Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. The most common cancer reported world wide are cancer of skin, stomach, lung, colon, breast and prostate. To avoid all this various types of cancer we need to learn on various cancer causing habits and lifestyles practices that have caused cancer.
According to WHO 30%-40% of cancer can be avoided by change in lifestyles habits.
1 eat healthy foods
2 maintain healthy weight
3 Reduce excessive alcohol consumption
4 Avoid use of tobacco products
5 Avoid use of plastics
6 Avoid laptop on your lap
7 Avoid sleeping with your phone next to your head
8 Avoid heating food in microwaves
9 Avoid eating charred meat
How does daily habits like diet affect your risk for cancer
According to research poor diet is a key factor that can increase cancer risk. You should follow a healthy eating pattern. A healthy eating pattern includes
1 Foods high in vitamins and minerals
2 foods that are not high in calories and those that help one have a healthy body weight
3 eating variety of fruits per day
4 eating variety of vegetables
A healthy eating pattern does not include
1 eating processed foods. These includes sausages processed meat hot dogs among others
2 drinking sugar sweetened beverages like energy drinks soft drinks eg sodas
Tips for a healthy eating pattern are
1 ensure your meal contains vegetables and fruits or beans and whole grains.
2 instead of red meat choose white meat like fish poultry meat .Ensure you take smaller portions of red and processed meat.
3 take small portions of foods with high calorie, such as chips doughnuts ice-cream among others.
Ensure you maintain a healthy weight.
You should control your weight by being physically active. Maintaining a healthy weight is important because it reduces the risk of cancer and other diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Being over weight and obese increases the risk of breast cancer in women, liver, pancreas colon rectum and kidney cancer.
You can ask how does being over weight or obese increase cancer risk.
Excess weight causes the body to make and circulate more estrogen and insulin hormones that can stimulate cancer cells in your body.
Many may ask what a healthy weight
The best way to check if you have a healthy weight its by checking your body mass index (BMI), This is a score based on the relationship between your height and weight.
One can check his or her BMI by use of online BMI calculator .
If the BMI is below 25 you are at a normal weight
For those trying to control their weight one should ensure they follow a healthy eating program and limit eating foods high in calories.
To loose weight and to maintain a healthy weight one should ensure he or she sit less and move more and also to engage in physical activities or to be physically active by doing exercises. Physical practices like running helps reduce risk of heart diseases and helps those who are over weight reduce risk for cancer.
According to research adults are recommended to have between 75-300 minutes of vigorous intensity activities each week and for kids its at least 60 minutes of vigorous intensity activities each day. This includes activities like biking running.
Alcohol consumption and cancer risks
There are different ways alcohol raises cancer risk .
1 Alcohol damages body tissues.
Cells that are damaged by alcohol may try to repair themselves this leads to DNA changes that can cause cancer.
2 Alcohol also can be converted into acetaldehyde and damage DNA and can cause cancer.
3 Alcohol can cause oxidative stress in cells and cause them to create more reactive oxygen species. This can cause the damage of the cells hence one get risk of getting cancer.
4 Alcohol also damages liver leading to liver cirrhosis. And as liver cells try to repair the damaged tissues they may end up with mistakes in their DNA this could lead to cancer risk
Risks of getting cancer by using tobacco
Smoke from cigarettes its a mixture of chemicals produced by burning tobacco and the additives in Tabaco.
Chemicals found in Tabaco smoke include nicotine, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, lead, arsenic, ammonia, benzene and carbon monoxide among others. This chemicals causes cancer, heart and lung diseases
How plastic causes cancer risk
Plastic bottles are mostly used but did you know they cause a high risk of cancer .plastic contain a chemical BPA that hinder your body hormonal balance and leads to increase in risk of breast cancer.
Most people don’t know that using plastics to consume hot drinks or foods can cause cancer. When plastic are heated they leach off and produce toxins which are carcinogens.
Using laptop on your lap
Most people tend to place laptop on their lap for longer periods of time. This increases chances of cancer risks. When the laptop is heated it leads to production of radiation and too much exposure to this rays can cause skin cancer, damage the reproductive system and cause sleep apnea.
SLEEPING WITH YOUR PHONE NEXT TO YOUR HEAD
Many people have an habit of using their phones before they sleep while they are lying in the bed. this habit can increase chances of getting caner .you should ensure before you sleep you put your phone as far away from your head .this is because the phones produces radio active rays which can cause brain cancer.
HEATING FOOD ON MICROWAVE
due to the improved technology many people tend to use microwave to heat frozen foods that they store in fridges. microwaves heat food using low energy radiation. using a good microwave that is not damaged you cannot experience the risks of cancer, but using a damaged microwave then your exposing yourself to harmful rays which causes cancer.
EATING CHARRED MEAT (NYAMA CHOMA)
Many people tend to enjoy charred meat. When meat is cooked at high temperatures it can form chemicals that causes changes in the DNA which can increase cancer risk. to prevent getting cancer ensure you do not over cook meat
