World Lung Cancer Day falls on August 1and aims to raise global awareness of lung cancer’s early signs, detection, diagnosis, and treatment.
Event Context
Several factors can increase susceptibility to developing lung cancer. While some, such as family history and genetics, are beyond your control, certain lifestyle-related vulnerabilities can be easily managed. The habits you adopt and the precautions you follow in your daily routine may help lower the risk.
Let’s hear from a specialist who helped break down why your daily lifestyle matters and how it is instrumental in preventive health.
Dr Manish Kumar Aggarwal, principal director of chest diseases and interventional pulmonology at Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, shared five lifestyle changes that may support better lung health and help reduce the risk of lung cancer.
Before we discuss the habits that may support lung health, let’s address a common misconception about who can receive a lung cancer diagnosis.
Smoking is typically directly associated with lung cancer, creating the misconception that non-smokers are safe from the disease. But this is far from the ground reality.ALSO READ: Can smoking damage your eyesight? Surgeon shares 6 warning signs you should not ignore
We asked the pulmonologist to share a case involving a non-smoker, and he recalled one from his clinic in which a patient nearly ignored a seemingly ordinary but persistent symptom.
“Every World Lung Cancer Day, I think of Meera, a 47-year-old schoolteacher who visited my clinic a few years ago. A lifelong non-smoker, she believed her persistent cough was just a normal response to air pollution. ‘It’ll settle,’ she thought.”
He then revealed what happened after the symptom went unchecked for three months, as it had a very serious underlying cause: “Three months later, a CT scan showed early-stage lung cancer. Thanks to timely treatment, she made a full recovery and went back to teaching. Before leaving, she told me, ‘I almost ignored the one symptom that saved my life.’”
The pulmonologist drew an important inference from this case. He agreed, that while smoking still continues to be the leading cause of lung cancer, non-smokers are still getting lung cancer because of air pollution, secondhand smoke, indoor toxins, and genetics. So, not smoking does not guarantee complete protection. What you can do is adopt healthy practices and follow precautions to lower the risk.
The pulmonologist listed five important practices to adopt, for both smokers and non-smokers:
The expert’s parting advice is based on something he hears often in his clinic: “As a pulmonologist, the hardest thing I hear is: ‘I wish I had come earlier.’” This regret suggests that one should not ignore unexplained symptoms; otherwise when it is detected, it is at a late stage.
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
