Self-Care Should Be Every Day
- Actress and health-enthusiast Kristen Bell, 40, has a valuable message for people who feel the need to plan a specific day for their self care: Incorporate it into your every day.
- Bell answered questions from fans on the Skimm health site’s social media while recently promoting her new CBD skincare product line, Happy Dance. Many cancer patients report health benefits from using CBD but it’s best to exercise caution when using any new product and talk to your doctor first.
- Breast cancer survivor and author Caitlin Kiernan, urges women to take better care of themselves during and after cancer treatment. “You’re fighting for this life, and then you want to live it. And you don’t want to feel uncomfortable living it,” the beauty director tells SurvivorNet. “It’s not a vanity issue. It’s really a quality-of-life issue.”
“I really get grumpy when I see this idea of self-care being an event that you have to plan,” she told the Skimm health site while recently promoting her new CBD skincare product line, Happy Dance. “I think self-care needs to be a part of everyone’s daily routine.” That’s one reason why she started the company, adding that CBD has vastly improved her life.
Read MoreView this post on InstagramCBD stands for cannabidiol, which is an active ingredient in cannabis (marijuana), but comes directly from the hemp plant, and does not cause a “high” on its own. It is now commonly used by many people in every day life, especially in the cancer community.
Many cancer patients say that CBD helped them through chemotherapy treatment. However, the FDA has also warned to be careful when using certain products. The market is oversaturated and there may be other unsafe chemicals in more unknown products, which is precisely why Bell wanted to create a safe product. It is always best to speak with a medical professional who help you understand what may be best for you and your body.
Related: Actor Kristen Bell Honors Cancer Caregivers: 'I Know What it's Like to Lose Someone'
Bell, known for her perky, comedic personality, also took questions from fans and dished out some playful answers of course.
“Hey, Skimm’rs, Gossip Girl here,” Bell tells the site’s followers in a social media segment called Texting with Kristen Bell. The actress is texted a series of questions like, “What do you remember from Veronica Mars?”
“I wasn’t very suspicious before I started Veronica Mars,” she says of playing the title role in the TV series. “And now I am genuinely suspicious, about where my purse is, what’s in other people’s trash, and I think that’s from playing a P.I. for three years.”
When asked who she would want to play her in a movie, she asks husband Dax Shepard for help with the question and he shouts out, “Reese Witherspoon,” from the other room.” Bell is satisfied with the answer. “Ok, that’s good. You can’t go wrong with Reese Witherspoon.”
She calls her Gossip Girl TV role, “the guiltiest pleasure ever.”
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Bell as Veronica Mars.
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Self-Care for Cancer Patients
Due to feelings of depression or lack of energy from treatments, sometimes it’s easy for cancer patients to forget the importance of taking care of themselves. Many try not to give in to the sickness, but it inevitably starts to affect your daily routine.
Breast cancer survivor Caitlin Kiernan, author of Pretty Sick, The Beauty Guide for Women with Cancer, shares her story of empowering other women to take better care of themselves during and after cancer treatment. Self care, she says, is not about beauty or vanity.
“You’re fighting for this life, and then you want to live it. And you don’t want to feel uncomfortable living it,” she says. “It’s not a vanity issue. It’s really a quality-of-life issue.”
After her cancer treatment, the beauty director gathered tips from experts she had worked with throughout the years and started putting her book together, not only inspiring others, but inspiring herself. “I mean, the whole point is you’re fighting to stay alive. Feeling beautiful isn’t about beauty. It’s really about just your own experience.”
Feeling Beautiful Isn't About Beauty
Self-Care is About Mental Health Too
Self-care is taking care of yourself physically and mentally. Although taking care of yourself physically can help your mental health. It is even more important to feel strong from within.
“We know actually, from good studies, that emotional health, quality of life, is associated with survival. “Meaning, better quality of life is associated with better survival, better outcomes,” oncology social worker Sarah Kelly tells SurvivorNet. “So definitely working on your emotional health, your physical well-being, your social environment, your emotional well-being, definitely working on those things and making them better are important and can impact your survival.”
Mental Health… How Are You Coping?
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