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Getting ready for your cancer treatment

A picture of multiple healthy behaviours

Getting ready for your cancer treatment is commonly called prehabilitation, or prehab for short.

Between finding out you have cancer and beginning treatment it is important that you take the time to focus on your health and wellbeing to get stronger and fitter. Doing this will help with both your treatment and recovery.

Getting Ready for your cancer treatment covers five key areas of your health:

  • What you are eating and your weight
  • Moving more and being active
  • Mental wellbeing
  • Quitting or cutting down smoking, and
  • Stopping or cutting down drinking alcohol

How does getting ready for your cancer treatment help?

Cancer may have already affected your appetite or your day-to-day activities. Having a cancer diagnosis and its treatment can also be a challenge for you physically, mentally, socially and emotionally.

By focussing on your physical activity, what you eat and your mental wellbeing can help you cope with what lies ahead, take control and continue doing what is important to you.

The benefits of getting ready for your cancer treatment include:

  • Improve response to treatment
  • Reduce side effects before, during and after treatment
  • Reduce time spent in hospital after surgery, and
  • Reduce chances of cancer recurrence.

You may not have a lot of time between finding out you have cancer and beginning cancer treatment, but even a small number of changes can make a big difference.

Remember, the better you feel before any treatment starts, the easier your journey will be, and your recovery after treatment will be quicker.

Go here to watch this video from Health Hub to learn more about prehabilitation.

Important: Please note that the information on this page is a guide, and should not replace any individual advice you may have received from a healthcare professional.If you have concerns about your condition, please contact your hospital team.

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau ffôn yn y Gymraeg neu'r Saesneg. Atebir gohebiaeth Gymraeg yn y Gymraeg, ac ni fydd hyn yn arwain at oedi. Mae’r dudalen hon ar gael yn Gymraeg drwy bwyso’r botwm ar y dde ar frig y dudalen.

We welcome correspondence and telephone calls in Welsh or English. Welsh language correspondence will be replied to in Welsh, and this will not lead to a delay. This page is available in Welsh by clicking ‘Cymraeg’ at the top right of this page.