It seems too easy. Taking 5 or 10 minutes out of your day to do nothing. But that "doing nothing" appears to have benefits worth every minute -- according to studies evaluating meditation for its effect on cancer patients.

And not only is meditation easy -- in this challenging economy, the price is right. Signing up for meditation at your cancer center may cost a little, but practicing meditation is completely free. All you need is yourself and a few minutes of time.

What are some of the benefits of meditation for people living with cancer? A few of these include:

• Improved sleep
• Lower levels of stress hormones (these hormones may play a role in the development and in the spread of cancer)
• Less pain
• Less depression and anxiety
• A lower level of perceived stress
• Less fatigue
• Better cognitive functioning (it may help with that annoying symptom of chemobrain)

As a cancer survivor myself, I believe meditation has done wonders for my frame of mind as I've coped with both the unexpected and the expected in my journey. And whether or not it has improved my survival odds, it's certainly calmed me and relaxed me at times when anxiety or stress were interfering with my enjoyment of the day.

Have you tried meditation to help you in your journey with cancer? I'd love to hear your story.

Read more about the benefits of meditation, as well as ways to get started in the comfort of your home today.

• Meditation for People With Cancer

Photo: Dreamstime.com, author Andresr

Surgery for lung cancer offers a chance for a cure - something that is unfortunately uncommon with lung cancer. But in offering that chance, we don't often talk about what happens in the long run after surgery. A time we now call "survivorship."

How good is quality of life over the long run for people who have had lung cancer surgery?

The results of a new study are - fortunately - not what I would have expected. And they left me feeling very encouraged and optimistic for people whose lung cancers are found in the early stages when surgery is possible.

Researchers took a look at 830 disease-free lung cancer survivors (disease free meaning that no evidence of cancer can be found on exam or through imaging studies.) All of these survivors had stage 0 to stage 3 lung cancer that was treated with surgery.

Comparing this group to people without lung cancer (the general population) they found that there wasn't a significant difference in functioning. Fortunately, there also was no significant difference in most of the symptoms experienced by the two groups.

As would be expected, lung cancer survivors who underwent surgery did have more shortness of breath, coughing and chest wall pain, and also experienced more financial problems.

What this study offers is good news for those people who are preparing for lung cancer surgery. Not only might it grant the chance for a cure, but symptoms and general functioning after the surgery are similar to those people who haven't had lung cancer surgery.

• Preparing for Lung Cancer Surgery

Photo: National Cancer Institute, unknown photographer

_Source:

_{Yun, Y. et al. Health-Related Quality of Life in Disease-Free Survivors of Surgically Treated Lung Cancer Compared With the General Population. Annals of Surgery. 2012 Mar 30. (Epub ahead of print).}

One of our health writers on About.com has put together an amazing article for people interested in their health. She started by asking the rest of us if we would be interested in writing an article about 10 things that people with the condition or disease we write about should stop doing.

I wrote mine for people living with lung cancer. At first it was hard to write. The last thing that anyone with lung cancer needs is having someone add to their "to-do" list, even if it's a "don't-do" list. But as I researched the article and thought about my own experiences with cancer, I realized that many of these "don't do" steps could actually make life easier, simpler, and more joyful for someone living with lung cancer.

So here's the article:

• 10 Things to Stop Doing if You Have Lung Cancer

And I have to share the article our fellow guide put together. She highlights articles that people with other medical conditions may be interested in, as well as articles that feature things to stop doing in order to live longer or lessen stress in your life. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

• 10 Things to Stop Doing: Stop Doing These Things and Improve Your Health

Photo: Dreamstime.com, author Twmedia

"Sweet" and "natural" aren't usually among the words we use to describe treatments designed to cope with the side effects of chemotherapy. But there is one sweet approach to treating those annoying chemotherapy induced mouth sores that seems to work..

Honey.

Mouth sores (mucositis) come about because chemotherapy kills rapidly dividing cells like cancer -- and the cells in our mouths are rapidly dividing. Mouth sores are not only a nuisance and painful, but can interfere with your ability to eat and get the nutrition you need during cancer treatment.

Since there really isn't much that can be done about mouth sores, researchers decided to test honey. Honey is known to have wound healing as well as anti-oxidant properties. And honey was found in an earlier study to work preventatively for chemotherapy and radiation induced mouth sores for people with head and neck cancer.

They found that honey decreased the recovery time and significantly sped up healing for people with grade 2 and grade 3 mouth sores.

Several chemotherapy drugs used for lung cancer, such as Platinol (cisplatin), Adriamycin (doxorubicin) and VePecid (etoposide) are notorious for causing mouth sores. Though this study was done on children with cancer, it might be worth asking your oncologist if honey could work for you as well.

Further Reading:

• Coping with Chemotherapy Induced Mouth Sores
• Honey Remedies

Photo: Dreamstime.com, author Mhd

_Source:

_{Abdulrhman, M. et al. Honey and a mixture of honey, beeswax, and olive oil-propolis extract in treatment of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis: a randomized controlled pilot study. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. 2012. 29(3):285-92.}