How to Reduce the Risk of Cancer – 7 Healthy Habits & Tips

You may have heard contradictory reports about cancer prevention – sometimes, the method of cancer prevention recommended by one study is opposed in another study. However, the lifestyle does affect the risk of cancer. So what you can do to reduce the risk? Here are 7 tips and tricks. 

How to Reduce the Risk of Cancer – 7 Healthy Habits and Tips 

Don't smoke

Smoking is associated with a variety of cancers, including lung cancer, oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, cervical cancer, and kidney cancer. Chewing tobacco is also associated with oral cancer and pancreatic cancer. Even if you don't smoke, exposure to second-hand smoke may increase your risk of lung cancer. Not smoking or quitting smoking is an important part of cancer prevention.

Healthy diet

Although making healthy choices at the grocery store and during meals does not guarantee cancer prevention, it may reduce your risk. Please consider the following aspects:

– Eat more fruits and vegetables. Diet should be based on fruits, vegetables, and other foods from plant sources (such as whole grains and beans).

– Avoid obesity. Eat less high-calorie foods (including refined sugar and fat extracted from animals) and eat a lighter and healthier diet. If you drink alcohol, please drink moderately. The risk of various cancers (including breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, and liver cancer) increases with the increase of your alcohol consumption and the extension of your regular drinking time.

– Restrict the processing of meat. A report by the international agency for research on cancer (the cancer agency of the World Health Organization) concluded that eating a large amount of processed meat slightly increased the risk of some cancers.

In addition, women who follow Mediterranean dietary habits and eat extra virgin olive oil and mixed nuts may reduce the risk of breast cancer. The Mediterranean diet is mainly concentrated on plant foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, and nuts. People who follow the Mediterranean diet will choose healthy fats, such as olive oil and fish, rather than butter and red meat.

Maintain a healthy weight and keep exercising

Maintaining a healthy weight can reduce the risk of various cancers, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, and kidney cancer. Physical exercise is also important. In addition to helping you control your weight, physical exercise itself may reduce the risk of breast cancer and colon cancer. As long as adults take physical exercise, it is good for their health. However, in order to obtain substantial health benefits, strive to carry out at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of high-intensity aerobic exercise every week. You can also do moderate and high-intensity exercises at the same time. The overall goal of physical exercise is to do at least 30 minutes of physical exercise every day – if you can do more, it will be better.

Protect yourself from the sun

Skin cancer is one of the common cancers and one of the completely preventable cancers. Try these suggestions:

– Avoid midday sunlight. Avoid sunlight when the sun is strong between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

– Stay in the shade. When you are outdoors, try to stay in the shade. Sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats also help.

– Cover exposed areas. Wear tightly woven, loose clothes that cover your skin as much as possible. Choose bright or dark clothes, which reflect more UV rays than light or bleached cotton clothes.

– Don't save sunscreen. Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen above SPF30, even on cloudy days. Apply sunscreen in large quantities and reapply it every two hours – more often if you are swimming or sweating.

– Avoid tanning beds and fluorescent lamps. These are as harmful to the skin as natural sunlight.

Vaccination

Preventing cancer includes preventing certain viral infections. Talk to your doctor about the following vaccinations:

– Hepatitis B vaccine. Hepatitis B will increase the risk of liver cancer. It is recommended to recommend the Hepatitis B vaccine to some high-risk adults and medical care or public safety personnel who may be exposed to infected blood or body fluids.

– Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical and other genital cancers as well as squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Boys and girls aged 11-12 are recommended to be vaccinated against HPV. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the Gardasil-9 vaccine for men and women aged 9 to 45.

Avoid dangerous behavior

Another effective cancer prevention strategy is to avoid dangerous behaviors that may lead to infection, which may increase the risk of cancer. For example:

– Safe sex. Limit the number of your sexual partners and the use of condoms. People infected with HIV have a higher risk of anal cancer, liver cancer, and lung cancer. HPV is often associated with cervical cancer, but it may also increase the risk of cancers of the anus, penis, throat, vulva, and vagina.

– Do not share needles. Sharing needles with people who use intravenous drugs may lead to AIDS and hepatitis B and C, which may increase the risk of liver cancer.

See a doctor regularly

– Regular self-examination and screening for various cancers (such as skin cancer, colon cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer) can increase the probability of early detection of cancer, at which time the treatment is more likely to be successful.

– Ask your doctor to make a cancer screening plan suitable for you.