As more is known about primary prevention and lifestyle changes that can reduce your risk for cancer, most research indicates that starting at a young age is an important factor in adopting lifetime habits. Unprotected exposure to the Sun, tobacco use, and childhood obesity are all factors that lead to an increased risk of cancers in adults.
Attitudes and habits formed in childhood can strongly influence a person’s future health. What can parents and caregivers do? It is critical that parents set a good example by integrating healthful habits into their family’s daily life. People who don't smoke, eat healthful foods, and exercise regularly, are half as likely to develop serious health problems as those who practice less healthful habits. Many or most of these healthful habits begin in childhood.
Young people are less physically active and more overweight than they were two decades ago. Here are some disturbing statistics:
- Obesity rates for adults have doubled and rates for children have tripled since 1980. (CDC)
- Studies have shown that majority of children who are overweight between 10-15 years of age will become obese adults by the age of 25. (CDC)
- Children 8 to 18 years of age spend on average of 3 hours per day in front of the television—and studies have shown a link between time spent in front of a television and obesity in children. (CDC)
- Most people who begin smoking during adolescence are addicted by the age of 20. (CDC)
- Sunburns as a child can greatly increase your risk for skin cancer as an adult.