Bad news triggers good changes
Kathleen Doheny
Learning that a close relative has breast cancer is always difficult. But this bad news can actually spur healthy lifestyle changes in relatives of the patient, according to a new study. Stephenie Lemon, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, asked 600 women whose mother, sister or daughter had been diagnosed with breast cancer a few months earlier to describe any changes they’d made that would affect their health, such as exercising more. Within six months of their relative’s diagnosis, 42 percent reported positive changes, with 10 percent improving three or more habits.
Most common was getting more exercise (believed to reduce breast-cancer risk), followed by eating more fruits and vegetables (thought to be protective) and eating less fat (which also may decrease cancer risk).–K.D.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
