5 Things You Can Do To Prevent Breast Cancer

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we’re going pink! While we’re donating 5% of proceeds from all pink orders to go toward breast cancer research, we’re also giving you helpful resources for detection and prevention. Did you know it’s believed that 90% of breast cancer cases are caused by lifestyle and environmental factors? Here are the top actions you can take to prevent your risk of breast cancer, according to top reputable sources.

Check Yourself

40% of breast cancer diagnoses come from women who detected their own lump. Check yourself monthly and be proactive if you feel any sort of mass–it’s better to be overly cautious and potentially find something earlier rather than later. Don’t know how to self-check? Here’s a great visual resource!

Stay Active 

We know how important it is to get moving every day, but with kids, jobs, spouses, and trying to keep the house from looking like an atomic bomb went off, it can be a miracle if we even get to shower. Another reason to make being active a priority is that just 30 minutes of exercise 3-5 times per week reduces your risk for breast cancer by up to 50%! Make it a family goal to get outside (and even use your TickTalk’s Activity Tracker to set daily step goals to stay accountable) and feel all the benefits (or as Elle Woods would say, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”) 

Eat Healthily

Keeping a balanced diet isn’t just a great example to set for our children, but benefits every part of our lives. According to Harvard, women who eat a fiber-rich diet, foods like avocado, artichokes, and raspberries, are up to 24% less likely to get breast cancer. Encourage your littles to develop healthy eating habits by making delicious recipes all while benefiting your own body too.

Go Eco

Environmental factors can have a major impact on breast cancer diagnoses. Get the whole family to ditch the plastic water bottles filled with BPAs and get reusable bottles instead (bonus points: you get to help the environment and protect the planet your child will inherit). You can set daily water reminders on your child’s TickTalk to keep them hydrated and healthy.

Stress Less

When your body is continuously in fight-or-flight mode from constant stressors, it wreaks havoc. Excessive stress hormones increase inflammation and prevent your immune cells from controlling cancer cells, promoting tumor growth. While it’s impossible to get rid of the stresses we face every day, we can manage them. Connecting with friends, listening to music, meditation (we love the Headspace App), mindfulness, and exercise are all great ways to mitigate stress. They are also great tools to model for our kids on managing their stresses as they grow up.