Cancer Prevention

Cancer Prevention Preventing cancer in oneself really varies from depending on the person and the family. A person can become more susceptible to getting cancer based on different risk factors, some which are controllable and others which are not. These risk factors include age, sex, environment, lifestyle, and heredity. In my family, and in myself, there are many things that we can make ourselves aware of and do in order to prevent cancer. Since age and sex are out of my control, there’s nothing I can do in order to prevent cancer except awareness. For age, it’s best to be aware that after the age of thirty, women are at higher risk of having a difficult or a problem pregnancy. This is a reason I’d like to be done having kids before then. Due to the fact that I’m a woman, I need to be aware that I’m more likely to have osteoporosis and breast cancer. Personally, I know that I need to intake more dairy products so that I have a less likely chance of getting osteoporosis and that I need to self-check my breasts eventually and start having yearly mammograms in order to catch breast cancer in an early stage. Environment is something that I definitely have more control over. I’m kind of a “go-green” person, so I can’t really see myself ever living in an extremely high polluted area. Water pollution on the other hand is not something I can control. On the other hand, I don’t usually drink tap water, so that’s a plus. Since stress is also considered an environmental risk factor, I need to be careful with this. Stress is something that I will always deal with in my life, but I think I’ve gotten much better even in the last few years at letting things go, and positively relieving stress. Lifestyle is a whole different story. For me, the biggest lifestyle change that needs to happen is that I, along with everyone in my family, need to quit smoking. At this time in my life, I know that I will be able to quit when I’m ready. I think once I’m ready to start a family,