The small study reviewed here suggests that being happy and having a positive outlook on life can actually reduce the risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. The research also suggests that having more than one negative major life event (such as the death of a spouse) increases breast cancer risk.
The researchers asked 255 women between the ages of 25 and 45 who had been diagnosed with breast cancer within the past year about their feelings of happiness, optimism, depression, and anxiety, as well as whether they had experienced any negative major life events during the years before diagnosis. The researchers put the same questions to 367 women of the same age range who hadn't been diagnosed with breast cancer. The results:
It's not clear how a gloomy outlook or extremely difficult life experiences can affect the risk of breast cancer. Still, the link between emotional well-being and physical well-being is clear and shouldn't be ignored. In addition to a healthy lifestyle that includes healthy eating, maintaining a healthy weight, regular exercise, and avoiding alcohol, taking care of your emotional well-being is one more important step you can take to keep your risk of breast cancer as low as it can be.
You can't control many of the difficult experiences that come into your life, but you can do things to keep your emotional life balanced and positive. If you're feeling sad or depressed, talk to a doctor about your feelings and what you can do to improve your mood. If you don't exercise, consider making regular physical activity a part of your routine. Besides the physical benefits, many women find that regular exercise boosts their emotional well-being. You also might want to consider complementary and holistic medicine techniques such as massage, meditation, yoga, and journaling. These techniques have been shown to help ease anxiety and depression. You can learn more about these techniques in the Breastcancer.org Complimentary and Holistic Medicine section.
BEER-SHEVA, Israel, Aug. 21 (MedPage Today) -- Women who are happy and optimistic appear to be less likely to get breast cancer than their gloomier counterparts, according to a case-control study.
Israeli women ages 25 to 45 who reported a general feeling of happiness were 25% less likely to have breast cancer (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.64 to 0.86) than other women, Ronit Peled, Ph.D., of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev here, and colleagues reported online in BMC Cancer.
And those who had been exposed to more than one negative life event -- for example, the death of a spouse or a serious illness -- were significantly more likely to have the disease (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.40).
"The relationship between happiness and health should be examined in future studies and possible relevant preventive initiatives should be developed," the researchers said.
Some studies have suggested a link between stressful life events, psychological distress, and cancer, but the connection remains unclear, according to the researchers.
To explore the issue, they undertook a case-control study in women ages 25 to 45 -- 255 had been diagnosed with breast cancer at one of six centers in Israel and 367 were healthy and selected from one of two medical centers.
The case patients were significantly older (mean age 40.03 versus 34.77, P<0.001) and more likely to be married (85.1% versus 75%, P=0.002).
All participants were interviewed with the Brief Symptom Inventory -- evaluating depression, anxiety, and happiness and optimism -- and a Life Event Questionnaire, in which they were asked to recall major stressful life events and their feelings.
Breast cancer patients were asked for information from before their diagnosis (mean time from diagnosis to interview was one year).
Breast cancer patients reported significantly higher depression scores (P=0.04) and significantly lower happiness and optimism scores (P=0.00) compared with the controls.
A greater percentage of breast cancer patients had been exposed to more than one negative life event compared with the controls (52% versus 43.9%), but the difference fell short of statistical significance (P=0.065).
A multivariate analysis showed that having been exposed to more than one major negative life event (P=0.017) and being married (P=0.019) were positively associated and a general feeling of happiness or optimism (P<0.0001) was negatively associated with breast cancer.
Although the researchers did not find any significant associations for individual life events, cumulative exposure was associated with breast cancer.
"In other words, we can carefully say that experiencing more than one meaningful life event (severe and/or mild to moderate) is a risk factor for breast cancer among young women," the researchers said.
"On the other hand," they continued, "general feelings of happiness and optimism can play a protective role against the disease."
The researchers were unable to identify the mechanism of action through which negative life events may influence breast cancer. However, they cited a series of studies showing that psychological stress may contribute to an increase in cancer by modifying cell responses to environmental factors.
"At the same time," they said, "the mechanism in which the central nerve, endocrine, and immune systems interact and how behavior and/or external events modulate these three complex systems is not fully understood."
The authors acknowledged some limitations of the study, including the fact that the study population was not representative of the general population, the low participation rate among cases (25%), and the lack of randomized selection of the controls.
In addition, because the women were asked to recall past feelings and events, the results could have been affected by recollection bias.
The study was supported by the Israeli Cancer Association.
The authors declared that they had no competing interests.
Primary source: BMC Cancer Source reference: Peled R, et al "Breast cancer, psychological distress, and life events among young women" BMC Cancer 2008.
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