpful
to stimulate energy instead of take away energy.
But you do want to steer away from intense exercises that will actually drain your energy.
Eating right is definitely beneficial.
If you are not getting the calories that you are supposed to be,
you're not getting the gas in the car.
If you don't get the gas in the car, then you can't expect your body
to get you through the cancer treatment.
Just like you wouldn't expect your car to get you from where you're at now to Kalamazoo.
Hopefully you're not already in Kalamazoo.
Keep in mind that there are also things that you can do that make it an easier process.
So you can use your family, friends or community.
They might ask you what they can do for you.
One of the things that they could do is prepare meals for you or do your shopping for you.
You can give them your favorite recipes,
or you can have them make something new for you which might be nice.
You can stock up when you do go to the store and make sure that you have ready and easy
to eat foods available on hand and get a good amount of those things.
So that you don't have to keep doing frequent trips to the grocery store, which can be tiring.
Another thing is the easy to eat foods.
So here's some examples, and there's lots more than what's here.
But nuts can be a very good, easy to eat, as well as they're very high
in calories, and they've got protein to it.
Granola bars of any kind can be very easy things that you can throw in your purse or put it
in your car and have those available.
Any of your dairy products tend to be very helpful,
because one they're in their own little container.
And two, they have good protein to them, and they don't take much chewing at all.
So there's not much effort from that standpoint.
Pudding's kind of along the same line since it's in the dairy product.
And all of these have protein to them as well.
Soups or package meals, while they might have a little bit more sodium to them,
are still good options during the process because they're going to get the calories
and protein in, which is way more important than worrying
about the sugar content, I mean the salt content.
When it comes to cereals, oatmeal can be very helpful as well as other hot cereals,
especially if you make it with whole milk instead
of just plain old water to get the calories in.
And it's a good full meal.
You've got protein and carb in there.
Ready to eat cereals work just as well too.
There's nothing to say you can't have eggs or cereal for a dinner meal or for a lunch meal.
They are a good meal that doesn't take much effort.
And actually hard boiled eggs are nice because you can cook them once and you have them maybe
in the refrigerator for the whole week.
Peanut butter and humus, you know, different types of dips or spreads that you could put
on your breads, your bagels, your crackers, are another way that you can get some extra calories
in on a food that might not have as many.
Remember to eat small meals, but do it frequently.
It's a lot easier to eat a smaller meal than eat a big meal.
It's less daunting when you're feeling very tired.
Especially if just getting out the plates and the silverware are,
and preparing the meal itself might be a little bit tiring.
It can also help to do this frequently.
If you're not going to be eating as much, you need to just remember to eat more often
than you typically would so you eventually get all of the calories in.
Another thing that's really helpful from a fatigue standpoint is staying well hydrated.
You want to make sure that you're drinking at the very least eight cups
of fluid or 65 ounces of fluid a day.
And if you're tall or if you tend to have a lot of muscle mass to you,
you probably need a good amount more of that.
The reason why is when you're dehydrated your veins are thin.
When your veins are thin, your heart has more pressure to press against,
so you actually have more, it's more fatiguing to walk up the stairs.
It's more fatiguing to brush your teeth.
And then limit your caffeine.
Again it sounds like caffeine is a stimulant, it would be beneficial
if you're feeling tired, but it's a drug to the system.
And if you have more than two cups a day, you can have that down,
that low that happens afterwards.
And just do it earlier in the day so it doesn't hinder your sleeping at night.
So ultimately, just take good care of yourself.
Listen to your body.
And make sure that you're eating right.
Get the food and the fuel that your body needs to get you through your treatment.
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