40% of Cancers are Due to Lifestyle According to British Journal of Cancer

The BBC reported last Wednesday that over 40% of cancers are due to our lifestyle. As you read this  don’t feel down hearted, but realise that you can take control of your life and help yourself to have a healthy future. Even changing a few things can help you to feel fitter and healthier and to give your body the best chance of remaining healthy.

Michelle Roberts, the health reporter for the BBC, wrote a fascinating article. To read it in full please click here.

“Nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year -over 130,000 in total - are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things, a review reveals.

Tobacco is the biggest culprit, causing 23% of cases in men and 15.6% in women, says the Cancer Research UK report.

Next comes a lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in men's diets,while for women it is being overweight.

The report is published in The British Journal of Cancer.

Its authors claim it is the most comprehensive analysis to date on the subject.
Lead author Prof Max Parkin said: "Many people believe cancer is down to fate or 'in the genes' and that it is the luck of the draw whether they get it."
"Looking at all the evidence, it's clear that around 40% of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change."
For men, the best advice appears to be: stop smoking, eat more fruit and veg and cut down on how much alcohol you drink.

For women, again, the reviews says the best advice is to stop smoking, but also watch your weight.

Prof Parkin said: "We didn't expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer. And among women we didn't expect being overweight to be more of a risk factor than alcohol."

In total, 14 lifestyle and environmental factors, such as where you live and the job you do, combine to cause 134,000 cancers in the UK each year.

About 100,000 (34%) of the cancers are linked to smoking, diet, alcohol and excess weight.

One in 25 of cancers is linked to a person's job, such as being exposed to chemicals or asbestos.
Some risk factors are well established, such as smoking's link with lung cancer.

But others are less recognised.

For example, for breast cancer, nearly a 10th of the risk comes from being overweight or obese, far out  weighing the impact of whether or not the woman breastfeeds or drinks alcohol.

And for oesophageal or gullet cancer, half of the risk comes from eating too little fruit and veg, while only a fifth of the risk is from alcohol, the report shows.
For stomach cancer, a fifth of the risk comes from having too much salt in the diet, data suggests.

Some cancers, like mouth and throat cancer, are caused almost entirely by lifestyle choices.
But others, like gall bladder cancer, are largely unrelated to lifestyle.

The researchers base their calculations on predicted numbers of cases for 18 different types of cancer in 2010, using UK incidence figures for the 15-year period from 1993 to 2007.

Dr Rachel Thompson, of the World Cancer Research Fund, said the report added to the "now overwhelmingly strong evidence that our cancer risk is affected by our lifestyles".
Dr Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said leading a healthy lifestyle did not guarantee a person would not get cancer but the study showed "we can significantly stack the odds in our favour".

"If there are things we can do to reduce our risk of cancer we should do as much as we possibly can," he said.

Public Health Minister Anne Milton said: "We all know that around 23,000 cases of lung cancer could be stopped each year in England if people didn't smoke.

By making small changes we can cut our risk of serious health problems - give up smoking, watch what you drink, get more exercise and keep an eye on your weight."

Whilst not all cancers or any illness are completely preventable some cancers are. Start making the changes today to help your body and mind be as healthy as they can be - book a Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP session with Erika and begin to take charge of your health.

© EKTherapies

Stress is the Main Cause of Sickness Absence

According to The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) stress is now the number one cause of sickness absence at work; it affects even more people then acute illnesses like cancer.

"Tougher workloads, having a“bad” boss and the fear of being made redundant are among the top factors piling the pressure on UK employees.

An increased strain on family life and relationships, largely due to money worries in the current economic climate, is adding to a “vicious circle” of workers’ woes,experts warned.

According to the survey by CIPD and Simplyhealth, two-fifths of employers said stress-related sick days had gone up over the past year.

Half of public sector organisations reported an increase in absence due to stress compared to just a third of manufacturers, with state employers blaming the volume of job cuts, pension changes and pay freezes.

Jill Miller, CIPD adviser,said: “Stress is for the first time the number one cause of long-term sickness absence, highlighting the heightened pressure many people feel under in the workplace as a result of the prolonged economic downturn. Stress is a particular challenge in the public sector where the sheer amount of major change and restructuring would appear to be the root cause.” ( Full article at The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/8806473/Stress-overtakes-cancer-as-main-cause-of-sickness-absence.html )

Stress is a word that has been around a long time and seems to be growing in potency as we hear threats of a double dip recession. The world has always been a stressful place, but with the growth of technology and less time spent with family, friends, nature and just enjoying “down time”, stress is growing and growing. One of the first questions I ask my clients is how much time do you spend de-stressing during the day? This is normally met with a little laugh and a blank expression. Society and ourselves are the best at putting stress into our lives but we can also work to eliminate the stress that we can control.

Hypnotherapy, CBT & NLP can help you to have the tools to manage your stress. You can learn what your stressors are and see if there is a different way that you could manage life and allow your body and mind some time to de-stress. We often say to ourselves we don’t have time for “down time”, but in the same breath if a friend or loved one rang you and needed 10 minutes of your time you would give it to them.

Make time for “downtime”. Understand your stressors and find time in the day for you, which will in the long run make you better at everything you do.

What is in a Cigarette?

We no longer live in a world where we don’t know that cigarettes are bad for us. 30 years ago the effects of cigarettes were unknown but these days we know they damage our body, but what is inside them?

There are over 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke; at least 50 of them are known carcinogens (cancer causing). If you were to inject the nicotine in one cigarette directly into your vein it would kill you instantly, there is enough poisonous nicotine in one cigarette to kill a horse.

Here are just a few of the chemicals found in each cigarette:

Benzene (petrol additive) – colourless cyclic hydrocarbon obtained from coal and petroleum, used as a solvent in fuel and in chemical manufacture, it is a known carcinogen associated with leukemia.

Formaldehyde (embalming fluid)- colourless liquid, highly poisonous, used to preserve dead bodies, it is a known cause of cancer, respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal problems.

Ammonia (toilet cleaner) - used as a flavouring, frees nicotine from tobacco turning it into a gas, often found in dry cleaning fluids

Acetone (nail polish remover) – fragrant volatile liquid ketone, used as a solvent, for example, nail polish remover

Tar - Particulate matter drawn into lungs when you inhale on a lighted cigarette. Once inhaled, smoke condenses and about 70 per cent of the tar in the smoke is deposited in the smoker's lungs.

Nicotine (insecticide/addictive drug) - one of the most addictive substances known to man, a powerful and fast-acting medical and non-medical poison. This is the chemical which causes addiction. The great news is it is out of your system within 48 hours of stopping smoking

Carbon Monoxide (CO), (car exhaust fumes) - odourless, tasteless and poisonous gas, rapidly fatal in large amounts, the same gas that comes out of car exhausts

Arsenic (rat poison)

Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison)

The wonderful thing to find out is that our body is amazing at repairing itself. Your body starts to repair itself the second you stop smoking, even in between each cigarette. It is up to you whether you continue the damage with the next cigarette or if you become smoke free. Your body can only repair the damage so many times before cigarettes start to have a permanent damaging effect on your body.

With the smoking ban getting tighter (in New York, you can now no longer smoke outside unless you are in a designated smoking area), there has never been a better time to become smoke free, to stop yourself being a slave to cigarettes. All you need to give up smoking in a positive way is your determination and a one off Stop Smoking session with Erika. Using the powerful combination of Hypnosis, CBT & NLP and your commitment you will leave the session smoke free with the tools to remain a non-smoker. You are 10 times more likely to remain smoke free if you use hypnosis.