FEBRUARY IS CANCER PREVENTION MONTH
Nearly everyone who receives a life-changing diagnosis asks if there was anything they could have done to prevent it. According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 1.9 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States. Nearly half of those diagnoses are breast, prostate, lung, pancreas, or colon cancers. And yet, more than 40 percent of all cancer diagnoses can be linked to a preventable cause – nearly half.
National Cancer Prevention Month focuses on the things we can control to lessen our odds of developing cancer. Five of the top recommendations for lessening our risk include:
- Regular exercise
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Eating healthy foods
- Quitting or never starting smoking
- Limiting alcohol use
Other actions that help to prevent cancer or catch it early include routine checkups, treating or preventing other health conditions, and knowing your risk factors. We can’t stop every form of cancer yet, but we do have the tools to decrease our risk factors.
NIH – National Cancer Institute
Some information courtesy National Day Calendar
