October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I’m a twelve-year breast cancer survivor, so this month has special significance for me.

There were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and 685,000 deaths globally in 2020. At the end of 2020, 7.8 million women diagnosed with breast cancer in the past 5 years were still alive making it the world’s most prevalent cancer.

Breast cancer is responsible for more lost disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) by women globally than any other type of cancer. 

This year in the United States, about 255,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 42,000 will die of this disease. The three most common cancers diagnosed in women are breast, lung, and colorectal cancers. Most incidences of breast cancer occur in women 50 years old and over, but younger women are also at risk. It is the most common cancer among females aged 15 to 39 years, but less than 5% of all cases of breast cancers in females occur in this age group. Breast cancers cases among 15-39 year-olds are more aggressive and more difficult to treat than in older women.

Men account for one out of every one-hundred breast cancer diagnoses in the United States. Because men do not typically receive breast cancer screenings or conduct monthly breast exams on themselves, a delay in diagnosis can negatively impact survival rates.

I received my diagnosis in my forties. I had no family history of breast cancer, and I was quite healthy. During my treatment, I began to realize I didn’t fit the profile of the women typically thought to be at risk of developing breast cancer. As I met fellow breast cancer patients, I realized many didn’t fit the profile. We weren’t over fifty. We weren’t obese and we didn’t live sedentary lifestyles. We became mothers before thirty, breastfed our kids, and had no family history of breast cancer.

What does this mean? Are the profiles wrong? Yes and no is the only answer I can give you. They are not wrong, but they do not tell the whole story. Your greatest risk of developing breast cancer is having breasts. Everyone is born with a risk of developing breast cancer, and how we deal with that risk may determine if we develop breast cancer and if we survive.

How can you manage your risk?

1.    Know your family health history. This can help you determine your risk of so many serious medical conditions. Become the keeper of your family’s medical history. Document medical conditions in your family and share this info with your siblings and your children. As our grandparents, parents, and other relatives age they often take multiple medications – find out what and why. Is this because of lifestyle or genetics? Being sincere and concerned about their health can benefit them as well as your entire family.

2.    Don’t smoke or use tobacco products and avoid alcohol. Smoking is responsible and indirectly responsible (passive smoke) for more than eight million deaths each year according to the World Health Organization (WHO) – seven million from direct tobacco use and an estimated 1.2 million from secondhand smoke. Globally, 5.3% of all deaths (@ 3million deaths each year) are related to the harmful use of alcohol. It’s estimated 5.1% of the global burden of disease and injury are alcohol-related as measured by disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). If you drink alcoholic beverages, try to limit the frequency and quantity of alcohol you consume.

3.    Don’t skip regular checkups/wellness visits or health screenings because you feel okay. Serious illnesses can have no immediate symptoms or have symptoms easily overlooked or dismissed as normal signs of aging.

4.    Get enough sleep. Adults typically need 6 to 8 hours of sleep for good health and peak performance. School-age children need between 9 and 11 hours of sleep. Be consistent about bedtimes and your bedtime ritual. I was always guilty of putting things off until the kids were in bed and then staying up later and later to finish what I needed to do. Learn to manage your time throughout the day and the week, so you get enough sleep.

5.    Watch what you eat and if you have kids, watch what they are eating. It’s never too late to start eating a healthier diet. Watch added sugar, excess salt, and saturated fats by becoming a label reader. Limit processed foods and avoid fad diets. Add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to your plate. Stop eating when you feel full – the “clean your plate club” is highly overrated. Put your leftovers in the fridge for lunch the next day.

6.    Rethink the word “diet.” Too many people associate diet with trying to lose weight. Think of your “diet” as what you eat to stay healthy and fuel your body. Improving your diet can help you maintain a healthy weight, lower cholesterol, regulate blood pressure, help lower and regulate glucose levels, improve the appearance of your skin, and as a wonderful side benefit you can lose pounds and inches and lower your body mass index.

7.    Get off the couch and away from your desk. Being active should be a family affair. Don’t just tell the kids to go outside and play while you sit in front of the TV or computer. Children learn by example. Plan active family activities whenever possible, but don’t over-schedule activities to the point you spend the entire day in the car dropping off and picking up instead of being active too. Never underestimate the value of a good walk around the neighborhood or a hike in the woods. Take your walk downtown and visit a museum or wildlife conservatory. If you live near the beach, take a long walk, and breathe the sea air. Think how many of us only get to do that on a vacation. Put on some music and dance or join a recreational sports league. Housework and yard work are exercise… how much exercise can be determined by how much effort you put into them.

8.    Watch your emotional health as well as your physical health. While a little stress is normal and can keep you focused on achieving your goals, excessive stress can be physically and emotionally harmful. Your emotional health is important. Depression can change your eating and sleeping habits and lead to substance abuse – self-medicating with drugs or alcohol. If you experience sadness that lingers or your moods are impacting your ability to complete everyday tasks, talk to your doctor and get the help you need.

Following these eight suggestions can help you reduce your risks of developing many types of cancers as well as other serious illnesses. Sometimes you can do everything right and still get sick. There are no guarantees, but multiple health studies indicate we can reduce our risks for many illnesses and if we teach our children how to reduce their risk of illness we will change the statistic, “1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime” to something much less.

Sources for this article:

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer

https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/dcpc/resources/features/breastcancerawareness/index.htm

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/alcohol