Most people's lives are affected by cancer in some way or another. If you or anyone you know never had cancer you are part of a very small percentage of people. Cancer is one of the biggest causes of death in the world.
According to the World Health Organisation, in the year 2008 cancer caused 7.6 million deaths which is about 13% of the total number of deaths that year. However, most cancers can be prevented with the right merasures even when uncontrollable risk factors such as genetics and heredity are present. Cancer caused by genetics and heredity amounts to 20% of all cases while the remaining 80% are caused by controllable factors under diet, lifestyle and environmental influences.
Diet: The risk factors include unhealthy foods, foods containing toxic chemicals, foods that are irritated, lack of certain nutrition in the diet, tap water, parasitesk and additives,
Lifestyle choices: Risk factors include smoking, lack of physical activity and hormone replacement therapy
Environmental Influences: Such risk factors include overexposure to the sun, exposure to toxic chemicals, and heavy industrial metals
There is also the fact that many causes of cancer still remain unclear. Scientist are still in the process of verifying other factors they believe leads to the development of cancer.
It doesn't matter what the statistics are though, taking a holistic approach to developing your immune system and maintaing a healthy body will greatly help prevent cancer. Many people wait until they become sick to start practicing healthy lifestyle and diet habits. It will worth it greatly if you start doing everything possible to reduce your risk of getting cancer. Listed below are some important things you should do to keep cancer away from your body and live a long healthy cancer-free life. And the good thing is these are simple things that are very low-cost or free to do but very powerful in preventing cancer.
Avoid Smoking and Exposure to Cigarette Smoke
If you are a smoker stopping smoke is one of the biggest ways to reduce your risk of getting cancer. Though one of the most common cancers caused by the habit, lung cancer is not the only cancer that is caused by smoking. Smoking and inhaling cigarette smoke even if you are not a smoker can lead to many other types of cancers. Therefore, if you want to protect yourself from cancer, start working on quitting smoking, and never start if you are a non-smoker. It is never too late to quit, as soon as you quit, your body will start reaping the benefits of being tobacco-free. Also, avoid secondhand smoke coming from smokers because this smoke contains over sixty known carcinogens that interrupts normal cell growth and can lead to cancer.
Limit Sun Exposure
Scientific studies have found that having the right level of Vitamin D in your body can help prevent cancer. We obsorb Vitamin D from being in the sun, but as you know, overexposure to sunlight is also linked to skin cancer. So you have to know the level of Vitamin D that is in your body in order to determine how much sunlight you need to prevent certain cancers, while avoiding increasing your risk of skin cancer. You can find out how much Vitamin D that is in your body by taking a blood test. Taking one blood test will reveal the levels of vitamin D, other vitamins, and minerals in your body.
Eat Fruits And Vegetables
Plain and simple, if you are not eating enough fruits and vegetables you are putting yourself at risk of many diseases including cancer. Fruits and vegetables are extremely important to overall health including treating and preventing many illnesses. They contain essential antioxidants and vitamins which helps fight abnormality in the body.
Keep Your Sugar Intake At A Limit
Sugar has a bad reputation for health. Conscumption of too much refined sugar has been linked to many health problems including premature aging, diabetes and weight gain. Studies has shown that sugar is also linked to cancer. According to the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Investigation in Milan, Italy, consuming sugar between meals stimulates the proliferation of the epithelial cells of the intestines. This can help form cancer. Studies also found that the more sugar one eats, the higher their risk of getting colon cancer. A sweet treat once in a while is fine, but eating too much foods and beverages high in sugar content should be avoided in order to reduce your risk of cancer and other health problems.
Limit Your Alcohol Intake
Consuming one or two glasses of alcolic drinks a day is fine and may actually have some medical benefits. However, alcohol becomes dangerous to health when it is overconsumed. Health experts found that drinking excessive amounts of alcohol on a regular basis increases your risk level for many types of cancer. If you have to drink keep it between one or two glasses per day to prevent cancer.
Drink Enough Water
You should drink at least a liter of water a day. This will help flush the body of environmental toxins and chemicals. Try not to drink tap water because it contains chlorine and fluoride which are linked to cancers that affect female organs. According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) tap water has over 140 types of chemicals in it. The solution is to always drink bottled water that does not come from the tap.
Lose Weight If You Are Overweight
Everyone knows that being overweight can be a beauty problem, but much worse and what some people may not know is that science has linked obesity to cancer and other serious diseases. Therefore, if you are overweight you need to change your eating habits and get more exercise to slim down. I think most people are motivated to lose weight for the appearance benefits of it, but knowing that losing weight can help reduce your risk of cancer is even more important to start slimming down.
Increase Your Level Of Physical Activity To Prevent Cancer
If you are not very physically active you are actually at risk of cancer and many other diseases. Being physically active whether it's through exercise, hobbies, sports or work will help reduce your risk of many types of cancer and have tons of other health benefits? All you need is just 30 minutes or more of exercise, at least 5 days a week to reap tremendous health benefits. Start being more physically active today to prevent cancer.
Keep stress Under Control
Stressful situations are inevitable, but the way you choose to manage your stress is important. Allowing negative emotions to stick and build up can lead to many illnesses including cancer. Some health experts believes that many diseases are caused by emotional disturbances, and scientists have found a link between traumatic events and cancer. For that reason it is critical to your health to let go of negative feelings as soon as possible.
Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is important for keeping your body healthy and it doesn't require any effort at all. Sleep releases stress and rejuvenates the body and mind. According to a report from The American Association for Cancer Research, among physically active women, those who got less than 7 hours of sleep per night had a higher risk of 47% of cancer than those who got 7 or more hours of sleep.
The above are some of the simple preventative methods for cancer that you can easily incoperate into your lifestyle. Of course, it is also necessary to have regular checkups to spot any potential problems early so that cancer never have a chance to develop in your body. Keep in mind that you don't have to live your life in worry or fear of cancer. Cancer can be prevented by simple modifications to your diet and lifestyle habits without giving up foods you love and things you like doing. Just be moderate in everything and keep cancer away.
No comments:
Post a Comment