Reducing Your Risk
Many factors can influence your breast cancer risk. You can’t change some, such as getting older or your family history, but you can help lower your risk by taking care of your in the following ways:
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Exercise regularly (at least four hours per week).
- Get enough sleep.
- Avoid alcohol, or limit alcoholic drinks to no more than one per day.
- Avoid exposure to chemicals that are known to cause cancer.
- Limit exposure to radiation from medical imaging tests like X-rays, CT scans and PET scans if not medically necessary.
- If you are taking, or have been told to take, hormone replacement therapy or oral contraceptives, ask your doctor about the risks and benefits.
- Breastfeed any children you may have, if possible.
If you have a family history of breast cancer or inherited changes in your BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, you may be at higher risk for breast cancer. Talk to your doctor about additional ways to lower your risk.
-Source: Centers for Disease Control Prevention
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