4 Simple Ways You Can Personally Reduce Your Risk of Getting Cancer

A quick pub­lic ser­vice announce­ment. Accord­ing to a new study pub­lished in the jour­nal JAMA Oncol­o­gy, we have a good mea­sure of con­trol over whether can­cer rates actu­al­ly rise or fall. And if we take four prac­ti­cal steps, we could see can­cer rates decline by as much as 40–60%. Here’s what the new study rec­om­mends:

• No smok­ing. It’s that sim­ple. (Bill Plymp­ton’s “25 Ways To Quit Smok­ing” video above offers some light-heart­ed ways to rid your­self of that bad habit.)
• Drink in mod­er­a­tion. One drink or less per day for women; two or less for men. Not more.
• Main­tain a healthy body weight, a Body Mass Index between 18.5 and 27.5. Learn how to cal­cu­late your BMI here.
• Exer­cise often. Dur­ing a giv­en week, exer­cise mod­er­ate­ly for at least 150 min­utes, or vig­or­ous­ly for at least 75 min­utes.

There are no great rev­e­la­tions here. It’s com­mon sense real­ly. But maybe you could improve in one of these areas, and maybe now is the time to get going.

You can find more details on the study in this press release.

And, just for good mea­sure, eat well (no processed foods) and get a good night of sleep.

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via LA Times/WaPo

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Why Sit­ting Is The New Smok­ing: An Ani­mat­ed Expla­na­tion

The Sci­ence of Willpow­er: 15 Tips for Mak­ing Your New Year’s Res­o­lu­tions Last from Dr. Kel­ly McGo­ni­gal

John Cleese Explores the Health Ben­e­fits of Laugh­ter

Walt Whitman’s Unearthed Health Man­u­al, “Man­ly Health & Train­ing,” Urges Read­ers to Stand (Don’t Sit!) and Eat Plen­ty of Meat (1858)