100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (34 page)

need for their care. Everyone gets angry now and then, but if you can’t con-

trol the anger, and you find yourself pointing fingers at your doctors and

their staff, you may want to examine your feelings. Anger can stem from a

sense of losing control and may lead to the need to control your caregivers.

Aggressive patients are the drivers with road rage, and often everyone just

gets out of their way.

If you answered (c), you are the assertive patient.
Assertive patients are

outspoken without being rude. They are very involved in their care, know

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all their medications, and are active participants in their treatment plan.

They have taken control of their health and have meaningful conversations

with their healthcare providers about their treatment course. They ask ques-

tions and therefore get better and more pertinent information. Assertive

patients actually have better treatment outcomes with fewer

negative side effects. They are in the driver’s seat, and they

Take charge of your

are responsible for setting the navigation system to take

health and your health

them where they want to go.

care to make a positive

impact on your health

Dr. Bernie Siegel, a celebrated author who was named

and your life.

one of the “Top 20 Spiritually Influential Living People on

the Planet” in 2011, has been teaching survival behavior for

decades. Dr. Siegel not only is an advocate for patient assertiveness, but he

has written books on the miraculous results that being assertive has had on

patients. Dr. Siegel states:

The word “patient” derives its meaning from submissive sufferer. That

is not a good thing to be when hospitalized or receiving medical treat-

ment of any kind. You need to be a respant, or responsible participant,

if you want to heal and survive.

So . . . are you a patient? Or a respant? The choice is yours.

Perk #34

Sleeping In

B
eing an early riser by nature, I prided myself on the ability to get by

with very little sleep. There always seemed to be so many things to do,

and so little time to do them! Who had time for sleep? But after cancer, I

rested as much as I felt my body needed it. According to Susan, getting the

right amount of sleep is absolutely necessary for good health, so I had noth-

ing to feel guilty about. In fact, even now, getting plenty of sleep is an impor-

tant part of my survival plan. Ah, it feels great to roll over, look at the clock,

and slip back into a deep and guilt-free sleep!

Listen to your body. If it tells you to sleep, just do it.

HEALTH TIP #34

The Art of Napping

S
leep is essential for good health. But does that include the thirty-minute

snooze that you steal under your work desk at three o’clock in the after-

noon? According to Harvard Medical School, the answer is yes.

If you are like the majority of working 9-to-5

people, your body’s natural rhythm reaches a lull

between 2:00 and 4:00 PM. This is the period of

time when you feel you are dragging to get through

the rest of the day, which leads some of us down

the hall to get some coffee, do an “energy shot,” or

worse, grab a candy bar. But it turns out that nap-

ping may be the healthy answer.

A recent British study compared different ways

of making it through the afternoon snooozies: either

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by getting more nighttime sleep, by drinking caffeine, or by taking a nap.

The most effective way to make it through the day was the nap.

Harvard researchers have found that naps can improve memory, enhance

learning, and spark creativity. Studies performed at NASA on pilots and

astronauts showed an improved performance of 34 percent after napping,

and 100 percent enhanced alertness. The science is so strong on this issue,

that sleep researchers even advocate having policies that encourage napping

at work. For example, at the Google headquarters, nap pods are placed

strategically among their workspaces. The pods look like huge ice cream

scoops. Putting your head in the “scoop” blocks out sound and light so you

can catch some serious Z’s. Some other employers that let their employees

sleep on the job are Ben & Jerry’s, Nike, Pizza Hut, and British Airways.

Instead of the employees abusing their “rest rooms,” it has actually increased

productivity and employee satisfaction.

The longer you are awake, the less likely it will be for your brain to retain

information. Napping resets the clock, so to speak, and your alertness is

restored for a little while longer.

Getting some extra sleep seems to be especially important to those who

work nights. In one study, air traffic controllers on the night shift were far

more alert after taking a forty-minute nap, and it has been recommended

to firefighters working the night shift that they take an extra nap in the late

afternoon right before they start work to help with concentration and

fatigue.

I would probably check with your employer first before settling in for your

daily siesta. But if it’s something that you are able to do, here are some tips:

●
Try to get twenty to thirty minutes of sleep. Any more than that might

have a negative effect of feeling groggy. Even a few minutes of sleep has

been shown to help.

●
Take your naptime in a quiet, cool, dark place if possible, to reduce the

amount of time you spend falling asleep.

●
If you plan to take a nap at 2 PM, don’t have coffee at lunch. Caffeine

takes some time to have an effect on your energy level and might sabotage

your sleep.

Perk #34: Sleeping In

137

●
Don’t nap after 4 PM or it might interfere with your usual night’s sleep.

●
If you plan to nap in the afternoon, include lunchtime foods that contain

tryptophan, a food chemical that promotes relaxation. Some of these

foods include pumpkin seeds, greens like spinach, turnip greens, and

watercress, white and crimini mushrooms, and asparagus.

●
Shake the stigma that people who nap are lazy. You’re not lazy; you’re

smart!

Contrary to what you may have been told, taking a nap before 4 PM will

not affect your ability to get a good night’s sleep that night. For example, if

you have trouble falling asleep usually, it will be no different

whether you nap or not and the same goes for good sleepers.

And while getting eight to ten hours of continuous sleep is the

To combat fatigue

best routine for your health, napping has been shown to

during the day,

improve general health and reduce risk of heart problems in

consider taking an

all types of sleepers.

afternoon snooze.

The next time afternoon fatigue starts to set in, instead of

reaching for the caffeine, reach for the pillow and eyeshades. You’ll wake

up refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the day!

For more information on sleep, visit the National Sleep Foundation at

www.sleepfoundation.org.