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Making and implementing New Year’s resolutions that can improve your lifestyle while undergoing cancer treatment can seem too difficult to tackle. But it can be done! Working towards maximizing your emotional and physical strength during this time is an excellent  goal with long-term benefits.

There are several ways you can improve your lifestyle, helping you to better cope with the challenges involved in battling cancer. Here are five ideas and how you can incorporate them into your routine this new year.

A cancer caregiver, whether they are family or a friend, selflessly offers an unparalleled and irreplaceable gift. Caregivers are the most important members of a cancer patient's team on a day-to-day basis. They're the unsung heroes and are always willing to put their loved one's needs before their own.

Caregivers transport their loved one to all their cancer treatment appointments, as well as consults with the cancer specialists on a regular basis to ensure that the patient receives the best treatment and at-home care. At-home care can be everything from making meals to cleaning and laundry – taking over for the things the cancer patient may have normally done for the family.

What is the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout? It's an annual event, held the third Thursday of every November, a date on which smokers nationwide are asked to give up smoking. This year, 2017, that means it’s on November 16th. Quitting for just one day helps you take action toward a healthier life, and reduce your lung cancer risk.

Each year, the Great American Smokeout calls attention to the deaths, lung cancer diagnoses and other chronic diseases that smoking causes, and how to prevent them. As a result of this event, there have been actions taken towards reducing the health impacts that smoking can have on smokers and non-smokers including:

• Many states and local governments have banned smoking in restaurants, public spaces, and workplaces.
• Increased taxes on cigarettes
• Limiting of cigarette advertisements and product placements.

What you eat while going through cancer treatment is often a bit different from a typical diet. Partly this is because of the different side effects patients experience before, during, and after cancer treatments. Food many not sound enticing, or the nausea brought on by treatment could make it especially hard to eat regularly. Additionally some patients undergoing cancer treatments report less saliva in their mouths, also called dry-mouth, that can make it unpleasant to eat. However, it's still really important that patients take in the right amount of calories so they can keep up their strength and avoid dropping to an unhealthy weight.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, making it a great time to learn a little more about breast cancer screenings for yourself or a loved one. The information below will help you better understand why mammograms are important, other potential screening methods, when you should be screened and what can be done if someone needs a mammogram but cannot afford one. This knowledge can help you be better informed so you can share it with others this October, as well as the rest of the year.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among men according to the Center for Disease Control. Here are five things you should be aware of so that you or your loved one can be aware of any additional risk factors they may have.

1. Prostate Cancer Can Be Inherited

If your father or brother(s) have had prostate cancer, research shows that you are at a higher risk for developing it too. The more immediate family members with prostate cancer the higher your own risk becomes.

September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, so it's a good time to learn more about early detection to help save lives. Certain risk factors, including being overweight and a history of ovarian cancer in the family, may increase your chances of being diagnosed. Ovarian cancer research clinical trials are underway, but it's still good for patients to be educated about detecting ovarian cancer early.

Eating a healthy, balanced diet provides your body with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to get you through your day. But did you know that eating a healthy diet can also reduce your risk of certain types of cancers? Discover some cancer-fighting foods that may be no further away than your pantry or refrigerator.

Oral, head and neck cancer is cancer that begins in the internal tissue of somewhere in your mouth, neck or head -- excluding cancers of the eye, skin, and brain. The major areas that are usually affected by this type of cancer include:

• sinuses
• nasal cavity
• salivary glands
• pharynx (the part of the upper part of the throat that's right behind the mouth)
• larynx (the lower part of the throat that holds the voice box)
• gums
• cheek lining
• lips
• floor of mouth
• hard palate
• gum behind the wisdom teeth

Are you interested in learning about prostate cancer screening? It's important to remember that many perfectly healthy people are screened for prostate cancer as part of their regular health care. Doctors sometimes recommend testing simply because of your age or family history. Other times, patients have some symptoms, and their doctor may suggest a prostate cancer screening as the first step to understanding the problem.