my little PSA

So, in my biology class we just finished a unit on Cancer. and let me tell you- this spoke to me!
I have never been the one to worry about how my actions in my teens and twenties will affect me in my 60's and 70's. Now, I'm thinking that I should have heard this message loud and clear back when I was in highschool
I never worried about taking care of my skin and protecting it from the sun. I would tan basically everyday, or every other day in high school..and when I would lay out in the sun at the pool or the beach- very rarely would I ever wear sunscreen...up until the past couple weeks really..

I'm regretting this now...and probably will regret it even more later in life..but all I can do is start not and take better care of myself.

We learned that 80% of cancer is caused by environment causes.. meaning YOU CAN CONTROL THEM! this means things like smoking/secondhand smoke, diet, wearing sunscreen... all of these things are called carcinogens and each time you are exposed to them they have the ability to alter the DNA in your cells.
a little biology lesson:
DNA goes through a process called transcription to form mRNA which then is translated into proteins that do the work in your body (that's a very simple explanation)
mutations in DNA affect this whole process and they occur at random each time you are exposed to carcinogens...in order to get cancer, certain genes need to be mutated...which is why some people that smoke all their lives sometimes don't get cancer and those that smoke for 2 years do..

its SCARY! cancer cells are your own body cells that have just been altered..
There are proteins responsible for stopping and starting meiosis (cell reproduction)..and these get messed up and can no longer regulate how the cells reproduce. Normal cells will stop reproducing when they are touching other cells on all sides, cancer cells do not have this built in mechanism anymore. These cells just keep reproducing uncontrollably (causing a tumor)...and that is essentially and put very simply, what cancer is.

I know this might have been a weird, random post but I have been thinking a lot about it since we started the unit! It definitely is changing how I live and take care of my body...and I hope this makes you think about what you expose yourself to!