Breast cancer is a common fear for most women. Almost everyone knows someone who is suffering or has suffered from its consequences. While breast cancer sounds worrisome, modern medical science offers excellent ways to treat it. Along with advanced effective treatments, there are also a couple of actions that can be taken in order to prevent breast cancer. Most of these tips are associated with lifestyle changes. Apart from risk factors like family history and age, most of these lifestyle habits can be formed to prevent breast cancer.
10 Breast Cancer Prevention Tips
Here are 10 tips for women to prevent the risks of breast cancer.
Maintaining healthy weight
Maintaining a Body Mass Index (BMI) that falls within the normal range is extremely important when it comes to breast cancer prevention. Especially older women who have hit menopause are at a risk of getting breast cancer. Therefore, it becomes imperative for women to maintain a healthy weight so that they can reduce its risk. Regular weight measurements to ensure that the weight falls within the normal BMI for an adult of 18.5- 24.9 is a necessity to avoid being obese as it will only increase its risk.
Taking part in regular physical exercise
Research suggests that taking part in regular physical exercise can reduce the chances of breast cancer by 10 percent. Starting to work out at even a later stage of life can be helpful in this regard. A daily walk of 30 minutes or engaging in yoga or doing any kind of physical activity on a regular basis that makes the body sweat can aid in the prevention of breast cancer to a certain extent.
Eating healthy
Eating a healthy and balanced diet can lessen the risk of getting breast cancer. This balanced diet should be ideally recommended by a registered nutritionist according to the individual needs of a person.
But generally, a balanced diet is supposed to have a good amount of nutritious food items like fruits, vegetables, avoiding artificially sugary drinks, fatty foods rich in cholesterol and other refined carbohydrates. Keeping small things in mind like eating whole grains, vegetable oil instead of animal oil, lean proteins instead of red meat etc. can be a good addition to a healthy balanced diet.
Avoiding alcohol
Alcohol consumption can noticeably cause or give rise to concerns that lead to breast cancer. Women who are regular drinkers are more at risk of getting this cancer. Research on the effects of alcohol consumption on breast cancer has suggested that limiting the intake of alcohol to one drink per day or less can reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Avoiding smoking
Everyone is aware of how harmful smoking is in general. But recent studies have also found a tie between smoking and breast cancer which reveals that long- term smoking can be a major factor contributing to the inception of breast cancer. Thus, avoiding smoking as much as possible can be an active way of preventing breast cancer.
Considering taking an estrogen- blocking drug
Older women who are more inclined to being affected by breast cancer can consider taking estrogen blocking hormones which can help in breast cancer prevention. But in order to take any type of medicine, one should first and foremost consult with a physician and then proceed to taking any form of medicine like tamoxifen or raloxifene.
Stress minimization
Even though there is no direct link between stress and breast cancer, stress management can aid to improve the overall mental health of a woman. Taking care of one’s mental health will significantly increase one’s ability to manage stressful situations better which will also contribute to the person’s overall participation in physical exercises and eating healthy food. Hence, a correlation between stress management and developing a healthy mindset with prevention of not just breast cancer but any type of cancer can be ensured.
Avoiding hormone replacement therapy
Often the symptoms of menopause can cause women to take help of hormone replacement therapies such as intake of progesterone to combat the discomfort caused by menopause. However, studies have shown that women who take these drugs are more prone to developing breast cancer. Hence, if a woman has to take such medicines, avoiding medicines that contain progesterone is highly recommended.
Breastfeeding
Breast feeding children is a natural way of breast cancer prevention. Women who breastfeed their children for at least a year are at a reduced risk of developing breast cancer. Another study shows that women who breastfeed for more than 18 months also increase their protection against breast cancer.
Regular checkups
For women who are prone to developing breast cancer, women with a family history of breast cancer or older women, regular checkups are highly recommended. The doctors might suggest mammograms which are an x-ray of the breasts to reveal visual images of the breast tissues. This image tells the doctor if there are any abnormalities developing in the tissues so that these can be dealt with an early stage preventing the risk of breast cancer. Other than mammograms, ultrasounds and MRIs can also help in early detection of tumors and cysts that can lead to breast cancer.
These are some of the ways breast cancer can be prevented or how its risk can be reduced to an extent.
Source: United News of Bangladesh