…and right next door, we have Lungs

“My lungs are free and clear.”

“I can breathe deeply and freely.”

“Oxygen inspires me.”

Most of the risk factors for breast cancer you can’t do anything about – being female, getting older, your family history. Smoking is on our list of risk factors for breast cancer you CAN do something about. Quitting the habit is also at the top of our list of the best ways you can improve your health – and live longer.

If you smoke, we hope you stop.  Smoking kills – lots of ways – and impacts your health from your head to your toes and parts in between – including increasing your risk of breast cancer. So, make a commitment to yourself that you will seek ways to break that addiction – today.

Want help? Talk to your doctor. Or you can go to http://women.smokefree.gov. There are tools and support structures there. Then, you can breathe easier – literally. Click through this fun interactive graphic to see what happens over time:

http://visual.ly/what-expect-when-you-quit-smoking?view=true

We know it’s not easy –  but taking that first step of wanting to quit can start you on the path to a healthier you.

Image credit: inhale by urbanizr via Flickr Copyright Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Originally published 10/24/13 on mammographykc.com.