All the women around the world know that doing regular screenings in the form of mammograms and thermograms contributes to breast health. But in reality, there is more to it than doing tests. Certain tweaks in diet, exercise and a few more proactive steps contribute to better breast health and better wellbeing overall. Here are a few more useful tips for women to follow when it comes to breast health: 

• Working out smarter, not necessarily harder – there is no denying the fact that physical exercise is good for women. It not only contributes to good health and wellbeing but also wards off breast cancer. But just how much physical exercise is a good idea? Turns out the right amount revolves around the 150-minute mark for moderate-level aerobic exercise, or five sessions of 30 minutes per week. This proved enough to lead to a reduction in biomarkers in the body, which are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer – hormones like estrone, insulin and estradiol. Various exercises work well, including fast walking, swimming, cycling etc. 
  
  
• Good support for breasts – women need to be pickier of the bras they wear if they don’t want to risk breast tissue stretching and descending. Bras that provide good support are essential. In reality, bra size is very important and it is something that fluctuates, primarily due to weight loss. Sports bras need to be doing their job, preventing breast tissue from stretching during movement. 
  
  
• Weight management – being overweight is one of the primary risk factors for developing post-menopausal breast cancer. However, losing weight is also associated with reversed risk, meaning this should be a mission for every woman out there. The results of many surveys and research over the years show that for women who lose weight, the risk for breast cancer reduces in comparison to women, who remain the same weight. So implementing proper physical exercise routines, as well as a proper diet, is of utmost importance. 
  
  
• Knowing one’s breasts – sometimes, doctors recommend the so-called self-breast exam. This is a process in which a woman does a self-exam of her breasts, but that is not always effective. It can lead to anxiety and a lot of false alarms. It is much better to consider breast self-awareness. Simply knowing one’s breasts allows for an easier process of picking up changes. 
  
  
• Giving breast skin some love – women sometimes worry too much for the inside, completely ignoring the outside of breasts. The skin there can get very itchy, dry and sensitive. Because it is more delicate than other areas of the body, it needs some attention. Moisturising the area is essential, as is keeping the skin safe from extensive sun rays. This will prevent collagen breakdown and retain the elastin within the skin. 
  
  
• Reduce alcohol – another well-known risk factor for breast cancer is alcohol consumption. For women who regularly have two drinks of alcohol per day, the risk of breast cancer is higher. That is because alcohol increases oestrogen in the body, which then contributes to hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer.
  
  
• Understanding family history – any breast cancer history on either side of the family can increase the risk of developing breast cancer in women. And for those who have a very strong family history with breast cancer, i.e. they have a mother, sister or child with breast cancer, it is worth doing a genetic test for the BRCA gene mutation. 
  
  

Obviously, there is a lot that women can do to reduce the risks of breast cancer and improve their health. 

© The Natural Doctor

Breast cancer is among the most dangerous diseases that affect women all over the world. To this day, the best thing every woman can do is make regular screenings, to detect the disease at its early stage. This greatly boosts the chances of successfully managing the condition. 

Among other breast screening methods, thermography has become a go-to solution for many women out there. In essence, a thermographic scan involves an infra-red camera, which takes the temperature of the upper side of the body. It highlights any areas of increased activity. Cancer tumours usually have a blood supply of their own. This shows an infra-red scan as an area with increased activity and alerts doctors that something is going on. The benefits of this sort of scanning are many: 

• The method is non-invasive – thermography is a non-invasive screening method. This means there is no poking and prodding involved whatsoever with it. This is the first difference between it and mammography. The latter is a method that applies a certain amount of pressure to the breast, to produce an image. That is not the case with thermography. All that a woman needs to do is standstill, with no clothes on the upper side of the body. The camera takes the image and that is all. There is no level of discomfort such as in mammography, which can be problematic for women with tender and larger breasts. 
  
  
• The method is safe – mammography remains the golden standard for breast screening methods, but there is a major risk associated with it. After all, it exposes the tissue to a certain amount of radiation, to get a picture. Then there is thermography, which involves no radiation whatsoever. With the different kinds of technology that it uses, it takes an image of the breasts without any risk for the person. This is no small advantage. 
  
  
• It works not just for breast cancer screening – another point in favour of thermography lies with the fact that it can provide useful information for the treatment of other conditions. For example, sometimes doctors check for inflammation, digestion function, lung/heart health and diabetes with thermographic scans. It makes for a versatile approach to helping pinpoint the problem and aid not just women, but also men. 
  
  
• It is a nice supplemental test – thermography works well in conjunction with many other tests, namely mammography. That is why doctors usually recommend doing both screening methods. If one fails to provide a definitive picture of the condition, the other can compensate. It never hurts to have more data. 
  
  
• The screening is very easy to accomplish – another thing about thermography is just how easy it is to do the test. Unlike mammography, which requires applying pressure to the breasts, thermography is much easier to execute. The way it works is just by having the woman remove the upper part of their clothing, and standing still while the infra-red camera takes its readings. It is usually the case that women need to remain in the same room to acclimate to the same temperature. There is nothing about the procedure that is uncomfortable. It is a zero-contact one, it doesn’t call for applying pressure to breasts and there is no pain whatsoever. This makes it rather easy to execute and a much more preferable option in that regard, compared to mammography. 
  
  

The thermography screening method has made its way into present-day breast prevention guidelines in a fascinating way. It is good that women all over the world can now rely on another tool in the battle against breast cancer. 

© The Natural Doctor