A couple of years ago, my old pal Elizabeth Gilbert wrote a best-seller called Eat, Pray, Love (Penguin) about her search for happiness. Reading it reminded me that very simple changes can make a huge difference in your life.
It's a very SELFy premise: Tiny tweaks can yield big results. It's true in fitness (standing up while talking on the phone burns 17 percent more calories than chatting in your chair). It's true in finance (if you tuck $214 a month into your 401(k) starting at 25, you'll retire a millionaire). And luckily for all of us, it's also true when it comes to cancer prevention. In fact, some of the things we can do to lower our risk are so simple, we often overlook them.
With that in mind, SELF asked the best cancer researchers what they wish women knew about living long, healthy, cancer-free lives. If we put their advice into a book, it might be called "Sleep, Breathe, Love (and Lotion Up)." I know, I know. It probably wouldn't ever be a best-seller, but I can guarantee you this: It would be a lifesaver.
Chapter 1: Sleep
Turn off your lights, close the curtains and catch at least seven hours of zzz's every night in -- here's the key part-- a dark room. Darkness during sleep signals the brain to produce melatonin, a sleep-regulating hormone that has been shown to slow the growth of breast cancer cells, says Emerson Smith, Ph.D., clinical research associate professor of medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia.
Chapter 2: Breathe
Get some fresh air, especially if you walk or jog for significant time in, or near, a traffic artery. Thanks to car and truck exhaust, the carcinogen level around highways (even as far as a mile away!) is 100 times higher than in a natural setting, says Ronald Crystal, M.D., chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City. Find a park and move your regular workout to greener paths. Our Play Your Way Slim workout gives you moves you can use at your local playground.
Chapter 3: Love
Yourself, that is! Look, we all have days when we're not totally crazy about our thighs, abs or other trouble spots; but, at the risk of stating the obvious, we each only get one body, so we might as well take care of it. Here's the crazy thing: Women who were dissatisfied with their appearance were 59 percent less likely to have gotten a mammogram in the past year than those who loved their looks, and 61 percent less likely to have had a Pap smear, according to a survey by the National Women's Health Resource Center.
Hello! Don't let those crappy fluorescent lights in the dressing room influence your life span. Protect yourself always by getting key screenings. Then check out SELF for ways to exercise or eat healthy -- your body will thank you! Calculate your Happy Weight at Self.com.
Chapter 4: Lotion Up
Before performing a breast self-exam, apply lotion, which makes it way easier to notice subtle changes, says Alisan Goldfarb, M.D., of the Center for Specialty Care & Breast Surgery, in NYC. A quick tutorial: Keep your fingers flat and close together and gently probe each breast by moving your fingers in circles closer and closer to the nipple, starting at the underarm and progressing down to the bra line, across to the sternum and up to the clavicle.
Find more prevention tips in SELF's 2008 Women's Cancer Handbook.
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