How I Keep Healthy: Calm in The Cancer Ward

In oncology, where every day carries the weight of life-altering conversations, resilience is not optional — it is essential. For Dr Sri Vardhan Jasti, Consultant Medical Oncologist at KIMS Hospitals, staying fit is less about aesthetics and more about endurance. Physical discipline, emotional boundaries and family rituals form the framework that helps him show up, steady and compassionate, for patients who need him most.

“As an oncologist I’m around grief, illness and stress most of the time. Hence it’s extremely important to stay healthy, it’s kind of a professional survival skill,” he says. “And being healthy is not just about being physically fit but also being emotionally strong.”

His day begins at 5:45 am with a 30-minute walk. After dropping his daughter at school, he sits down with a cup of coffee to plan the day ahead. The ritual is simple but grounding, a moment of calm before stepping into emotionally intense consultations.

For Dr Jasti, mental strength is the real workout. “The healthiest oncologists don’t carry patients home but they don’t pretend they’re robots either,” he says. “Compartmentalisation without becoming cold is the key.”

That means being fully present with every patient, then consciously letting go once the day ends.

After difficult days, small rituals help him decompress: a warm shower, music, and time with his wife and two daughters. “Having at least one meal together, usually dinner, followed by putting them to sleep or watching a movie if it’s the weekend, keeps me going and sane,” he says. He also meditates for about 20 minutes on most days. “It keeps my mind calm and composed.”

Long outpatient hours mean being seated for much of the day, so he builds movement into routine moments. “Anyone who knows me knows how important movement and 10,000 steps are for me,” he says.

The chemotherapy daycare at the hospital is on the 15th floor and he avoids the lift whenever possible. “I make it a point to use the stairs.” For him, fitness is about consistency, not intensity.

“Clean eating is everything,” he says simply. His mornings begin with soaked almonds and a litre of water. He carries a home-packed lunchbox to work, keeps his water bottle handy to stay hydrated and avoids sugary beverages. Recently, he has switched from white rice to brown rice and eliminated refined flour from his diet.

For Dr Jasti, these habits are not trends but tools, ways to maintain clarity and stamina in a profession that demands both. In a specialty defined by high stakes and heavy emotions, staying well is not indulgence. It is responsibility.