Wednesday 13 October 2021

Cancer Awareness and A Healthy Lifestyle

In collaboration with Sanjeevani - Life Beyond Cancer, the Department of Sociology and Social Work Student Association organised a webinar on Cancer Awareness and Healthy Lifestyle. The webinar began with a short video depicting the achievements of Sanjeevani - Life Beyond Cancer, an organisation that works in the field of comprehensive cancer care. Ms Annu, a member of the organisation, introduced the founder, vision, and goals. She then talked about their different initiatives and invited the main speaker, Ms Florina Singh.
Ms Florina Singh briefly talked about all the topics she planned on covering throughout the webinar. She defined cancer as the growth of abnormal cells and explained the factors that contribute to this growth and control these factors, such as low immunity and unhealthy lifestyles. She stated that cancer is the second leading cause of death in the country and is also affected by genetics. She then presented a video on how cancer cells and immunity cells work. She then spoke about food and nutrition, determined by timing, quantity, combination, and mindset. She highlighted that one must be thankful for the food, as our emotional attitude affects digestion. Next, she covered the importance of breathing and spoke about how we should take more prolonged and deeper breaths. Then she talked about mental health and how one must discuss issues about mental health more. Negative thoughts, anxiety and depression create an environment for cancer cells to develop and thus must be processed the right way. She highlighted some techniques to control negative emotions, such as reverse counting and journaling.
Next, she discussed cancer's early signs and symptoms that are ignored much too often. These include unusual bleeding, minor sores, painful lumps, gastric issues, sudden changes in moles, a nagging cough and more. She also demonstrated a self-check for breast cancer by checking for lumps.
She mentioned the different treatment options, such as chemotherapy and radiation. She then spoke about the various risk factors of cancer such as tobacco and marijuana use, obesity, stress, lack of sleep, low physical activity and an unhealthy diet. She also showed the audience a small video on the importance of good sleep. She spoke about the most common types of cancer, the first being lung cancer for men, followed by breast cancer for women.
In conclusion, Ms Florina emphasised the importance of psychosocial support to help cancer patients process their diagnosis and treatment options. One must be empathic and try to be as inclusive as possible. She shared anecdotes about how she and people she knows help patients by going for walks or cooking for them. She said that 80% of cancer might be treated by medication, but 20% of it depends on one’s willpower.
She ended with a quote by Stuart Scott, “You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.”
The co-host then thanked all participants and announced a quiz for the audience. This was followed by a question-answer session as well as sharing of experiences. Dr Victor Paul thanked the guest speaker and commended her work. He also thanked the organising team and the association, following which the quiz winners were announced. Ramya Mohini Yerram, the General Secretary (UG), delivered the vote of thanks, which concluded the session.

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