Young-ish cancer survivor here. I would add "9a. Don't ever go to a tanning salon" to this list, per my oncologist. There are genetic factors that caused my cancer, so naturally I was worried about recurrence. Her comments to me? "Do you smoke? No? Good. Don't start. Do you visit tanning salons? No? Good. Don't start." The rest falls into "trying to live a moderately healthy lifestyle". Oh, and definitely #6. If something doesn't seem/look/feel right then have a doctor check it out.
I’ve often wondered if the higher vitamin D we get from the sun or even tanning beds outweighs the risks from melanoma. Low vitamin D is a big risk factor in the modern world.
> Therefore, we rebut these conclusions by addressing the incomplete analysis of the adverse health effects of UV and sunbed exposure (what is ‘safe’?) and the censored representation of beneficial effects, not only but especially from vitamin D production. The stance taken by both agencies is not sufficiently supported by the data and in particular, current scientific knowledge does not support the conclusion sunbed use increases melanoma risk.
The first article merely shows that the use of tanning beds is one way to raise vitamin D levels. The second tries to make vitamin D an issue, but to show that there is a case for raising vitamin D levels in a nontrivial part of the population, it relies on studies which show that supplementation via pills is beneficial! It is one thing to say that there is no good evidence for tanning beds increasing melanoma risk (a claim that I am in no position to either endorse or dispute), but I regard it as tendentious for the authors to raise the vitamin D issue when no evidence is presented to show that tanning beds are any better at doing this than simple supplementation - it is like saying that one of the benefits of chemically treating the water supply is that dehydration is bad for you.
It is known that vitamin D is best obtained from sunlight. I was once at a dinner and sitting with the head of the office for supplements for the United States and asked him how much vitamin D someone should get. His answer was quite simple, get it from sunlight. The skin autoregulates vitamin D dosage that way.
>Thus when the skin is exposed to sunlight it can only convert approximately 15% of 7-dehydrocholesterol to previtamin D3 (Fig. 18).32 Any further exposure will result in a photoequilibrium whereby previtamin D3 is converted into lumisterol3 and tachysterol3 as well as revert back to 7-dehydrocholesterol (Fig. 17). In addition when vitamin D3 is made from previtamin D3 in the skin if it is exposed to solar UVB radiation it will absorb UVB radiation and be converted into several suprasterols and 5,6-trans-vitamin D3 (Figs. 17 and and19).19). In addition previtamin D3 can also be converted to several toxisterols (Fig. 20).33-36 Therefore no matter how much sun a human is exposed to vitamin D intoxication will not occur because any excess previtamin D3 and vitamin D3 is photodegraded into products that have no calcemic activity.31,32
No doubt, but it is an empirical fact that this is not working too well for a nontrivial number of people - and if it were working well, there would still be no reason to bring up the issue in the article about sunbeds, especially as no evidence for vitamin D intoxication being a difficult-to-avoid problem in practice was presented either in that article or above. If sunlight is the optimal solution, then outdoor activity is better for you than lolling on a sunbed.
I am a case in point: I am frequently outdoors in all seasons, well beyond the point where I have to be careful to avoid sunburn, yet I have a significant all-seasons vitamin D deficiency. The conclusion of the abstract to the article you link to says "a three-part strategy of increasing food fortification programs with vitamin D, sensible sun exposure recommendations and encouraging ingestion of a vitamin D supplement when needed should be implemented to prevent global vitamin D deficiency and its negative health consequences" [my emphasis.]
To get enough vitamin D you need ~10 minutes a day[1] in direct sunlight with 25% skin exposed.
> In spring and summer, 25 percent of the body (the hands, face, neck and arms) is exposed to the sun, and in these seasons, about 8 to 10 minutes of sun exposure at noon produces the recommended amount of vitamin D.
At noon, in summer, in Spain. And probably 25% of your skin needs to be hit by direct perpendicular sunlight, and not just be exposed. In any case, don’t assume, go measure your Vitamin D levels.
Sunlight intensity varies greatly. Depending on where you live, season and cloudiness, you may only get a small fraction of the amount implied above. Again, there is no substitute for measuring your levels. Speaking from experience.
Anecdata-point: In the summer I regularly run for hours at a time (marathon training), without a shirt and without sunscreen. (I've got a good tan which seems to keep me from getting sunburned.) And yet I regularly test as low Vitamin D. A daily Vitamin D supplement suffices to keep the numbers in range.
I assume that this is a personal thing, something about my specific metabolism or skin or whatever that doesn't produce vitamin D particularly well. I have no idea if the supplement actually improves my health outcome -- I was generally healthy both before and after adding supplements.
My advice, such as it is: don't take any supplement without a doctor telling you it's needed. But if a doctor says it's necessary, yeah, do that.
Arguably, I think exercise should be #1. EDIT: Assuming they are ordered, otherwise ignore me.
Cancer is about 20% of your chance of death. Intuitively exercise helps with many things on this list. The other (roughly) 25% is cardiovascular/cerebrovascular events. For that, the best thing you can do is exercise. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18264323
Also, several types of preventable cancer are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Get vaccinated for it. Although this virus is primarily associated with cervical cancer, men should be vaccinated for it as well since it can cause penile, oral, anal, and other cancers.
I'm not an oncologist. But I'm married to one. So she tells me these rules on an almost daily basis. Also, many of her cancer patients don't make it - and then she tells me - this person didn't make it because he/she broke this rule #xyz in that list.
I mean, ok, I get it. I work in ML in an enterprise. So everyday we have our usual litany of complaints. This item is not ranked correctly. Boosting isn't working on that item. Human overrode the item recommendation and now the faceting is broken. Search is running out of memory. P2 alert!!! program crashed and we are losing $10000 per hour wake up the programmers in the middle of the night...
So I can also play this rule game.
1. Don't use computer.
2. If you must use computer, don't program.
3. If you must program, please let it not be in Java.
4. If it is Java, please don't call Python ML code from it.
5. Better yet, don't use ML at all if you have humans overriding recs.
6. Don't cache everything to reduce latency. You'll run out of memory.
7. If you run out of memory don't wake up the fucking programmer in the middle of the night when he's trying to get some action.
and so on...I mean, what purpose does it serve ? You can't get programmers in 2024 to stop using hadoop and sprintboot and whatever ancient enterprisecrap. You expect to get Americans to eat less meat, drink less, maintain healthy weight ? With an official obesity rate of 39%, the non-cookedup version hovering in the 70s ? Fat chance.
2. Try to maintain a healthy weight
3. Reduce your meat intake
4. Avoid ultra-processed foods
5. Drink less alcohol
6. If you notice anything you are worried about, see a doctor
7. Keep up to date with screenings
8. Get physical
9. Wear sunscreen
10. Manage stress
11. Look into genetic risk
12. When faced with a diagnosis, knowledge is power
13. Don’t fear treatment
14. Talk about it
15. Live life to the full