Cancer prevention – what you can do

In this blog Elissia discusses how you can help reduce your risk of getting cancer by making positive lifestyle choices. 

By the end of 2016, a thousand people will be diagnosed with cancer each day. This is a shocking statistic, but there are things you can do to help reduce your risk of getting cancer and to make sure you’re diagnosed as early as possible.  

Make a change

Whether you love soaking up the sun, might drink that little bit too much on a night out, or are tempted by the hassle free option of a takeaway for dinner; making changes to your lifestyle can be a challenge.

Although we don’t always know what causes someone’s cancer, we do know some things can increase our risk of cancer.  By making positive lifestyle changes, we can reduce the risk of some cancers.

• Giving up smoking is the healthiest decision you can make. In the UK 1 in 5 cancers are caused by smoking.
• Keeping to a healthy weight and being more active can help you feel stronger, have more energy and make you feel more confident. It can also reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. You can talk to your GP about what is a healthy weight for you.
• Eating a healthy diet can reduce your risk of getting cancer, particularly bowel cancer. Try to eat a lot of fibre and 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. It’s also good to eat less red or processed meat. Experts think that up to 1 in 10 (10%) cancers in the UK may be linked to diet.
• Limiting how much alcohol you drink is also part of having a healthy lifestyle. About 4% of cancers in the UK are linked to alcohol. If you’re male, you shouldn’t drink more than 2 units a day, and if you’re female try to drink just one unit.
• Keeping active – this doesn’t necessarily mean buying running gear or heading to the gym. Walking regularly, cycling or swimming are also good ways to keep active. Try to do at least 2 ½ hours of exercise each week.
• Taking care in the sun – it’s important to protect your skin from burning as this can increase your risk of skin cancers. Have a look at Sarah’s blog for more about staying safe in the sun.
• Having safe sex – using condoms or other barrier methods protects your body from sexually transmitted viruses. These can play a part in the development of some cancers. Having safe sex also protects you from sexually transmitted infections.

Making these positive changes doesn’t mean that you definitely won’t get cancer, but they can help you to feel that you’re doing the best for your health. Knowing your body is also something you can do yourself to make sure that, if you do develop cancer, you’re diagnosed as soon as possible. 

Know your body

We know that the earlier someone is diagnosed with cancer, the easier it is to treat. So it’s important to know what’s normal for your body. That way you are more likely to notice any changes or new symptoms sooner.

For many of us, myself included, it’s easier to ignore changes to our bodies than get them checked out. If our bodies aren’t working quite as they should be, we can sometimes push this to the back of our mind. It’s normal to hope the symptom will go away, not want to take time off work for an appointment or not want to bother your GP.

But it is important to let you GP know about any changes or symptoms, for example, changes to how a mole looks, lumps anywhere on your body, unexplained weight loss or tiredness. If your GP is worried that your symptoms may be due to cancer, they will refer you for more tests. If the cause of a symptom is due to cancer, the earlier you visit your GP, the sooner you’ll be diagnosed and treated.

It’s important to get changes to your body checked, especially if:

• you have had a symptom for more than 3 weeks
• you don’t know what has caused a symptom
• or if the change to your body isn’t normal for you.

We have more information about what changes to look out for that you may find helpful. A lot of the time, these changes won’t be because of cancer. Don’t be scared to get them checked by your doctor.

Cancer develops because of many different factors, and a lot of these are beyond our control. But knowing your body and making sure your lifestyle is as healthy as possible are positive things that you can do to help yourself. So get checking and changing!

To see what else Macmillan's cancer information team has been blogging about, please visit our blog home page! You can subscribe to receive our blogs by email or RSS too.

We're with you every step of the way

The Macmillan team is here to help. Our cancer support specialists can answer your questions, offer support, or simply listen if you need a chat. Call us free on 0808 808 00 00.

Comments? Feel free to add them below (you need to be logged in).

Keep in touch Follow Macmillan’s cancer information team on Twitter @mac_cancerinfo