We all know that radiation is bad for our health. We, seniors, are aware that it can cause irreversible damage to various parts of our body. Depending on dosage—or so our doctor says—it can even be fatal causing instantaneous death to the person exposed to it. In layman’s term, once a person is exposed to radiation, it attacks the body’s own immune system putting the body at a greater risk of infection. It also kills nerve cells and blood vessels that are small enough not to withstand the onslaught of radiation—those that are particularly concentrated in the brain and heart area. One of the most popular effects of radiation must be its ability to make someone sterile just by constant or regular exposure to it. Adding to the list is of course, its close association with cancer.
According to American Cancer Society, there are many types of radiation. (See full article here:  Radiation Exposure and Cancer) There’s the kind you get from the sun which a simple—and faithful—application of sunblock everyday can ward off. They are the ever popular UVA, UVB and UVC or ultraviolet radiation. Then there’s electromagnetic radiation which both the sun and the earth emit. Your radio and mobile phones also have their own variation of radiation to offer. So does your microwave, which I think you know that by now. It is important to know that although all these abovementioned types fall into the same category, they don’t pose too much health risk in a person’s body. However, the extent of damage that an exposure can do to a body depends on this type alone:  the ionizing radiation. Unfortunately, this type of radiation can be found in hospitals and other mad-made sources.
Just a brief explanation, ionizing radiation is the type which is capable of altering your DNA composition. It is strong enough to damage your cells. While ionizing radiation is proven to cause cancer, strangely, this is also the type of radiation used for cancer therapy.
What scares me though is the amount of ionizing radiation we seniors are subjected to everytime we submit ourselves to tests and other preventive health measures. Even a simple x-ray uses ionizing radiation as well as those poor workers who are now retired but were constantly exposed to ionizing radiation during their years of work.
In a senior’s life, it is not anymore unusual to be subjected to various imaging tests, all using the ever powerful ionizing radiation. Nonetheless, doctors tend to request imaging tests more than what is deemed safe which only put seniors to higher risk of having cancer in the near future. Granted that these imaging tests are essential in making a diagnosis, it seems that it is now upon us to deny them if we’ve already had enough tests to last us a lifetime!