Cancer Prevention Month

February is National Cancer Prevention Month and was established to bring awareness to the importance of being proactive in the fight against cancers. The death rates from cancers in the United States have fallen by over 20 percent since peaking in 1991 and this is due to all of you being more aware of cancer. Improvement in early detection and treatments plus raised public awareness can bring on lifestyle changes that will keep cancer from invading your life.

The first step to preventing cancer is making healthy lifestyle choices. It is difficult to start an all organic lifestyle or go to the gym on a daily basis; it is not difficult to start small lifestyle changes right now and during Cancer Prevention Month. Changes that will make a great improvement in your fight against any type of cancers include:

Stop smoking. This is the most important lifestyle change you can do for cancer prevention. It has been proven for almost 100 years that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and does increase the risk of developing other types of cancer. Stop now and add up to 10 years to your life. You know someone who has died of smoking-related cancers; you do not want to be a statistic.

Alcohol consumption can lead to cancer. Practice moderation and drink only occasionally. If you drink alcohol regularly many different parts of your body are impacted. Limit yourself; stop drinking in excess.

Exercise. There will never be enough urging for moving and exercise. Try to get at least 30 minutes a day of intense physical activity. This will keep your body strong and you will feel so much better. Obesity is linked to many types of cancer. Get your weight down and reduce your risk.

Are you a sun worshiper? That’s awesome, but skin cancer is the most common type of cancer and it comes from worshipping the sun to excess. Use sunscreens, or wear a t-shirt and hat when you are out in the sun. Try to limit direct sunlight exposure during afternoon hours. This is the time when the sun’s rays are their strongest and most deadly.

Control your diet. As with exercise not enough can ever be said about diet. A balanced diet is proven to reduce the risk of most cancers as well as diabetes, digestive track diseases, and loss of energy. Eat fruits; they are yummy and incorporate non-starchy vegetables into your life. Love potatoes that are fluffy and mashed with lots of salt and butter? Potatoes are a great food, but limited the fluffy butter variety.

Medical Guidelines and Early Detection

During the month of February there are clinics and doctor’s offices that are urging early detection and screening for cancer. Take the opportunity and recommendations to use healthcare advancements. Ensure that any cancer-types issues are diagnosed early. If you find cancer at the beginning you have more treatment options and much better odds for a successful outcome.

If you are a woman over the age of forty, have yearly mammograms or at least do a self-lump breast check every single day.

If you are over fifty have a colonoscopy at least every ten years. This is to monitor of colon cancers which are hard to detect. Colon cancer can be treated if found early; but if you neglect screening, you will have a very terrible recovery pathway.

Those women who are over the age of 21 and sexually activate need to have a pap test every three years. If you have discharges, smells or growths get checked out immediately,.

Those who are or have been heavy smokers and are 55 or older need to have a low-dose CT scan every year to monitor for lung cancer.

Men over the age of 50 should have prostate screenings every year. This is to monitor prostate cancer. If you are at a high risk or have a family history of prostate cancer, get screened more often.

Check with a dermatologist annually to monitor for skin changes. If you see changes in the size or color of a mole, do see a dermatologist as soon as possible.

Keep your doctors up to date on lifestyle changes. If you have a family history of cancers you are at higher risk. Cover all your bases.

Be Aware of Body Changes

Early detection starts with you. Monitor yourself on a regular basis and pay attention to alarming or even subtle changes in your body. If you feel different or have a growth or pain on our body that is abnormal, check it out. Don’t be embarrassed to take care of yourself. Remember the earlier you discover a change the better your chances of curing it are.

Ways to be healthy throughout your life? Try eating mostly plant foods. Limit red meats and do avoid processed meats, like lunch meats, sausages, and those meats with high preservatives. Stay away from high calorie treats. Eating a sweet occasionally is ok, but eating sweet desserts at every meal is just not good for your body.

Be physically active at least thirty minutes or more a day. Being active is fun! Walk, run, skip, jump, work in the garden, vacuum the carpets, and scrub the floor. Make activity fun and get moving. Just changing the channel on the television is not activity.

Try to maintain a healthy weight throughout your life. It is hard, but if you notice your waist line ballooning and your thighs getting bigger, you need to do something about it. Start exercising, eat well, and make lifestyle changes that encourage a healthy weight. Help stop the reputation of America as being the land of the fat.

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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

Written by HealthStatus Team
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our blood alcohol, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years. Our team of health professionals, and researchers use peer reviewed studies as source elements in our articles. Our high quality content has been featured in a number of leading websites, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Live Strong, GQ, and many more.

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