A person’s risk of breast cancer depends on numerous factors that will influence them in their lifetime. In this article, we will be talking about the best ways to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Breast cancer can be caused by some natural factors like ageing etc. All these and more will be mentioned later in this article.
When we say “reducing the risk of breast cancer” it is also like saying, “prevention of breast cancer” in other words. It has been proven medically that some foods help to reduce the risk of this specific kind of cancer like beans, legumes, etc. This means that you should eat more of plants and less meat. These will help you to lose body fats and repair damaged body tissues in one way or the other.
Breast cancer is formed mostly in women and rarely in men (it still happens though). So women are advised to know more about it. Please take note that not all breast lumps are cancerous, but if you notice any strange thing about your breasts, you should report to your doctor for appropriate treatment and examination.
Woman with breast cancer awareness ribbon
To prevent digression, the ways to reduce breast cancer risks start with keeping healthy. Let’s get to them below;
1. Keeping healthy by exercising regularly
Exercising regularly is very necessary for women and men as it can help you maintain a healthy weight and make you active physically. For example, you could go to the gym for a strength training, let’s say last twice a week. You could also use the treadmill, do exercises like walking long distances, jogging and others. These will help burn up excess fats and all other form of abnormalities in the body.
2. If you smoke, don’t smoke again
Smoking is very risky to your health and your body as a whole. Smoking will increase the risk of breast cancer and researchers say there is enough evidence that smoking is dangerous. So, please stop smoking to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
3. Breast feeding your child will definitely minimise risk
Breastfeeding is a natural phenomenon so it is medically advised to use it to reduce the risk of getting breast cancer. And sure, breastfeeding will also give your child some nutrients needed for your baby to grow well.
4. Breast cancer screening is one of the best ways to reduce this type of cancer
It helps to discover cancer in its early stages when it can still be treated. These screenings vary according to age though. This means that recommendations and treatments known as mammography are carried out based on age and risk.
5. Study your weight
Your weight also matters, you should study your weight as being overweight or obese increases the risk of getting the cancer. Being obese increases your chance of having breast cancer due to increased estrogen levels. Women or men who are already at a healthy weight don’t really need this.
But, if you know you are obese, you should try to shed some fats. Losing all those excess amount of weight reduces your chances of getting breast cancer to the minimum. There are many ways to lose weight such as exercising, eating fruits and so on.
6. Reduce time spent sitting
The truth is that, sitting makes people gain more fats. But standing, walking from place to place, being busy wity activities makes people lose fat easily and reduces the risk of cancer of the breasts. So, if you are a woman who sits a lot, you should minimise your time spent sitting down so as to prevent addition of weight which is a risk of breast cancer .
7. Pick the right kinds of food that help in preventing breast cancer
Studies have also proved that the following foods have helped in reducing the risk of breast cancer; foods like beans, fish, eggs, fruits like peaches, leafy vegetables, carrots, oily fish instead of meats, all help to prevent breast cancer according to studies.
8. You have to know your family’s cancer history
As genes are passed from one generation to the other, cancer may become an hereditary stuff. You have to closely examine your family history, ask older people of any kinds of cancer exists or existed in your family line. Some people in your family history could have had cancers such as breast, skin, ovarian or pancreatic cancer in men. Checking and having the knowledge of your family’s cancer history helps you to be on a safer page because you will become more careful with your habits.
9. Avoid hormone replacement therapy as it increases the risk of breast cancer
In case you need to take the hormone replacement therapy, you can talk to your doctor about the risks involved. Please note that you undergoing these risk factors does not mean that automatically, you will develop breast cancer.
10. Women should avoid stressful activities
Perceived stress in the female body increases the risk of breast cancer.
So, it’s therefore important for women who are in stressful situations to consider changes in lifestyle habits to minimise their risk of breast cancer.
11. Give birth early
Giving birth early is a way of securing the bag, that is it reduces the risk of breast cancer in the future. How? In the sense that, not having your first child in your 20s or 30s increases your risk of breast cancer. Hence, if you want children, you might want to do it fast.
12. Get a mammogram which is used to show signs of cancer in the breast
The mammogram is used to detect any breast lumps that cannot be felt with just the hands. In most women, an annual mammogram is recommended starting from the ages 40 to 50. The mammogram cannot stop the development of breast cancer, but can serve as breast cancer detector to detect any form of cancer in the breast so that you can start treatment early.
13. Exposure to cancer-causing chemicals
You should endeavour to avoid exposure to cancer-causing chemicals like radioactive waves emitted from x-ray machines in hospitals, in industries etc.
This means women should avoid any machines or working in industries where lots of radiations are given off. Because these radiations are highly carcinogenic.
14. You should always check your vitamins and minerals level
Vitamin D is the vitamin gotten from the sun and healthy amounts of it can help to reduce the risk of breast cancer. That is, you can spend some minutes outside in the sun everyday as this will help to increase your body’s Vitamins D levels.
