Nerdy Science Blog

Breast Cancer is the most common cause of cancer in women and as per statistics, the second most common cause of death in women in the U.S. aged between 45 and 55. No one knows the exact cause of breast cancer but there are women with certain risk factors that are more likely to develop the disease. It should be mentioned that a even when a woman with risk factors develops breast cancer, it is hard to know just how much these factors contributed to her cancer. There are certain risk factors like gender, race and ethnicity, family history, aging and dense breast tissues that you cannot change. But there are certain lifestyle risk factors that you can keep track of to reduce the chances of the disease. Let us take a look at these lifestyle risk factors that can cause breast cancer.

1. Child-bearing factor. A woman who has her first child after the age of 35 stands a greater chance of getting breast cancer than a woman who has her first child around age 20. The older she is, the greater the risk of developing breast cancer. Further, having more than one child at an earlier age reduces her risk of the disease and having no children at all increases the risk. Pregnancy reduces a woman’s total number of lifetime menstrual cycles, which may be the reason for this effect.
2. Recent Use of Birth Control Pills. Women who are recent users of oral contraception have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. The risk is highest for women who start using oral contraceptives as teenagers. However 10 or more years after they have stopped taking oral contraceptives, the risk comes down considerably. Women who plan to take oral contraception must discuss the side-effect of breast cancer with their doctor.
3. Not Breast Feeding. Women that do not breast feed their babies stand a slightly higher chance of breast cancer than women that breast feed their babies for a long period of time like 1-2 years. This could be attributed once again to the reduced number of menstrual cycles that goes with breast feeding.
4. Lack of Physical Exercise. When women do not include exercise as a part of their daily routine, they elevate their risk of breast cancer. A sedentary life style with absolutely no physical activity makes them susceptible to the disease. An ideal exercise program to reduce the risk would be about 45-60 minutes, 5 days a week.
5. Alcohol Consumption. The more the alcohol intake of women, the higher the risk of breast cancer. Alcohol consumption is clearly linked to an increased risk and it has been found that women who have about 2-5 drinks daily have about 150 % higher chance of breast cancer than those that do not consume alcohol at all. It is suggested for women to limit their alcohol consumption to one drink a day if they have to drink at all.

There are other factors too like post menstrual hormone therapy, obesity and high fat diets that are said to expose women to breast cancer. Keeping a check on these factors after discussing them with your health team will help reduce the risk of the disease.

By-line:

This post was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of the certification for geriatric nursing. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 at gmail dot com

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