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| Early Lifestyle Choices and Cancer |
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True
or False?: What someone does
as a young adult has little impact on their chances of getting cancer
later in life.
Respondents
Who Agreed: 25%
Origin:
Many teens and young adults have a feeling of immortality - that bad
things only happen to other people. Each teen who tries smoking
cigarettes, for example, is convinced that he or she can quit smoking
anytime; that it's the other kids or adults who become addicted to
nicotine for years, not them.
Reality: The truth is that
lifestyle choices made as a young adult do increase your risk of
developing cancer, particularly the use of tobacco, but also your diet,
the amount of physical activity you get, and your exposure to the sun.
About one quarter of those surveyed seem to be denying this
reality--they agreed with the myth that a person's early lifestyle
choices have little impact on their chances of getting cancer later in
life.
Most cases of cancer are the consequence of many years of exposure to
several risk factors. What you eat, whether you are physically active,
whether you get sunburned regularly, and especially, whether you smoke
as a young person have a substantial influence on whether you develop
cancer later in life.
More than two-thirds of all fatal cancer cases can be prevented with
simple lifestyle changes:
- Eating lots of fruit,
veggies, and whole grains
- Exercising regularly
- Maintaining a healthy body
weight
- Using protection against the
sun
- And especially, not smoking
Tobacco
and Teens
The decisions young people make about tobacco will have the most
profound impact on their chances of developing cancer later in life.
Smoking causes 30% of all cancer deaths and about 440,000 premature
deaths annually.
About 90% of all first-use of tobacco occurs before kids finish high
school, and the highly addictive qualities of nicotine keep many of
them smoking for decades. But if people can get through their teen
years without smoking or chewing, most people will never start.
Research also shows the younger you begin to smoke, the more likely you
are to be an adult smoker. People who begin to smoke at an earlier age
are more likely to develop long-term nicotine addiction than those who
start later.
Teen smoking rates have been dropping in recent years from a peak of
36% in 1997 thanks to increases in school-based efforts to prevent
tobacco use, large anti-tobacco ad campaigns aimed at young people,
indoor smoking restrictions, and rising prices and taxes for
cigarettes. Where states have increased tobacco taxes and instituted
anti-tobacco education programs, fewer teens have started
smoking.
Research continues to pinpoint the more effective ways to quit smoking.
The American Cancer Society publication, Kicking Butts, provides the
latest information about smoking cessation.
What You
Do as a Teen Can Come Back to Haunt You
Whether it is smoking cigarettes or not using protection against the
sun, habits developed as a teen can lead to cancer as an adult. The
effects of these harmful habits don't disappear as years pass, but can
be diminished by living a healthy life as you grow older.
Revised: 12/19/2005
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