Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Tips on Prevention and Risk Reduction

October is breast cancer awareness month, and as Champions for the Cause, it’s a time where we get involved in some great causes to benefit breast cancer research, health education, and advocacy for the cause. Our 17 person team participated in the CIBC Run for the Cure this past Sunday, an event that raised $27 million in 66 communities across Canada. We have also been fundraising out in the community and in the office (with social media donation requests, a volleyball tournament, and a bake sale) that raised over $500 in September alone!

 

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation has lots of great resources on their website – one section is geared towards preventative health, which aims to stop the disease before it starts. Making health and well-being a priority is key to stopping various ailments, including cancers, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and chronic pain, a lot of which affect a majority of truck drivers (read our articles here and here for more information on driver health!). When you practice preventative health, you are taking action change the way you understand risks.

Here’s the key things to know about the risk factors for breast cancer:

• Not all risk factors are equal – some factors are linked to a higher risk of breast cancer, while others are linked to a moderate or lower increase in risk.

• Some risk factors can be changed. You can make changes in your life to reduce your risk. An example would be you level of fitness.

• Some risk factors cannot be changed. An example is your age.

 

Risk factors you can change	Risk factors you cannot change
Body Weight	Gender and Age
Physical Activity	Personal Cancer History
Alcohol Use	Family Cancer History and genetics
Smoking	Breast density and conditions
Exposure to hormones: IVF, HRT, the Pill
Pregnancy and Breast Feeding
Radiation Exposure

 

The key is to reduce or eliminate the risk factors you can change and work to understand the ones that you cannot so that you can make an informed decision on how to reduce your risk as a whole. The only way to make an informed decision is to learn about your own health, your risk, ways to reduce your risk and your screening options for earlier detection of breast cancer. Visit the CBCF’s website and chat with a health care provider to help inform your decisions!