Unfortunately, there is a link between breast cancer and depression. In fact, about 25 percent of women with breast cancer suffer from significant depression. That's the bad news. The good news is that you can offset your risk of developing depression with two simple lifestyle modifications: drink green tea and exercise regularly.

Breast Cancer and Depression

Studies have shown that higher levels of symptom distress in women with breast cancer predict higher levels of anxiety or depression. When you're facing a cancer diagnosis and treatment, that's not surprising. Furthermore, chemotherapy is also a known risk factor for depression. If you're receiving Tamoxifen, a commonly used chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, you're more likely to develop depression. And, if you are already taking the antidepressant paroxetine while receiving Tamoxifen, you are also at greater risk for depression and potential recurrence of breast cancer.

Exercise

We all know exercise is good for us, even if we don't have cancer. It reduces stress, helps us sleep better, improves our physical and mental functioning, and leads to an overall improved quality of life. Exercise helps prevent, or reduce, the symptoms of depression, even in women with breast cancer.

Furthermore, exercise helps breast cancer survivors live longer and can reduce your risk of developing breast cancer by at least 20 percent--even more if you're postmenopausal--even if you don't start exercising until you're older.

Don't worry. You don't have to engage in extreme physical activity to enjoy the benefits of exercise. Even walking 30 minutes daily can help reduce depression and risk for cancer.

Green Tea

Native Chinese people have been drinking green tea for centuries and for good reason. Green tea, which comes from the plant Camellia sinensis, is loaded with phenols, or antioxidants. Antioxidants inhibit the development of malignancies by scavenging free radicals that damage cell membranes and DNA, leaving cells vulnerable and at risk for cancer.

Women with breast cancer who consumed greater quantities of green tea had a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms in a study with older adults. These results confirm other study findings that demonstrate important health benefits from green tea. Green tea may also reduce risk of lung cancer in both smokers and non-smokers, as well as the risk for other types of cancers.

If you have breast cancer, exercise and green tea together may protect you from depression.

Sources

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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/714372

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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/715466

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"Exercise and Breast-cancer Prevention: Study Finds It's Never Too Late to Start, and the Activity Need Not Be Strenuous." Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Web. 9 September 2003.

http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2003/09/09/walk_a_day.html

Capriotti, Teri. "Any Science Behind the Hype of 'Natural'Dietary Supplements? Can Drinking Green Tea Prevent Cancer?" Dermatology Nursing (17)5 (2005): 343-358, 367. Medscape Medical News. Web.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/515438_2

"Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and breast cancer mortality in women receiving tamoxifen: a population based cohort study." BMJ (2010): 340:c693. Web. 8 February 2010.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/340/feb08_1/c693

Friedman, Roberta, Ph.D. "Watch for Depression in Long-term Tamoxifen Use." Medscape Medical News. Web. 19 May 2003.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/455908

Lash TL, Cronin-Fenton D, Ahern TP, Rosenberg CL, Lunetta KL, Silliman RA, Hamilton-Dutoit S, Garne JP, Ewertz M, Sørensen HT,  and Pedersen L. "Breast cancer recurrence risk related to concurrent use of SSRI antidepressants and tamoxifen." Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark.

Acta Oncol. 2010 Feb 16. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20156115

PsycDuijts SF, Faber MM, Oldenburg HS, van Beurden M, and Aaronson NK. "Effectiveness of behavioral techniques and physical exercise on psychosocial functioning and health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients and survivors-a meta-analysis." Psychooncology. 2010 Mar 24. (E-pub ahead of print).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20336645

McNeely, ML, Campbell, KL, Rowe, BH, Klassen, TP, Mackey, JR, and Courneya, KS. "Effects of exercise on breast cancer patients and survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Department of Behavioural Medicine, Faculty of Physical Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta. CMAJ 175(1) (2006): Jul 4; 34-41.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16818906?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed