Creating a Mood and Attitude Plan for the Prevention of Cancer
Everybody likes to be in a good mood. And, as it turns out, positive emotions aren’t just strong medicine for the soul – they’re good for your physical well-being, too!
Scientists have discovered that your every thought, emotion, and experience influences your health. Emotions such as happiness and optimism tend to boost immune-system function, while sadness and pessimism suppress it.
So to maximize your body’s ability to prevent cancer, your moods, emotions and attitudes need to be worked on along with your exercise and diet. How? By creating a mood and attitude plan!
If you have no idea how to create such a plan, you’re in luck. Here are 10 habits and activities you could include:
Exercise your mind. Influence your emotions by reading interesting books, playing games, listening to music you love, watching something uplifting or funny on TV, or even leaning new skills or languages.
Exercise your body. Did you know that exercising improves your mood? It also increases your energy and decreases fatigue. What a perfect recipe for happiness!
Get some sun. Is it a beautiful day? Then get out there! While too much of the sun can be damaging, don’t totally deprive your body of it if you want to keep your mood healthy. Sunlight decreases melatonin production, which can be good because melatonin induces low energy and sleepiness.
Take time to smell the oranges. In several aromatherapy studies, feelings of depression and tension have been significantly relieved by pleasant smells – such as orange and lavender.
Mentally turn negatives into positives. Since your body responds to your thoughts and words, shift your thinking a bit. Instead of thoughts like “I hope I don’t get cancer,” think “I’m doing everything I can to prevent cancer.”
Be with happy people. As you’ve probably already experienced, moods are contagious! So be thankful for the positive people in your life, spend as much time with them as possible, and stop spending time with negative people.
Join a support group. Whether online or face to face, you’ll find it incredibly uplifting to talk to others who can relate to you. Positive and authentic social interaction will strengthen your coping methods and help you appreciate more in life.
Volunteer. Reach out to someone who needs you. Your mood will be uplifted when you help someone else, and your focus will be on a fulfilling cause rather than on your own stresses.
Start a gratitude journal. Thankfulness is healthy, but it’s not always easy. So every night, write down a couple things from the day that you’re thankful for. Think of something new every night, no matter how small: a smile from a stranger, a compliment from a colleague, or even a special memory you haven’t thought of in a while.
Set positivity goals. Design them to help you develop a lifelong positive attitude. Start small if necessary, such as smiling for at least one minute straight each day, or thinking only about people that make you happy for a full five minutes every morning. Once these goals become habits, set a few more positivity goals!
Don’t Stop Here!
This list is certainly not exhaustive. You know what works for you better than anyone else does, so keep inventing more ways to help yourself stay positive! Your happiness – and your life – depend on it.
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