Colon Cancer Awareness

Colon cancer awareness enables us to take early steps to prevent, detect and manage this most common form of cancer. Every year the world celebrates the Colon Cancer Awareness Month in March. In this month, the people’s attention is carefully directed to one of the most common cancers ever known to man. During the month of March, people are educated on everything there is to know about colon cancer or colorectal cancer.

However, one shouldn’t just wait for months in order to know about this disease since colon cancer does not just affect those who are at high risk. Although studies have shown that it does affect people who have certain characteristics and lifestyles, still, colon cancer can strike any unsuspecting individual. Because of this, here are a few things that you should know in order to increase your colon cancer awareness.

Is it preventable?

Even if many researchers have found it to be one of the familial diseases, colon cancer can still be prevented. So how can you prevent colon cancer? Here are a few tips that you can do.

• Smoke and drink in moderation

Remember the words, “having too much of something is never a good thing”? Well, smoking and drinking is one of them. Research has found evidence that smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages in great amounts can cause cancer. Especially with smoking, it has been found out to not only be carcinogenic, it can also cause increased growth of polyps that are already existing in the colon. Polyps, harmless as they are, have always been known to have great potentials of turning cancerous.

• Exercise regularly

Having a sedentary lifestyle is never good for you. Why? It makes you sit around and not do anything that can make you spend energy. With this, your food intake becomes way greater than your energy output. This certainly is a great imbalance. What does it result to? Obesity.

Research has found out that people who are obese have greater risk of developing colon cancer compared to those who are within their normal body weight. In fact, it has been found out that men who are obese are even more at risk for colorectal cancer than the women.

When you exercise, do it regularly and do it only to a point that your body can tolerate. Do not push your body to its limits unless you are an aspiring athlete or want to be a body builder. In the case of colon cancer prevention, you are exercising to give your body a good work out and shed those excess pounds off if there is a need, or prevent stacking up the excess pounds. So hit the gym three times a week or exercise for a couple of hours.

If you don’t have time to exercise, get off the couch and clean the house and yard. Wash clothes with your hands and not the washing machine. Walk to the grocery store that’s a couple of blocks away from your house. Do anything that requires you to get off the couch and do something productive.

• Eat healthy foods

Another way thing you should know to increase your colon cancer awareness is to eat healthy. Skip the junk food and make a green light for foods that are low in fat but high in protein content. Also, never forget the fiber. You don’t have to eat green leafy vegetables all the time to get a healthy dose of fiber. You can also make do with 5 servings of fruits per day.

Is it detectable?

Colon cancer has its own set of signs and symptoms that can help in its detection. Some of these symptoms are change in bowel movements, change in stool appearance, abdominal discomfort, constant feeling of tiredness, weight loss, and decreased appetite.

Sad to say, there are people who do not manifest any kind of symptoms. Not until the cancer has worsened will they be able to be aware of its presence. With this, screening tests are always important to help people detect the cancer.

What are its screening tests?

There are a good number of screening tests that can greatly aid colon cancer awareness. Some of them are barium enema, digital rectal exam, sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, and occult blood test. If these screening produce positive results, a biopsy is done to diagnose the cancer.

Colon cancer awareness is not just for those who are at high risk for it. It is a must for everyone since it can strike just about anybody.