Cancer Myths Debunked
Don’t Fall For These Common Cancer Myths
Cancer is a scary word, and as with many things that people fear, myths about cancer run rampant. Being concerned about cancer is one thing, but falling for cancer myths is something entirely different. You may be surprised to learn that some of the things you took for fact were nothing more than mere cancer myths.
Cancer Myth #1 -- Stress Causes Cancer
Stress definitely isn’t good for you and it can do some damaging things to your body, but causing cancer is not one of them. A study of 8,500 people indicated that there is absolutely no correlation between a person’s stress level and their risk of cancer. That does, however, change if the people deal with their stress by smoking cigarettes. If you smoke cigarettes and your stress causes you to smoke more, it may indeed affect your risk of developing cancer.
Cancer Myth #2 -- Cell Phones Cause Brain Cancer
There are people who will swear up and down that cell phones can cause brain cancer, but when you look at the facts it just doesn’t add up. Think about how much cell phone usage has increased over the past ten years. If cell phones caused brain cancer, wouldn’t we see comparable increases of brain cancer cases? The fact is, cases of brain cancer have not increased along with cell phone usage.
Cancer Myth #3 -- Most People Who Develop Cancer Die From It
Cancer can indeed be fatal, but assuming that most people who develop cancer die from it is erroneous. The fact of the matter is that more than fifty percent of the people who develop cancer are able to beat it.
Cancer Myth #4 -- All Cancer is Hereditary
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Less than 10 percent of cancers have anything to do with heredity. Most cancers develop due to lifestyle practices or unknown circumstances. Rarely is cancer caused to do a genetic family link.
Cancer Myth #5 -- All People Who Develop Cancer Have to Undergo Chemotherapy
It is true that many cancer cases are treated with chemotherapy, but not all of them are. How a particular case of cancer is treated depends on the type of cancer it is, how far it has progressed, and other medical factors. Only a doctor can determine if chemotherapy is the right course of treatment for a cancer patient.