Sleeping at night with the light on could give you breast cancer!

Sleeping at night with the lights on can not only add to your energy consumption, but also wake up breast cancer cells, a study suggests. Exposure to light at night, which shuts off night-time production of the hormone melatonin, renders breast cancer completely resistant to tamoxifen, a widely-used breast cancer drug, the findings showed. 'High melatonin levels at night put breast cancer cells to 'sleep' by turning off key growth mechanisms. These cells are vulnerable to tamoxifen. But when the lights are on and melatonin is suppressed, breast cancer cells 'wake up' and ignore tamoxifen,' said David Blask from the Tulane University in the US.

The researchers investigated the role of melatonin on the effectiveness of tamoxifen in combating human breast cancer cells implanted in rats. Melatonin by itself delayed the formation of tumours and significantly slowed their growth but tamoxifen caused a dramatic regression of tumours in animals with either high night-time levels of melatonin during complete darkness or those receiving melatonin supplementation during dim light at night exposure. (Read: How to do a breast self-examination to check for cancer)

These findings have potentially enormous implications for women being treated with tamoxifen and also regularly exposed to light at night due to sleep problems, working night shifts or exposed to light from computer and TV screens. The study appeared in the journal Cancer Research. (Read: 'Breast cancer is not preventable' (Expert interview))

Here are some tips to detect breast cancer

Get a mammogram when you are younger, rather than when you are older:

Over 40? Its time you got regular mammograms. According to the American Cancer Society women should begin getting annual mammograms at the age of 40. This is because the early detection of breast cancer offers the best chance for a cure.

Choose the right man for the job!

You can get a mammography at any hospital but getting the right diagnosis after the test is what is worth its weight in gold. Choose a doctor who is experienced in reading mammography and has worked with a number of patients previously. His/her experience gives them the added advantage of identifying any problems in your reports. This is where an inexperienced physician may fail.

Pick digital over conventional

A digital mammography is much more accurate when it comes to detecting any problems in women with dense breast tissue especially found in women below the age of 40. Moreover digital scans do a better job of detecting cancers when compared to the traditional film mammography.

Schedulethe date foryour test carefully

most women put off going for a mammography because they are scared about how painful the test is likely to be. But remember that a mammography should not be painful. To help reduce the amount of pain try to schedule your test after your menses (monthly periods), so that the breast tissues are less sensitive. During the test if you do experience pain and discomfort, be sure to tell the technician about it so that he/she can help you feel more comfortable. If the test has really gone off badly, you could try taking over-the-counter medication to help relieve some of the pain and inflammation. Read more about 10 tips to detect breast cancer early

Photo source: Getty images

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• Am I cured of breast cancer? What tests can I do to check?
• Cancer your most common queries answered by an expert
• 10 Promising Medical Research from 2013
• Cancer in women awareness and recognising the symptoms early is the key

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