Many people attribute cancer to bad luck, but unhealthy lifestyle choices are the real culprit. Two recent studies have confirmed this. One was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Oncology. It found that between 40 and 70 percent of cancer cases could have been prevented if people changed their lifestyle in the following ways: maintain a healthy weight, quit smoking, reduce alcohol consumption and get at least two and a half hours of exercise each week. The authors of the study concluded with the statement: “A large proportion of cancers are due to environmental factors and can be prevented by lifestyle modification”. The second study was published in the journal Nature. It showed that it is mainly environmental and external factors such as smoking, excessive drinking, poor diet, getting sunburnt and exposure to toxic chemicals that cause cancer. Cancer is rarely due to intrinsic factors like random cell mutations. The study authors showed that intrinsic factors are responsible for only 10 to 30 percent of a person’s lifetime risk of getting cancer. The external risk factors account for 70 to 90 percent of most cancers. This is wonderful news because it means you have so much more power over your health than you realize. A lot of people feel quite powerless and despondent about their health if they have a strong family history of cancer. Yes, genes are a factor, but they play a much smaller role than you think. The bad news is that some unhealthy lifestyle habits are extremely difficult to break, and can even be addictive. Many people realize they drink too much, eat too much sugar and don’t exercise enough, but they just can’t get the motivation to change their behavior. Behavioral change is extremely difficult to achieve, largely because stress, anxiety and depression are driving factors in reinforcing unhealthy behavior. Reducing your stress levels is one of the best ways to start taking better care of your health. Reference