Despite the typical grinning, half-haphazardly posed college girl that I appear to be in my multitude of Facebook photos, I wasn’t always the happy-go-lucky, live-and-let-live type of woman that I am today. I struggled with tons of issues during high school — with my family, with my boyfriend and mostly, with myself. I came to college determined to shed that so-called disgusting “D” word”: depression.

I was miserable. I was awkward. And I know now, that I may have even been putting myself at risk for a horrible disease.

Recent literature released by Dutch researchers showed a link between depression and the risk of breast cancer. Although the study didn’t find that depression led to the development of breast cancer, it did show that, over time, those who suffered from depression had a 12 percent higher chance of developing breast cancer. The study; however, did not find the same to be true with other cancers, such as lung, colon or prostate.

Even if the odds of there being a real link between the two are small, it is still just another reason to find your own route to happiness. Check out more information about the study here.