Simply spending time in nature shows benefits both for body terrain factors linked to cancer and for reducing cancer risk. It may also help with symptoms common among people with cancer.
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Modes of action: helping people negotiate their shifting realities
Qualitative research has explored how nature exposure is used and interpreted by people with cancer.
- People with cancer reported that nature exposure helped negotiate their shifting realities. Two themes emerged in a small survey:1Blaschke S, O’Callaghan CC, Schofield P, Salander P. Cancer patients’ experiences with nature: normalizing dichotomous realities. Social Science & Medicine. 2017 Jan;172:107-114.
- Nature functioned as a support structure and nurtured patients’ inner and outer capacities to respond and connect more effectively.
- Once enabled and comforted, patients could engage survival and reconstructive maneuvers and explore the consequences of cancer.
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