Healthy Life Practices

In my previous post I shared some important and common information regarding what cancer is and how it can affect the lives of millions of people. It is important to know that cancer is life changing for anybody who is diagnosed as well as for the families and friends of the patients. The worldwide challenge for years has been trying to discover or invent a cure for cancer. However, as scientists, doctors, and the rest of world make large contributions to cancer research, people still need to figure out common life practices that can be turned into habits to help reduce the risks of developing cancer.

Before looking further into the common life practices for reducing the risks of cancer, I will share some information on how cancer patients are treated once they are diagnosed. The three main methods for treating cancer patients are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. As I mentioned in my first post, most cancers are discovered when a tumor is present in the body. Because tumors are an excess amount of mutated cells, it is often very beneficial for doctors to surgically remove a tumor from the body of a cancer patient. Tumors can be either benign or malignant. Benign tumors are harmless and non-spreading and malignant tumors are cancerous and invading of other cells. After a tumor has been removed or mostly reduced from the body, the patient still needs to make sure that the tumor does not spread to any other parts of the body. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to treat cancer, and radiation therapy is the use of penetrating rays or subatomic particles to treat cancer. Both chemotherapy and radiation therapy are very common methods of preventing the spread of cancerous cells through the body (Ward, 1995).

Now that we have looked at what happens to cancer patients after they have been diagnosed, let’s figure out how we can avoid and reduce the risks of getting cancer. Some of the very common cancers that can be avoided by living healthy lives are lung cancer, liver cancer, skin cancer, colon cancer, and heart cancer. Lung cancer is most commonly developed by people who smoke tobacco and when people are exposed to tobacco smoke through secondhand smoke. Avoid smoking tobacco and you can strongly reduce your risk of getting lung cancer. Colon cancer and heart cancer are two common cancers that are mainly caused by an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. People who eat balanced diets and are physically active every day are much less likely to get colon or heart cancer. The consumption of alcohol can cause damage to the cells and tissue of your liver, so by avoiding alcohol, you can heavily reduce your risk of getting liver cancer. When you are out in the sun and exposed to UV rays, your skin gets damaged and your body takes time to replace damaged tissue. Avoid the risks of getting skin cancer by applying sunscreen to your skin when you are in the sun. The American Cancer Society shares several healthy practices in its organizational website at www.cancer.org/healthy/index and the Prevent Cancer Foundation lists cancer reducing habits in its website at https://preventcancer.org/prevention/reduce-cancer-risk/ways-to-reduce-risk/.

References

American Cancer Society. (2014). Stay Healthy. Retrieved from www.cancer.org/healthy/index/

Prevent Cancer Foundation. (2014). Ways to reduce risk. Retrieved from https://preventcancer.org/prevention/reduce-cancer-risk/ways-to-reduce-risk/.

Ward, D.E. (1995). The cancer handbook: A guide for the nonspecialist. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.