- Thirty minutes of exercise everyday reduces your risk of cancer more than 30 percent. Increasing your daily exercise beyond thirty minutes results in a further reduction in your cancer risk.
- A well balanced diet of low fat, high fiber foods that includes little to no red meat and fresh fruits and vegetables not only helps lower your chance of getting cancer, it also provides significant benefit to your cardiovascular health.
- If you smoke, quit; if you don't smoke, don't start! Did you know that lung cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths beaten only by skin cancer.
- While there is still controversy about the use of alcoholic beverages, current recommendations say that a moderate amount of alcohol may be allright.
- Smoking combined with alcohol has proven
to significantly increase cancer risks for oral cancer, esophageal
cancer, and other cancers.
- All women who are 21 or who have been sexually active for three years, whatever comes first, should have annual Pap smears until the age of thirty when semi-annual Pap smears (annual exams are still necessary on the years that a Pap smear is not required to check for other possible problems including breast lumps that you haven't found during your monthly breast self-exam) may be recommended only for those women who have had only normal Pap smears. Following this rule throughout your life and following up with your health care provider on the schedule she recommends will almost always protect you from cervical cancer developing. Women who do develop cancer of the cervix have not, in most cases, followed the guidelines recommended by the American College of Obstetritians and Gynecologists or ACOG for Pap smears.
- Monthly breast self-exam, as well as mammography exams have helped to substantially increase the survival rate for breast cancer through early detection. Mammograms are usually ordered, begining at the age of forty, every one or two years or on a schedule determined by your health care provider. Certain women with genetic or other known risk factors for breast cancer often begin mammography at an earlier age.
- It's always nice, when the weather cooperates, to spend time on outdoor activites. However, the utilization of sunscreens with a sun protection factor or SPF of 15 or higher is important in the prevention of skin cancer, the leading cause of cancer deaths. Many women choose facial moisturizes that contain sun protection factor and use them daily under their make up. A daily SPF moisturizing helps prevent the signs of aging while offering protection against future skin cancer.
- Always practice safe sex! The most effective way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases or STDs is abstinence. However, when that is not your choice condoms should be used during each and every act of sexual intercourse unless you are part of a mutually exclusive long term relationship.
Next: Cancer's Early Warning Signs
