Chemo Brain

Physical and Cognitive Activity 

Keeping both your brain and body active are ways to manage cognitive changes and build overall brain health.

• Exercise – Physical activity can reduce fatigue, enhance aspects of mood, improve quality of life, and manage cognitive symptoms.3

• Try Something New – Take a college course, start a new hobby, or even try to learn a new language. It’s not necessary to be successful, but just the idea of stimulating your mind is helpful  to “stock up” on your brain’s cognitive abilities.

Reduce Cognitive Load 

The brain is constantly working during the day to manage our thoughts, decisions, memory, and so on. When experiencing CRCD, the brain must work harder to do even the simplest of tasks. Giving the brain a break and relying on more external ways to manage cognitive changes can help.

• Take breaks – Be aware of your fatigue and times when your mind begins to wander. Use them as signs to take a “brain break.” This can be as short as a 30-60 second break of doing nothing; sometimes that’s all your brain needs to “reset” and feel more refreshed. 

• Break it down – Set small goals to break down your task. Multi-step tasks, even unloading the dishwasher, can be broken into several steps to avoid being overwhelmed or mentally fatigued. 

• Write it down – When in doubt, write it down! This could be a daily journal or log of events/conversations, a list of “to-dos”, or key words written to jog your memory.

• Slow down – Don’t rush through tasks; intentionally slow down and give yourself time.

Work Around It

CRCD is unfortunately not something that will go away with the snap of a finger. Using alternative ways to get your point across when experiencing word-finding issues, memory lapses, or difficulty focusing can reduce stress and feelings of inadequacy related to the cognitive difficulties.

• Self-talk – Talk yourself through tasks to help you keep track of what you are doing. Think of this like an ongoing narrative in your head, or out loud.

•  Repeat it – Repeat information to yourself, back to others, or ask for repetition of information back to you. This way you can make sure you have heard the information correctly and can more easily encode and process the information. 

•  Describe it – If you are having difficulty thinking of a word, try to describe it. What does it look like? Where do you find it? What is it for? This can help you to come up with the correct word, or at the very least, whoever you are talking with will be able to help you find the word.

• Pick an alternate word – Sometimes it is easier to replace the word you cannot think of with a similar word that means the same or close to the same thing. 

The above techniques can help ease the burden that CRCD can put on your life; however, everybody is different, and results may vary for each person. If you continue to struggle with cancer-related cognitive impairments, an individual treatment plan provided from a skilled clinician may be beneficial. Consider discussing this with your medical team and family to determine what is the best approach to help you outsmart CRCD.