The statistics for people who have or people who know someone who suffer from cancer are startlingly high, thankfully the last 20 years have seen some incredible advancements in cancer care and treatment and the number of people who now die from cancer related illnesses has come down by up to 75% in some forms of cancer and the improvements continue to be made year on year.
Whilst medical treatment can give you amazing results should you find yourself with cancer, the onus is still on you to do all that you can to cut your risk. Even cancers that are hereditary can be avoided for a longer period of time if you live your life right and here are just some of the ways that you can cut your risk of cancer.
Don’t Smoke
One of the most common ways that people die from cancer is though smoking-related cancers such as lung, throat, mouth, kidney and bladder, all of which have high mortality rates. If you are a smoker then you should be looking to quit as soon as possible or search for alternative options such as e-cigarettes, there are some great e-cigs on the market that replicate smoking, give you the nicotine fix that you need whilst avoiding the thousands of toxic chemicals that cigarettes contain. If you are a non-smoker then you should keep it that way and try to avoid being around smokers for too long, passive smoking has also been linked to cancer patients.
Maintain a Healthy Weight
Breast, colon, prostate and kidney cancer have all been linked to being overweight, that is not to suggest that being fat means you’ll definitely get cancer but if there is a link there then why run the risk? Speak with your doctor about what your goal weight should be, all bodies are different shapes and sizes and there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to what weight you should be. Keeping trim will help in other aspects of your life as well as lowering your risk of cancer.
Protection from the Sun
Despite how good you think you look with a tan, skin cancer, mostly as a result of too much sun, has been on the rise in the last 20 years as more and more people look to bronze themselves. Skin cancer is particularly dangerous such is the area of the body which it covers and it is important that you do all that you can to reduce the dangers. When in the sun, make sure you apply a high-factor sunscreen regularly and if you want to bronze yourself on sunbeds then you must make sure that you only use them for the recommended duration. Bronze might look good now, but it won’t compare with the pain and suffering that skin cancer could bring in the future.
Watch What You Eat
Knowing what to eat and what not to eat can be tricky, it seems that every day there is a new food that will increase your risk of cancer, and a new food to eat in order to lower it. Much of this is sensational speculation and you need to try and get to the truth. The best rule to follow, that have so far been scientifically proven again and again is to eat plenty of fresh food, avoid processed foods as they are packed with chemicals and be careful with how much red meat you are consuming. You can’t cherry pick foods to avoid if you like but make sure that the research against the food is concrete. The best way to think is to try and eat fresh as much as possible and minimize how many chemicals go into your body.