A couple of weeks back theatre personality Tahira Kashyap, who incidentally is Ayushmann Khurrana’s wife, had posted a picture of hers on social media platforms. It was about her battle with breast cancer and in the picture the scars around her breast due to surgery were visible. Tahira Kashyap has recently recovered from breast cancer after a long and lengthy treatment. She had captioned the picture: “Life at times fells you with a hard push… you need courage and conviction to get up once more.”
Well cancer is one of the most dreaded words for human beings. Even though today treatment is available, a sure path to overcome the disease is yet to be discovered. Among women, the rate of breast cancer attacks is on the rise. However, experts feel that if certain precautionary measures are taken early on, breast cancer can easily be avoided.
It should be stated here that October 1 to October 31 every year is known as the ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month’ (BCAM). During the period international health campaigns are organised by major breast cancer charities to increase awareness of the disease and raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure. Nearly everyone knows someone touched by the disease.
However, it must also be mentioned here that treatments to tackle breast cancer are getting better. However, prevention is always better than cure. Here’s a look at eight possible preventive measures women can adopt to prevent breast cancer.
Keep Weight in check: It’s easy to say this, but rarely one can follow it. Maintaining a healthy weight with a balanced diet is important for every woman. Being overweight can increase the risk of many different cancers, including breast cancer, especially after menopause.
Be Physically Active and Exercise regularly: This is another simple method of keeping breast cancer away. One should exercise at least 30 minutes a day and be physically active so that you sweat a lot. Women who do so have lower risk of getting affected by breast cancer. Also regular exercise keeps weight in check.
Don’t Smoke: Well no one has to really spell out the ill effects of smoking. Simply speaking it should be given up at any cost if you are a smoker. Forget cancer, smoking ages you quickly. It is the cause of 15 types of cancers including breast cancer… so if you are an addict, just kick the butt away, never to puff again.
Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables – and avoid too much Alcohol: A healthy diet can help lower the risk of breast cancer. So eat lots of fruits and vegetables and keep alcohol at moderate levels. Moderate alcohol drinking can be good for the heart in old people. However, even low levels of alcohol intake can increase the risk of breast cancer. So if you drink more, you should cut down or quit.
Breastfeed, if possible: Breastfeeding for a total of one year or more (combined for all children) lowers the risk of breast cancer. It also has great health benefits for the child.
Avoid Post-Menopausal Hormones: Post-menopausal hormones shouldn’t be taken long term to prevent chronic diseases, like osteoporosis and heart disease. Studies have proved that these hormones have a mixed effect on health. Researchers have proved that both estrogenonly and estrogen-plus-progestin hormones increase the risk of breast cancer.
Know your Family’s cancer history: About five to 10 per cent of all cancer diseases, including breast cancer, are hereditary due to the passage of muted genes from one generation to the next. So the disease history of your father and mother both count. Men can carry some of the abnormal genes, such as ‘BRCA1 and 2’, that increases the risk of breast cancer. Hence if these are detected early on, breast cancer can be prevented.
Avoid Birth Control Pills: Birth control pills have both risks and benefits. The younger a woman is, the lower the risks are. However, regular intake of birth control pills, more so if the woman is above 35, increases the risk of breast cancer. So if you are 35 and above it is better to shun the pill.
It should also be mentioned here that wearing the right size of bra will definitely decrease the rate of breast cancer for women. Even though, there has not been any authentic research on this issue, more and more doctors are of the opinion that women really do not take proper care of their breasts and that is one of the reasons why this disease in women across the globe. Wearing the right fittings can go a long way in preventing the threat of breast cancer according to the National Cancer Institute in Australia.
PNN & Agencies
