Do you know that October is the month of Breast Cancer awareness? It is an annual campaign to educate people about breast cancer. Several number of myths and misperceptions are persisting in the mind of everyone so education plays a crucial role in increasing the awareness. Actually it is the first step in the fight against Breast Cancer as there is no real protection available against it.
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MOST COMMON MYTHS OF BREAST CANCER
- Only women with a family history have risk of breast cancer.
- Wearing an under-wire innerwear increases your risk of getting breast cancer.
- Breast cancer always comes in the form of lumps.
- You cannot get breast cancer after a mastectomy.
- Getting too many mammograms leads to breast cancer.
- A breast cancer diagnosis is an automatic death sentence.
My aim of writing this article is to deliver concise information and provide right guidance to everyone, especially to women so that it can be detected early and treated successfully.
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Breast Cancer is the most common invasive cancer in females worldwide. It can occur at any age but most commonly seen after the age of 40. Nobody knows the exact cause behind it. According to the researches so far, it is caused by the damage to a cell’s DNA, but why and how that DNA gets damaged is still unknown.
However, there are certain established risk factors that are associated with this disease. A risk factor is something that may increase the chance of getting a disease. Some risk factors which are due to our lifestyle can be avoided but most risk factors, genetic in origin can’t be avoided. What are these? Find out here…
LIFESTYLE RELATED RISK FACTORS
PREGNANCY
Having multiple pregnancies and becoming pregnant at a young age reduce breast cancer risk. So women who have had no children or who had their 1st child after the age of 30 are slightly higher at risk.
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BREASTFEEDING
Some studies suggest- The longer you feed your baby, the more your risk is reduced. It would be better to continue it for 1-2 yrs. But we cannot simply rely on this fact. One of the reason why breastfeeding protects breasts health is it reduces a woman’s total number of lifetime menstrual cycle resulting in lower estrogen levels.
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ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE PILLS
Studies have found that using birth control pills, doubles the risk. These pills contain female hormones and when breast tissue is exposed to high levels of hormones for longer period of time, it increases the risk of breast cancer.
OBESITY
Before menopause, ovaries produce most of the estrogen and small amount is produced by fat tissues as well. After menopause when ovaries stop making estrogen, fat tissue becomes the main source. During this stage, women are prone to gain weight and become obese. As obese women have more fat tissues, their estrogen level are higher which leads to the growth of estrogen-responsive breast tumour.
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SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE
A sedentary lifestyle with very less physical activity leads to the accumulation of fat cells in the body. These fat cells make estrogen and thereby increases the risk of breast cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate and 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity each week.
ALCOHOL AND SMOKING
Researches have shown that excessive drinking of an alcohol and breathing secondhand smoke or passive smoking are clearly linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer.
ALSO READ : Best And Easy Ways To Quit Smoking
HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY (HRT)
To reduce bone loss and to ease bothersome menopausal symptoms, many women go for HRT. This predisposes them to the chance of getting breast cancer.
IN-VITRO FERTILISATION (IVF) TREATMENT
No One has proved but some of the studies have found that IVF treatment can affect the rise of a breast cancer. Don’t panic, it is better to consult your fertility specialist.
GENETIC RISK FACTORS
GENDER
It is 100 times more commonly seen in females than in males. (Men have less of female hormones, estrogen and progesterone which promotes the growth of breast cancer.)
AGE
Risk factor increases with age because as we age, our bodies become less capable of repairing genetic damage. About 2 out of 3 invasive breast cancers are found in women with age 55 or older.
FAMILY HISTORY
If it is running in the family history, one is most likely to get diagnosed with breast cancer in the future.
MENSTRUAL HISTORY
Early menstruation( before the age of 12) and late menopause(after 55 years of age) increases the number of menstrual cycles which in turn increases the risk due to a longer lifetime exposure to the hormones estrogen and progesterone.
DENSE BREAST TISSUE
Breasts are made of fatty, fibrous and glandular tissues. Dense breast is likely to have more of fibrous and glandular tissues than fatty tissue. Several number of factors like age, pregnancy, genetics, menopausal status etc. can affect the density of breast. With densed breast, it becomes harder to detect the lumps through mammogram.
Point to be noted is ‘ it doesn’t mean that women with breast cancer will definitely have one of these risk factors and there can be a chance that women having some of the risk factors, will never develop a cancer.’
“TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY,
IT’S THE ONLY PLACE YOU HAVE TO LIVE.”