The short answer
All family caregivers need support. Caring for your own needs, hopes, and health gives you the strength to keep caring for others. Making time for yourself, understanding your feelings, joining a support group, and staying on top of your own health are all part of caregiver self-care.
All family caregivers need support—caring for yourself gives you strength to care for others.
Take at least 15 to 30 minutes each day to do something relaxing for yourself.
Keep up your own routine and personal life, even if in a smaller way.
Talking with others about what you're going through is very important for most caregivers.
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The full explanation.
Why self-care matters
All family caregivers need support. You may feel that your needs aren't important right now since you're not the cancer patient, or that there's no time left for yourself. You may be so used to taking care of someone else that it's hard to change focus.
But caring for your own needs, hopes, and desires gives you the strength you need to carry on. Taking time to recharge your mind, body, and spirit helps you be a better caregiver.
Make time for yourself
- Find time to relax. Take at least 15 to 30 minutes each day to do something for yourself—a nap, exercise, yard work, a hobby, a movie, gentle stretching or yoga, deep breaths, or just sitting still for a minute.
- Don't neglect your personal life. It's okay to cut back on personal activities, but don't cut them out entirely. Look for easy ways to connect with friends.
- Keep up your routine. Try to keep doing some of your regular activities. Studies show that dropping them can increase your stress. You may do things at a different time of day or for less time, but try to still do them.
- Ask for help. Free up larger chunks of time for yourself by asking others to handle appointments or errands.
Understand your feelings
Giving yourself an outlet for your thoughts and feelings is important. Think about what would lift your spirits—talking with others, or quiet time by yourself. Maybe you need both, depending on what's going on. It helps for you and others to know what you need. Reading about the emotions of cancer can help you see if any of them relate to you.
Connect with others
- Join a support group. Cancer support groups can meet in person, by phone, or online. They can help you gain insights, get coping ideas, and know you're not alone. Some people go just to listen, and others prefer not to join—do what feels right for you.
- Talk to others about what you're going through. Studies show this is very important to most caregivers, especially when you feel overwhelmed or want to say things you can't say to your loved one. You're allowed to feel angry, frustrated, or overwhelmed. Sometimes it helps to talk with a counselor, such as a social worker, psychologist, or faith leader.
- Share time with your loved one. Cancer may bring you closer as you face challenges together. Taking time to share special moments can help you move toward the future with hope.
Find meaning and stay positive
- Write in a journal. Research shows that writing can help relieve negative thoughts and feelings, and may even improve your health.
- Look for the positive. Looking for the good things in life and feeling gratitude help many caregivers feel better. It's healthy to laugh, even during treatment—laughter releases tension.
- Look for ways to feel thankful. Finding meaning in caregiving can make it easier to manage, even though caregiving is not stress-free.
Care for your body
You may be so busy and concerned about your loved one that you overlook your own health. But taking care of your health gives you the strength to help others. It's important to:
- stay up to date with your medical needs—keep your own checkups, screenings, and appointments
- watch for signs of depression or anxiety—if changes last more than two weeks, talk to your doctor
- take your medicine as prescribed
- try to eat healthy meals to keep up your strength
- get enough rest, using naps and relaxation to help
- exercise—even 15 to 30 minutes a day of walking, swimming, gardening, or cleaning can help you feel better and manage stress
New stresses and daily demands often add to any health problems caregivers already have. Common changes caregivers notice include fatigue, a weaker immune system, sleep problems, slower healing, higher blood pressure, appetite or weight changes, headaches, and mood changes. Paying attention to these signs—and getting help when you need it—is part of taking good care of yourself.
When to get help sooner
- Call 911 or go to an emergency department if you are thinking about taking your own life, or you have begun to plan how. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline also takes calls, texts and chats at any time of day or night, free and in confidence.
- Call your own doctor the same day if you are leaning on alcohol, sleeping tablets or someone else's medicine to get through, or you nodded off at the wheel on the way to or from an appointment.
