According to Breastcancer.org, about 1 in 8 women in the United States (about 13%) are expected to suffer from invasive breast cancer during their lifetime. Around 287,850 new invasive and 51,400 new non-invasive breast cancer cases are estimated to be diagnosed in females in the United States, along with 2,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer in men this year. A male’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is around 1 in 833.
People say knowledge is the key to success. You can rule the world if you have enough data, but people don’t realize that. In the quest to attain maximum knowledge about the world, people often forget to know their own bodies and what’s going on inside of them. Instead of getting everything checked instantly or consulting doctors, people take OTC medicine and try to suppress the symptoms (when the body is trying to convey its issues), which is often why cancer wins.
Breast cancer is one of the cancers that people (mostly women) have to be cautious about. Like any other cancer, being vigilant about your own body is the key to avoiding or treating breast cancer successfully. Prevention is only possible when you have the correct information about how to prevent a disease.
What is Breast Cancer?
Breast cancer is the accumulation of malignant (cancer) cells in the breast tissues. There are three main parts of which a breast is made up of: lobules, ducts, and connective tissues. Lobules have the job of producing milk. The ducts carry the milk to the nipples, and the remaining fibrous and fatty tissues have the responsibility of holding everything together. Breast cancer cells are said to start their invasion from ducts or lobules.
Invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma are the most common types of breast cancer. They can metastasize to other organs or parts of the body. Ductal carcinoma in situ is another type of cancer, but it doesn’t metastasize to other body parts or breast tissues.
Risk Factors for Breast Cancer
Like any other cancer, breast cancer is also a disease that develops primarily due to an unhealthy lifestyle. In fact, according to the scientific journal Nature, 70%- 90% of cancer cases are caused by bad lifestyle choices. However, there is an ongoing debate amongst researchers worldwide about whether bad luck is one of the significant causes of cancer. Yes, you heard it right—bad luck.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have found out that around 65% of cancer cases are caused due to random DNA mutations, which can happen to anyone.
The debate will go on, but one thing is sure even in the above-given research, 35% of the cancer cases are said to be a combination of causes like environmental pollution, hereditary factors, and random cell mutations. Nonetheless, it’s always good to have a healthy lifestyle to ensure that your breast cells don’t go rogue.
Here are some risk factors that may be the causes of breast cancer:
- Excessive alcohol consumption
- Age and obesity
- Dense breast tissue on a mammogram
- History of breast cancer or non-cancer breast disease
Breast tissues exposed to estrogen for an extended period can cause breast cancer in women. Estrogen levels are high during the years of menstruation for women. Moreover, several other factors can influence estrogen levels in the body, including:
- Irregular or early menstruation
- Late menopause
- Giving birth at an older age or never giving birth at all
- Hormone therapy: estrogen and progesterone therapy for menopause symptoms to compensate for the estrogen required because of the lack of estrogen production from the ovaries in the post-menopausal phase in women or in women who have had their ovaries removed.
- Randomized radiation therapy is given to the chest or breast. The risk of breast cancer majorly depends on the level of radiation dosage and the age when the treatment is given. Mostly, the risk is highest if radiation treatment is taken during puberty when the breasts are developing. However, radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer in one breast doesn’t increase the risk of cancer in the other breast.
How to Prevent Breast Cancer
- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle by watching what you eat and exercising regularly. Exercising for 4 or more hours a week can help lower the risk of breast cancer. Moreover, the exercise should include at least 150 minutes a week of light workout or 75 minutes of high-level aerobics or any other form of exercise, coupled with strength training twice a week.
- Decreasing the duration of estrogen exposure to the breast tissues can help in breast cancer prevention.
- Smoking is a big no!
- Early pregnancy and breastfeeding cause the estrogen levels to go down.
- Controlled consumption of alcohol and occasional drinking can be permitted, and if you are a regular drinker, keep it to 1 drink a day. It’ll be better if alcohol consumption is avoided.
- Prevent exposure to environmental pollution and harmful radiation.
- Selective estrogen receptor modulators like tamoxifen and raloxifene can act as estrogen on some body tissues but block the effects of estrogen on other body tissues. This may be effective in high-risk pre- and post-menopausal women and may reduce risk in pre- and post-menopausal women. If the drugs mentioned above are taken, they can have side effects like blood clots in the lungs and legs with hot flashes. Please consult your doctor before taking any of the two drugs mentioned.
PBM Therapy: Designed to help in the prevention of Breast Cancer and as a Support for Breast Cancer Survivors
Huelight has designed a PBM therapy irradiator that helps women suffering from breast-related health issues like mastitis, breast tenderness, sore, heavy, or tingly breasts, blocked breast-milk flow, sharp and burning breast pain, breast lumps, sore nipples, breast swelling, skin dimpling, breast and/or nipple pain, thickened breast skin (for breast cancer survivors). The Breast PBM Irradiator works on lymph nodes and muscles to alleviate pain and enhance the circulation of milk, lymph, and blood.
You have to wear the Breast PBM Irradiator and set the Nogier frequency. Nogier frequencies are based on the frequencies of a healthy body and were founded by Dr. Nogier in France. These frequencies help users set the body’s frequency back to the natural body frequency, thus enabling the body to heal itself naturally.
As shown in the image below, the device covers the breasts and lymphatic nodes under the armpits, which are critical for a healthy breast and setting a perfect hormonal balance in the body.
According to the research published in NCBI by Michael Hamblin, the conclusion derived after the study suggested that “PBM therapy may have benefits in cancer patients and should be further investigated.”
PBM therapy works when a particular wavelength of light penetrates the cell’s powerhouse called mitochondria, activates the ATP, and enhances the blood circulation process through nitric oxide generation. This encourages the body to heal itself and perform everyday tasks like cell production, fighting illness, etc., more efficiently.
PBM therapy reduces the reactive oxygen species (ROS) (ROS are required for a cell’s death, but increased ROS can lead to oxidative stress that can lead to cancer and other illnesses) and maintains the balance between ROS and cytochrome c oxidase (CCO), the enzyme responsible for binding oxygen in the ATP generation process. PBM therapy activates CCO, which then leads to increased ATP production.
To Wrap Up
Women worldwide have a greater ability to endure pain, right from the pain during periods to labor pain, and often, many types of pain or symptoms, especially breast-related, are overlooked or passed off as one of the side effects of PMS or lactation. It’s like, “it’s natural,” “you have to endure it,” and “there’s no way out.” These misconceptions are taught to women from a young age.
Apart from labor pain, other types of pain can be reduced with proper treatment because, if the pain is too much, there’s something not right with your body; it’s not natural. The best thing is to get checked regularly and be extra vigilant about your breasts’ health, just like how you care for your skin. Moreover, as far as males are concerned, the risk is less, but there’s still a risk, so it’s crucial to check yourselves and be cautious about the symptoms.
