All Ages

The following information was developed by the American Cancer Society, and is presented on Cancer.Net as part of a collaboration between the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Cancer Society. Both organizations have long shared a commitment to empowering people with information about cancer they can trust. Learn more about this collaboration and how it will help advance that goal. Used with permission. © 2022.

Healthy Lifestyle Choices for Everyone

Stay away from tobacco

There is no safe form of tobacco. If you smoke cigarettes or use other types of tobacco products, it's best to stop. It's also important to stay away from tobacco smoke (secondhand smoke). Both using tobacco products and being exposed to tobacco smoke can cause cancer as well as many other health problems. If you don't use tobacco products, you can help others by encouraging the people around you to quit. Call us at 1-800-227-2345 for help, or see How to Quit Smoking or Smokeless Tobacco to learn more about quitting.

Get to and stay at a healthy weight

Being overweight or obese can increase your risk for many types of cancer. You can control your weight with the choices you make about healthy eating and exercise:
- Avoiding excessive weight gain throughout life
- Balance the calories you take in with the amount of physical activity you do

If you are overweight, try to get to a healthy weight and stay there. Losing even a small amount of weight has health benefits and is a good place to start. Watching your portion sizes is an important part of weight control – especially for foods high in fat and sugar. Low-fat and fat-free doesn’t always mean low-calorie, so read labels and try to eat vegetables, fruits, and whole grains in the place of higher-calorie foods.

Get moving

Adults: Each week, get at least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity (or a combination of these). Getting to or doing more than the upper limit of 300 minutes is ideal.

Children and teens: Get at least 1 hour of moderate or vigorous intensity activity every day.

Moderate activity is anything that makes you breathe as hard as you do during a brisk walk. During moderate activities, you’ll notice a slight increase in heart rate and breathing. You should be able to talk, but not sing during the activity.

Vigorous activities are performed at a higher intensity. They cause an increased heart rate, sweating, and a faster breathing rate.

Don’t be a couch potato - limit the amount of time you spend sitting or lying down.

Doing some physical activity above usual activities, no matter what one’s level of activity, can have many health benefits.

Eat healthy

Follow a healthy eating pattern that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and limits or avoids red and processed meats, sugary drinks, and highly processed foods

It's best not to drink alcohol

If you do drink, have no more than 1 drink per day for women or 2 per day for men

A drink is 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1 ½ ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.

See our Guideline on Diet and Physical Activity for more information.

This information was originally published at https://www.cancer.org/healthy/find-cancer-early/screening-recommendations-by-age.html#All_ages.