Integrative medicine and lifestyle in women survivors of breast cancer: an integrative review

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most frequent among women in the world and in Brazil. New treatment strategies are considerably increasing survival rates in the context of Breast cancer, making it important to study the physical, social, and emotional effects of the disease and its treatments. In this context, integrative medicine emerges as a strategy based on scientific evidence, along with conventional therapy, with a mind-body approach with the use of natural products and lifestyle changes. The aim of this study was to carry out a brief literature review on integrative medicine and lifestyle in women who survived Breast cancer. This is an integrative review carried out with studies indexed in PubMed. Eight search strategies were carried out using the keywords: “survivorship,” “breast cancer,” “lifestyle,” “nutrition,” “physical activity,” “alcohol,” “tobacco,” “sleep,” “distress,” and “relationship,” respecting the period between 2015 and 2021. In all, 166 articles were found. Studies that considered other types of cancer and did not focus on the lifestyle of cancer survivors were excluded from the analysis. The remaining 28 articles referring to the proposed theme were read and analyzed in full. The results were described according to the six pillars of a healthy lifestyle proposed by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, being addressed as follows: (1) nutrition, (2) physical activity, (3) stress, (4) substance abuse (alcohol and tobacco), (5) sleep, and (6) healthy relationships (marital relationships and social support), showing the importance of training health services and professionals in cancer survival programs to provide better guidance to patients with Breast cancer on how to use integrative therapies properly and what lifestyle changes can help optimize various aspects of your health, reducing the risk of recurrence or a new câncer.