- Call your own doctor within a day or two if low mood, worry or loss of interest has run longer than two weeks, or if your blood pressure, weight or sleep has shifted since caregiving began. Tell whoever books you in that you are a caregiver.
Words to know
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Common questions
Why should I focus on myself when my loved one has cancer?
You may feel your needs aren't important right now, or that there's no time for yourself. But caring for your own needs, hopes, and desires gives you the strength you need to carry on. Taking time to recharge your mind, body, and spirit helps you be a better caregiver.
How much time should I take for myself?
Try to take at least 15 to 30 minutes each day to do something for yourself, such as a nap, exercise, a hobby, watching a movie, gentle stretching or yoga, or just sitting still for a minute. Finding at least 15 to 30 minutes a day to exercise may also help you feel better and manage stress.
Should I keep up my normal routine and social life?
Yes, as much as you can. It's okay to cut back on personal activities, but don't cut them out entirely—look for easy ways to connect with friends. Studies show that dropping your regular activities can increase the stress you feel, so try to keep doing some of them, even at a different time or for less time.
How do I take care of my own health as a caregiver?
Stay up to date with your own checkups and screenings, take your medicine as prescribed, try to eat healthy meals, get enough rest, and exercise. New stresses often add to existing health problems, so caring for your health gives you the strength to help others.
What signs of depression or anxiety should I watch for?
Stress can cause many feelings and body changes. If changes last for more than two weeks, talk to your doctor. Some caregivers realize they've become depressed and need help. Common caregiver changes include fatigue, sleep problems, higher blood pressure, appetite changes, headaches, and mood changes.
Can talking to someone really help?
Yes. Studies show that talking with others about what you're dealing with is very important to most caregivers, especially when you feel overwhelmed. You might talk to a trusted friend, or to a counselor such as a social worker, psychologist, or faith leader who can help you express your feelings and find new ways to cope.
Questions to ask your doctor
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Your next step
More practical help for supporting someone with cancer.
Speak With Trained Specialists & Human Navigators
Cancer Explained provides educational guidance, but does not replace trained specialists, social workers, or your medical team.
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Find a financial navigator
Locate copay assistance foundations, grant programs, and lodging/travel support.
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Search matching studies and speak with NCI trial information specialists.
Get urgent help
Immediate emergency guidance for fever (>100.4°F during chemo), severe pain, or shortness of breath.
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Where to get help with this, by name
A hospital social worker or financial navigator is the best first call if you have one. If you do not, these organisations help at no cost to you.
- Patient Advocate Foundation — (800) 532-5274. Case managers take on insurance appeals, denials and medical debt with you. Free.
- TotalAssist (Patient Advocate Foundation's copay programme, merged with the PAN Foundation in 2026) — 866-512-3861. Help with medication copays, coinsurance and deductibles, insurance premiums, and office-visit and administration charges on the day of treatment, across nearly 150 conditions.
- CancerCare — 800-813-HOPE (4673). Oncology social workers, free counselling and support groups. Limited financial help with transport, home care, child care and lodging for people in active treatment who meet their income guidelines — funding is first-come, first-served, so call to ask what is open.
- Triage Cancer — 424-258-4628. Free legal and financial navigation: insurance, employment rights, disability.
- Blood Cancer United (formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) — (800) 955-4572. Information Specialists answer questions on treatment, insurance and financial problems.
- HealthCare.gov — 1-800-318-2596. For questions about the external review process — the independent review your insurer is required by law to accept.
Your state Department of Insurance regulates insurers and takes consumer complaints. On Medicare, your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) gives free one-to-one counselling. If a specific drug is the problem, ask the manufacturer about its patient assistance programme.
Phone numbers checked 31 July 2026. Programmes and eligibility change — if a number has moved, please tell us.
Plain-language explanation of the published sources cited on this page. AI-assisted, source-checked, not clinician-reviewed.
Last updated: 2026-08-11Next planned review: 2028-07-02
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Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes. We do not employ clinicians and do not intend to — our work is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
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Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes. We do not employ clinicians and do not intend to — our work is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and checked line by line against the sources listed on it. That confirms the sources support what the page says. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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