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Health Tips
Breast Cancer Awareness
Age and health history can affect the risk
of developing breast cancer.
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Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease
is called a risk factor.
Risk factors for breast cancer include:
- Older age.
- Early age at menarche (menstruation).
Older age at first birth or never having given birth.
- A personal history of breast cancer or benign (noncancer) breast disease.
- A mother or sister with breast cancer.
- Treatment with radiation therapy to the breast/chest.
- Breast tissue that is dense on a mammogram.
- Hormone use (such as estrogen and progesterone).
- Drinking alcoholic beverages.
- Caucasian race.
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How To Quit Smoking
Here are a few tips from the American Cancer Society:
- Get rid of your cigarettes, ashtrays, lighters, and matches. You won't need them anymore.
- Change your smoking routine. Leave the dinner table right away; don't sit in your "smoking chair"; avoid the smoking areas at work or school.
- Drink lots of liquids, except coffee and alcohol. They can trigger the desire to smoke.
- When the urge hits, take a deep breath, hold it, and slowly release it. The urge will pass.
Within 20 minutes of smoking that last cigarette, the body begins a series of changes that continue for years:
24 HOURS
- Chance of heart attack decreases
2 WEEKS to 3 MONTHS
- Circulation improves
- Walking becomes easier
- Lung function increases up to 30 percent
1 to 9 MONTHS
- Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decrease
1 YEAR
- Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker
5 YEARS
- Lung cancer death rate for average former smoker decreases by almost half
10 YEARS
- Lung cancer death rate is similar to that of nonsmokers
15 YEARS
- Risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker
For more information on quitting smoking, call the American Cancer Society at
1-800-ACS-2345.
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