In the 1940s, a woman’s lifetime breast cancer risk was one in 22. Today, her risk has risen to one in eight.
This is mainly due to the fact that women are living longer, as breast cancer is a disease whose likelihood increases with age.
While nothing can prevent breast cancer completely, I would like to give you some habits that I’m possitive will help preventing it.
5 Ways to Lower Your Breast Cancer Risk
Lose Waist
Decrease your risk of breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence by getting your abdominal fat to disappear. “Body fat boosts estrogen storage, so the heavier you are, the more circulating estrogen you’ll store and the more circulating harmful estrogen you’ll have,” says Jill Dietz, MD, a breast cancer surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic.
The good news is, you don’t have to be a size six to reduce your risk. Research shows that even moderate weight and waist loss— 5 percent of your weight or more — in overweight and obese women can lower breast cancer risk by 25 percent.
The quickest way to get rid of a spare tire: portion control and reduced intake of stripped carbohydrates. Failing that, try resistance exercises, and in a distant third place, vigorous cardio (exercise) like jogging or speed-walking.
Limit the Alcohol
If you want to diminish your risk of breast cancer, cut way back on the booze. Drinking alcohol, even moderately, can increase your cancer risk. “Even as little as one drink per day seems to be associated with breast cancer, and the more you drink, the higher your risk,”
Three or more drinks per week boost the risk of breast cancer recurrence by 30 percent, and overweight and postmenopausal women may be particularly at risk.
To keep your breast cancer risk low, cap your cocktails at one or two a week.
Keep Active
Run — or walk — away from breast cancer. Women who exercise between 10 and 19 hours per week are 30 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than less active women.
Don’t worry: household chores, yard work, and walking your dog (keep moving when she stops) count toward those hours. Any physical activity helps — moderate activity was as beneficial as vigorous workouts like jogging.
Breast Is Best
Nursing is as good for new moms as it is for babies. Breastfeeding for at least a year appears to lower the chance of developing breast cancer.
Butts Out
If you’re still smoking, it’s time to call it quits. Women who smoke have an increased risk of breast cancer — and the earlier you start, the higher the risk. A recent study found that women who maintained a pack-a-day habit for 30 years or more increased their risk by 28 percent.
Light smokers who quit after fewer years had only a 6 percent greater risk — so quit now.
Bonus: Take Time to De-Stress
Though we don’t have a lot of research to prove it, stress, loneliness and other negative moods increase the risk of developing most cancers, so they may affect your odds of developing breast cancer, as well as your chances of surviving if you do get it.
A stress-fueled lifestyle may be linked to more aggressive tumors, and women with a family history of breast cancer may be more easily frazzled by everyday stresses.