Cancer Prevention – lifestyle changes can save lives

Around 800 people are diagnosed with cancer every day in the UK but by making lifestyle changes we could reduce that number by half.

Our aim is not to bully or nag but to pass on accurate, informative messages, however by making changes like the ones listed below you can make a difference. You will start to look better, feel fitter and best of all reduce your risk of getting cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

• Smoking is responsible for a third of all cancers so don't just give yourself the best present ever; improve the health of your family and friends too by quitting or not smoking in their company. (9 out of 10 lung cancers are caused by smoking - if we didn’t smoke 4,000 people would be diagnosed with lung cancer every year instead of 38,000)

If you want to stop smoking there has never been a better time to try, there’s lots of support and one to one counselling if you need it and it’s free – contact your local NHS Stop Smoking Service - free helpline number 0800 022 4332.

• Eating a sensible well balanced diet, drinking less alcohol and taking regular exercise can also reduce your risk.
• Attend screening appointments, we have three national programmes: bowel cancer screening has now been introduced in Gloucestershire for men and women aged 60-69, cervical screening for women aged 25 - 64 and breast screening for women aged 50 – 70. All these services can and do save lives.
• Take care in the sun – You can still burn on sunny days in the Autumn and Spring. Lots of people have winter sunshine breaks and skiing holidays - be careful, use a high factor sunscreen of 15+ and reapply regularly. Take care not to burn and ensure children and babies are well protected. Avoid using sun-beds. It is now known that the UVA radiation emitted by sun-beds can contribute to skin cancer as well as ageing skin prematurely.

Click on the Reduce the Risk topic on the left for more detailed information.

It’s important to get the symptoms listed below checked out by your GP

For most cancers early detection means that treatments have a greater chance of success. Some of the symptoms and changes listed can be caused by less serious diseases which can be easily treated, however if the symptoms are early signs of cancer then you will have given yourself the best chance of a cure by reporting changes early.

Visit your doctor if you have any of these symptoms or changes:

• An unusual lump or swelling anywhere on the body
• A sore that won’t heal
• A mouth or tongue ulcer that lasts longer than three weeks
• A persistent cough, reoccurring chest infection
• Persistent difficulty swallowing or indigestion
• Problems passing urine
• Blood in your urine
• Change to more frequent bowel motions that lasts longer than six weeks
• Blood in your bowel motions
• Unexplained weight loss
• An unexplained pain or ache that lasts longer than four weeks
• A mole change (change in size, shape or colour)

For Women:

• Bleeding from the vagina after the menopause or between periods.

Click on the specific cancer sites on the left for more information and to find out what the Charity is doing to improve cancer services locally.