Lifestyle can affect human health. Specific risk factors are associated with cancer and coronary heart disease. Changes in lifestyle may also be associated with a reduced risk of contracting these conditions.

Risk can be described as a probability of getting a disease due to an action. For example smoking is a risk factor associated with getting lung cancer because you are 15 times more likely to develop lung cancer if you smoke.

Risk factors of cancer:

• Smoking
• Bad diet/obesity
• Lack of exercise
• Exposure to UV rays

Risk factors of coronary heart disease:

• Smoking
• Bad diet/obesity
• High blood pressure (e.g. from stress)
• Blood cholesterol

By changing your lifestyle so that you are not doing the things that put you at risk of the disease, the risk of getting the disease is lowered. However, diseases cannot be eliminated by changing lifestyle because factors like age and genes can increase the risk.