There are many risk factors for breast cancer, and if you are concerned about developing breast cancer, you can make some lifestyle changes for its prevention. While nothing can be done about some risk factors like family history, many steps can be taken to lower the risk due to other factors. Most importantly, one should live healthily and maintain physical activity.

Here are some lifestyle changes to consider for the prevention of breast cancer.

1. Exercise
As stated earlier, it is most important to exercise regularly for physical and mental wellness. The recommended duration of exercise per week for adults is 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 to 150 minutes of high-intensity workout. It has been suggested that the chances of developing breast cancer can decrease by up to 40 percent with the help of regular exercising.

2. Keep your weight in check
Although maintaining a healthy weight is important for all to stay fit, it is especially important for the prevention of breast cancer. The risk of different cancers increases if one if overweight, and breast cancer is one of them.

3. Avoid postmenopausal hormone therapy
You should consider the risks of hormone therapy associated with breast cancer before you start the therapy. If it is possible to manage the symptoms with medications and other therapies that are nonhormonal, you should opt for them. In case the symptoms can be managed only through hormonal therapy, regularly monitor the duration for which the therapy is taking place and consult your doctor about the chances of breast cancer.

4. Maintain a healthy diet
Eating fruits and vegetables and avoiding alcohol is the key to the prevention of breast cancer. Fruits and vegetables have the right nutrients to ensure that the body prevents cancer. Furthermore, you should check the amount of alcohol you’re drinking because consumption of alcohol is directly related to breast cancer among people who have the risk factors associated with it.

5. Quit smoking
Smoking is associated with many types of cancers, and breast cancer is one of them. Smoking impacts the health of the heart and lungs and causes other health problems as well.

6. Children
Early pregnancy is considered to be one of the measures that prevent the onset of breast cancer. Women who deliver their first child before the age of 30 years are less likely to develop breast cancer as compared to women who give birth after the age of 30 years or women who do not have children at all.

7. Breastfeeding
The risk of breast cancer is further lowered among women who breastfeed. If women breastfeed for two years, the chances of breast cancer are reduced significantly. Studies have suggested that each year of breastfeeding brings down the chances of breast cancer by over four percent.