Healthy living doesn't always have to be an elaborate project. These small improvements won't even take you ten minutes.
1. Shower cold (1 minute)
It probably sounds familiar:regular cold showers (temperature 10 to 15 degrees) provides a list of health benefits. This improves your immune system and the functioning of organs, breathing and heart rate. And it stimulates fat burning:the cold water jet stimulates the production of brown fat in your body and burns white fat. Brown fat regulates your body heat, in contrast to white fat, which mainly serves as storage for excess pounds. You don't have to give up the entire shower right away, start with a cold shower for a minute.
2. Use a clean towel (2 minutes) Put your towel in the laundry basket after three uses, advises health professor Kelly Reynolds of the University of Arizona. After drying, dead skin cells end up in the fibers of your towel. And that is what bacteria feast on, which in turn can cause illness and infections. Hang towels out so that they can dry quickly, preferably in a dry, heated room. Put your washcloth in the wash after using it once. This stays wet longer than a towel, allowing bacteria to run their course even more.
3. Give your mouth a big fuck (5 minutes)
Brushing your teeth is fine, but a major service is better.
4. Free in the morning (10 minutes) Morning sex is a natural anti-stress agent, ensures healthier nails, skin and hair and is a more effective remedy for headaches than aspirin. This is thanks to the shot of hormones that are released during sex, such as estrogen. Other hormones it gives you are noradrenaline (sedative) and endorphins (painkiller). And last but not least:sex strengthens your immune system. As soon as the heat is turned up between the sheets, your body makes antibodies (immunoglobulin A), which reduces the risk of colds and flu. Evening sex does the same for your health as morning sex, except that the senses are not as awake in the early morning, which gives them a boost and you experience the sensation more intensely. You will have fun with that for the rest of the day, because you feel more connected with your lover. This is confirmed in a study by the University of Cincinnati. In fact, the beneficial effects would be noticeable up to seven days after sex.
5. Read labels (1 minute per label)
It requires some knowledge (and sometimes reading glasses), but then you know what ends up in your shopping basket. Not enough time to decipher every label? Then make a quick selection and choose products that contain no more than seven ingredients. The longer a product's ingredient list, the less natural it is and often the less healthy. Or view the first ingredient in the list, of which the product contains the most.
6. Use your other hand (3 minutes)
Brush your teeth, lock the door, ladle soup:try this with your other hand. By doing routine actions in a different way than you are used to, you put your brain to work and create new brain connections. If you don't stimulate your brain, your thinking ability will deteriorate faster than your age. But those who challenge themselves cognitively intellectually every week and break through fixed patterns would slow down that process.
7. Chew often (35 times) (20 seconds) Those who eat fast are more likely to be overweight and have digestive problems. By chewing, your saliva gets going, containing enzymes that help with the digestion of carbohydrates in particular. If you swallow your food too quickly, you will miss the first digestion station and your body will be less prepared for the food that is coming. This means that digestion takes longer and costs more energy than if you chew well. Chewing about 35 times on one bite would lead to twelve percent less calorie intake than if you grind 15 times or less. Blood tests of the test subjects show that if you eat more slowly, less of the hunger hormone ghrelin enters your blood. This means you feel full faster and eat less.
8. Listen to music (4 minutes)
According to British research, your body produces endorphins and dopamine when you listen to music. Your memory would be better because the sounds stimulate the area in the brain of long-term memory (hippocampus). And by listening to classical music, your spatial awareness can increase by no less than 9 IQ points. A nice tune also lowers your stress level. Another study shows that patients who listen to music produce less of the stress hormone cortisol than patients who take antidepressants. And if you have music on in the background while you work, your concentration, focus and attention will increase. The effect is greater with instrumental music, as lyrics can distract from what you're doing. Not a fan of a piano sonata? It doesn't matter to your health if you think the music is stupid, although it will brighten your mood less of course. So are you tense or worried? Turn on your favorite playlist and add a little Mozart to it.
