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Cancer and Cancer Treatment: Can it Affect Sleep?

Summary & Participants

People with cancer have a lot on their minds, which is why they may have trouble sleeping. But some cancer treatments can also upset sleep patterns. Learn what you can do to get a good night's rest.

Medically Reviewed On: June 18, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Cancer patients tire easily. A nap may be tempting, but experts advise that poorly-timed daytime napping may impact nighttime sleep.

JOSÉE SAVARD, PhD: For cancer patients who feel fatigued, we suggest them to day-nap early, early on during the day. So ideally before three in the afternoon.

ANNOUNCER: There are good bedtime habits that sleep experts encourage for all poor sleepers, and that includes cancer patients.

JOSÉE SAVARD, PhD: Go to bed only when you feel sleepy, get out of bed after fifteen or twenty minutes if you are awake. Another goal of the behavioral strategies is to re-associate the bed with sleeping. So they are instructed not to do other things in their bed than sleeping and also having sexual activities.

ANNOUNCER: Exercise might be the last thing on a cancer patient's mind, yet it could actually promote a more restful night.

SONIA ANCOLI-ISRAEL, PhD: Whether it's just taking a walk around the block or even just trying to get up out of their chair and walk around the house a little bit, that would help them sleep better at night.

ANNOUNCER: But sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just can't sleep, or sleep fitfully, waking up tired. If the problem persists, it's time to let your doctor know.

Luckily there are different sleep aids he can prescribe to help out.

SONIA ANCOLI-ISRAEL, PhD: The main sleeping pills that are on the market fall into two classes. There are the benzodiazepines and what have now been called the nonbenzodiazepine.

Most of the sleeping pills that fall into the benzodiazepine category are much longer acting. Some of them are shorter acting, but they have more side effects and so most physicians these days prescribe the nonbenzodiazepines.

ANNOUNCER: Cancer patients often have a long road ahead of them. And while doctors can help heal the physical side of cancer there's a less scientific factor that can be equally important.

SONIA ANCOLI-ISRAEL, PhD: Emotional support in general is very important for a patient with cancer. If they don't have a partner living with them that can give them that support, they don't have friends that can give them that support, then there are lots of groups that they could find out about. But the more emotional and psychological support they have, the better they will be able to deal with their cancer and the better they're able to deal with the cancer, the more likely it is they will sleep better at night as well.

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