Cancer Risk Factors Revealed
For several decades now, the fear-inducing dilemma that is cancer has been troubling a lot of people due to the simple fact that not a cure for even a single type of cancer has ever been found. Some healing approaches bordering on the miraculous and other alternative ways of cure including prayer, hypnosis, healthy eating habits, law of attraction, exercise and a few others more have been employed by some to defeat this scourge. While there have been cancer sufferers who have been cured via chemotherapy, there are a lot more who have not survived in spite of the therapy.
Stopping the cancer before it even develops is by far, the best way to cure this disease. So, how can we do this? A life free of cancer can be achieved when we avoid the risk factors related to it. These factors are suspected to be the primary reasons why people get cancer. We can live our entire life free of cancer when at the earliest possible time we safeguard ourselves from these identified factors.
By now, a lot of people are aware of the most common risk factors associated with cancer. They include obesity, lack of exercise, poor eating habits, certain types of hormones, bacteria and viruses, artificial substances and chemicals, ionizing radiation, excessive exposure to sunlight, alcohol, tobacco, family history/heredity, and age.
Obesity, Lack of Exercise, Poor Eating Habits
You will notice that obesity, lack of exercise, and poor eating habits are all interrelated. These contributing factors are not only associated with the disease of cancer alone, but also with quite serious maladies including the top killers of humanity like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. If you are aware that you are about to acquire these types of diseases, then you naturally would start to worry and strive to avoid them as much as possible and begin consuming healthier foods like vegetables, fruits, and other fiber-rich foods. You then begin to develop a healthy attitude towards regular exercise and ways to improve your physical activities so that you lose weight, attain a healthy body, and most importantly, not get cancer.
Certain Hormones
Also, amplifying the risk of getting cancer are certain hormones. This factor affects women more than men especially women who are receiving menopausal hormone therapy (MHT). This type of therapy may make it easier for women to manage the difficult phase of menopause but there is a price to pay for it. The long term risk of MHT is a very high probability of developing blood clots, stroke, heart attack, and breast cancer. One should always be reminded that the human body sometimes undergoes natural processes that shouldn’t be meddled with. If we do, we are causing it to become imbalance making the occurrence of various kinds of diseases inevitable.
Bacteria and Viruses
Studies have shown that certain types of bacteria and viruses are known to contribute to the development of cancer. Most of these harmful microorganisms are contagious and lead to communicable diseases. Some of the infamous ones include the Helicobacter pylori, herpes, Epstein-Barr virus, lymphoma or Human T-cell leukemia virus, HPV or Human papilloma viruses, Hepatitis B and C, and HIV. Certain methods to kill these microphages is simply by abstaining from sex or practicing safe sex including obviously not having sex with someone who is infected. Being vaccinated for hepatitis B and C is one good way to avoid those two types of hepatitis infection.
Artificial Substances and Chemicals
The presence of certain artificial substances and chemicals is one high risk factor that’s connected to the development of cancer. Some of these substances include vinyl chloride, nickel, cadmium, benzidine, benzene, and asbestos. The paint industry, the chemical industry, the mining industry, and construction sites are just a few of the establishments and workplaces these chemicals are widely used. Being exposed to them, some workers can develop different forms of cancer more so if the exposure has been long and extensive.
Ionizing Radiation
Ionizing radiation can come from radiation waves entering our atmosphere, radioactive fallout, radon gas, and x-rays. Nuclear power plants that are poorly managed and maintained can result in accidents that lead to radiation leaks or fallout. Workers who are exposed to this harmful radiation can be either at high risk for cancer or suffer from radiation poisoning that can lead to death. Radon gas is usually found on the earth’s soil and rocks. Miners who are exposed to radon tend to develop cancer many years later. There are certain medical procedures that utilize radiation to treat patients. X-ray is one of them but this procedure only makes use of low radiation doses and is not lethal enough to cause cancer.
Excessive Exposure to Sunlight
The daytime hours people should avoid exposing themselves to extreme sunlight condition are between the midday hours of 10 AM until 3 PM. These are the hours in which the sun is emitting its highest levels of UV. Some people believe that the reason the sun’s UV rays are not being efficiently filtered by earth’s atmosphere is because of a development of a huge hole on the ozone layer allowing UV rays to leak into earth. Avid sun bathers and people who frequent tanning beds or often use sun lamps should avoid prolonged exposure to UV rays as this can lead to the development of several forms of skin cancer. We recommend wearing UV-absorbing sunglasses and hats, long pants, long sleeved shirts, and apply sunscreen lotion on your skin if you plan to be exposed to the sun for a long time in order to avoid skin cancer.
Alcohol
Some doctors believe drinking a small amount of alcohol a day can be healthy for the heart. But are you aware that you are actually also increasing the likelihood of getting certain types of cancer if you consume alcohol? The cancers you can be at risk of from drinking alcohol include cancers of the throat, esophagus, mouth, larynx, liver, and breast. If besides drinking alcohol on a regular basis, you also smoke regularly, then your chance of getting cancer is doubled.
Tobacco Smoking
The number one cancer killer in the world is lung cancer and its main cause is the tobacco found in your cigarettes and cigars. Both smokers and others (smokers or non-smokers) who happen to inhale the smoke (second-hand smokers) are at risk of getting lung cancer. Whilst non-smokers should always avoid the smoking environment, smokers should cease smoking at the soonest possible time.
Family History/Heredity
If you’re one of those unfortunate ones who have developed cancer due to a family history of the disease, this should not stop you from living a healthy life because doing so can actually prevent the cancer from arising within you.
Age
As time passes each day, all of us get a day older. When we age, our immune system may not be as robust as it used to be making us prone to illnesses and disease such as cancer. Statistics from cancer centers reveal that most cancer patients are senior citizens. But the seniors who are the most prone to cancer are the ones who didn’t practice a healthy lifestyle to begin with. So, in effect if you have lived a poor and unhealthy lifestyle when you were young, don’t be surprised if you develop cancer in your golden years.
How then can a person live a healthy life? Well, the answer is to learn to avoid all of the factors that can lead to cancer even if you have a family history of it.
Well by now, you should have an idea and a guide on how to live a healthier lifestyle now that the risk factors associated with cancer have been identified and the ways on how to avoid the different types of this disease. Practicing healthy living early in life will, In the long run, make you glad that you have done so since it will prevent you from developing cancer for the rest of your life.
