Risk Factors You Can Control

Many factors might affect your risk for breast cancer and other diseases. You may be able to control and modify some of these, including:

• what you eat
• how much you weigh and maintaining a healthy weight
• how much you exercise
• whether you smoke
• whether you drink alcohol and if so, how much and how frequently
• the types of chemicals in your environment
• whether you took hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal symptoms for 5 years or longer

Making these changes in your life can be quite difficult. But it becomes easier to make these changes when you understand each factor, the importance of the changes, and practical ways to make the changes. And when it comes to the factors that can't be controlled, we'll help you work around them.