Taking a Proactive Approach to Your Health
 Beginning in the 1980s, October has been nationally recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Originally a week-long event, the awareness campaign grew to occupy the whole month and eventually adopted its beloved symbol of the pink ribbon in 1992. Breast cancer affects one in eight women in the United States at some point in their lifetimes, and a significantly smaller proportion of men, according to recent statistics, making it the most common cancer in the USA. The purpose of the campaign is to increase knowledge around the disease and strengthen efforts for early detection.
Breast cancer is not the only condition that benefits strongly from a proactive approach to one’s health. Although Alzheimer’s Disease, the most common kind of dementia, does not yet have a cure, numerous studies have suggested that a number of lifestyle practices may help slow its development. Among them are regular exercise, a healthy diet (such as the Mediterranean diet), social interaction, and mental engagement and stimulation. Cardiovascular health is also incredibly important for both Alzheimer’s and cancer prevention.
When we consider common diseases that disproportionately affect women, Alzheimer’s should also be counted among the ranks beside breast cancer. Two thirds of Alzheimer’s diagnoses are in women, and although this number may be partially explained by women’s greater life expectancies, that does not account for the whole of the statistic. Other factors include a greater predisposition for autoimmune diseases and general lifestyle habits. Women are also disproportionately the ones to occupy caregiver roles for all dementia patients, once more emphasizing how this population is so strongly impacted by the condition, even those who do not live with it directly.
Interestingly enough, recent research into breast cancer treatment has also suggested that the some of the hormone treatments prescribed for those who have or have had breast cancer, most notably Tamoxifen, have been linked with a reduced risk of dementia. Although such medications come with other side effects, such as increased risk of cardiovascular issues, this discovery opens a promising line of research toward mechanisms that may help with decreasing dementia risk. Such research also illustrates how interconnected our body and the diseases that can afflict it are: just as one disease can increase the chances of many others, as in the case of auto-immune conditions, a cure may reduce the risk of others yet.
As the October days pass, we should remind ourselves not only to take an active role in reducing risk factors for both dementia and breast cancer, but to maintain our awareness of how these conditions affect our communities and those we love.
Sources:
https://www.breastcancer.org/about-breast-cancer/breast-cancer-awareness-month
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https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-facts/
https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/breast-cancer-awareness-month/
- https://www.komen.org/community/dmv-tri-state/washington-dc/
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-are-women-more-likely-to-develop-alzheimers-disease-202201202672
- https://www.alzra.org/blog/ways-to-slow-the-progression-of-alzheimers-disease/
- https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/hormonal-therapy-lowers-dementia-risk
- https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/hormonal-therapy-lowers-dementia-risk
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/9785-tamoxifen
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