An American cardiologist and a French cancer specialist, acting independently, set up surprisingly similar programs based on exercise, diet and meditation. More than mere rest, exercise alleviates the fatigue of medical treatment, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, and the raw anxiety accompanying disease. Meditation, including meditative exercise, generates alpha waves in the brain, and a cascade of other measurable, physical effects calming mind and body. These methods also help patients gain back their self confidence, and the energy to fight the disease. Scientific research funded by the US NIH (National Institutes of Health) is under way to discover exactly how meditation works its magic, possibly triggered by spontaneous release of nitric oxide into the bloodstream. These methods of guided self care, fighting the devastating effects of stress and anxiety, are increasingly understood by science and medicine as powerful complements to modern surgical and pharmaceutical treatments.