Positive thinking and happiness may protect against the disease, but traumatic events like divorce and bereavement may increase the chances of developing breast cancer, a research study has found.

Two or more negative life events increased the chances of the disease by 62 per cent, the study carried out in Israel said.

A team at the Ben-Gurion University of Negev, in Beer Sheva, Israel surveyed 255 breast cancer patients and 367 healthy women aged between 25 and 45 who were questioned about their life experiences.

Study leader Dr Ronit Peled, from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the university said: “Young women who have been exposed to a number of negative life events should be considered an ‘at-risk’ group for breast cancer and should be treated accordingly.”

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This study blows my mind.  You wouldn’t think that unhappiness would have such a drastic effect on your liklihood to develop such a specific disease, would you?

I believe that the medical community has been saying that stress and unhappiness can contribute to the development of all sorts of sicknesses for years, though.  I wonder, do happiness and unhappiness affect your potential to develop all diseases accross the board, or do they have a greater effect on breast cancer?

I also wonder, how does this affect a man’s chances of developing breast cancer?

-MJ