What Can You Do to Reduce Cancer Risk?

Dr. Adam, what do you do to decrease your own cancer risk?

How we can take control of our health to try to decrease our cancer risk is such an important question, so I’m more than happy to share the steps I take myself. That said, there are no guarantees. We can only do our best to educate ourselves and make healthy lifestyle choices.

As I’m sure you’ve heard before, there are two big influences when it comes to cancer. The first is genetic, which is known as nature. Certain cancers, such as breast, colorectal, prostate and ovarian, are genetic and more likely to run in families. The other influence is our behavior or lifestyle choices, which is referred to as nurture. We can’t change our genetics because we’re born with them, but we can control our behaviors.

Overall, I try to practice what I preach, so I make daily lifestyle choices, including the obvious ones, such as exercising, eating healthy foods, and not smoking. All these things help keep inflammation at bay; chronic inflammation increases our risk of developing cancer.

Interestingly, studies have shown that sleep deprivation can trigger inflammation. Knowing the importance of a good night’s sleep, I try to be in bed between 10 and 11 o’clock every night and wake up between 5:30 and 6 a.m. As an incentive, I use my phone’s sleep tracker to rate my night’s sleep. Even though it might upset my wife, let me share this with you: While she was out of town, I got a perfect 100 on my sleep score. I missed her, of course, but getting a great night’s sleep is fantastic!

Ask Dr. Adam

Adam B. Rosenbluth, M.D., is an internist and cardiologist in New York City. Each Monday, he’ll weigh in on your questions about how to make your body work better for you. His AARP book will be published in 2027.

Email your questions for Dr. Adam to [email protected]

I aim to get a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise every week. Depending on my work schedule, it might be five days of 30 minutes of exercise at a time or short bursts of a more intensive workout. I often play four hours of tennis over the weekend, especially if I’ve missed those weekday workouts. Recently, I read a study in the journal Circulation reporting that weekend warriors, people like me who pack most of their exercise into one or two days, get the same health benefits as people who exercise throughout their week.

Plenty of research has found that obesity increases the chance of developing different cancers. So, I watch my weight and make it a habit to check the scale every morning. I’ve found it’s much easier to drop a couple of pounds than try to lose an extra 10 or 15.