From blackdoctor.org
If you had the opportunity to make a difference in your health in 5 minutes, would you take it? Would you devote 2 percent of your day (30 minutes) to prolonging your life? When framed this way, incremental changes we can make to be proactive don’t seem so hard. Still, living a “healthy lifestyle” is often not as prescriptive as we’d wish.
Most Black women are aware of breast cancer as a prevalent chronic illness. What you may not know is that the black community faces significant breast cancer mortality disparities when compared to the rest of the population. There are many factors contributing to why these disparities exist. Factors in our control include our ability to stay educated about what influences our breast cancer risk and taking small actions to reduce risk or detect breast cancer early.
It can be tempting to think that breast cancer won’t happen to you. By having an understanding of your risk and then taking action to reduce it, you can begin to advocate for yourself and feel more in control of your health future.
Understanding risks
There are many factors that influence personal risk of breast cancer, including family health history, personal health history, and lifestyle. There are also many myths about what might impact your risk, like deodorant and aspartame. Here is the bright news: there is a tool that exists to help cut through the clutter and give you a personalized report on your risk level for both breast and ovarian cancer.
Assess Your Risk™, created by our nonprofit, Bright Pink, is a 19-question quiz that you can take from your mobile phone. It estimates your personal risk, detailing which factors influence your risk the most and provides recommendations for risk management that you can bring to your next appointment with a trusted healthcare provider. It takes only 5 minutes and is something that is easy to share with your friend, sister, aunt or daughter.
Change lifestyle
As you complete Assess Your Risk™, you will be asked about some everyday health behaviors that impact your risk. For example, maintaining a healthy body mass index (BMI) can lower your risk of breast cancer. This can be a challenge for many women, and Black women are especially affected. Fifty-six percent of African American women over the age of 20 meet the criteria for obesity.
Adapting healthy habits, like exercising daily, can reduce your risk. Research tells us that it takes 66 days to establish a health behavior change as a habit. Commit today to exercise for 30 minutes on most days (enough to get your heart rate up). Doing so can have powerful implications for your risk of breast cancer and many other chronic illnesses.
Choices you can make
Other healthy decisions can be made in an instant by taking a pass on some common food and beverage choices that increase your breast cancer risk. Studies have shown that consuming alcohol, specifically more than one drink per day, can increase your risk of breast cancer. We recommend sticking to one serving (can, glass, shot) a, or eliminating alcohol from your diet entirely. Eating a lot of red meat can also impact your breast cancer risk. Sticking to one serving per day or finding an alternative (think chicken tacos instead of steak tacos) is your best bet.
It’s not too late to make a potentially long-lasting impact on your breast health. There are many opportunities throughout a day, or even month, to choose to be proactive. By taking time to understand your risk and then making corresponding decisions in your daily life, you are being your own best health advocate.
