How can we make positive changes without spending a lot of time, money, or effort? The answer is to use tiny health hacks. Here are 10 health hacks that you probably haven’t heard of, but should definitely try.
1. Take a cold shower
You might think that cold showers are only for masochists, but they actually have many benefits for your health. Try a different mix of them for best results. To get used to the cold water, you can start by alternating between hot and cold water, or switch to cold water for the last few minutes of your shower. You’ll feel refreshed and invigorated afterwards.
2. Try intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting is a way of eating that involves cycling between periods of eating and fasting. It can help you lose weight, lower your blood sugar and cholesterol levels, reduce inflammation, and enhance your brain function. There are different ways to do intermittent fasting, but one of the easiest is the 16:8 method. This means that you eat within an 8-hour window (for example, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and fast for the remaining 16 hours. You can drink water, coffee, or tea during your fasting period.
I follow the 5:2 diet. I eat normally for five days and then fast for two days. It’s not as bad as it sounds. I don’t starve myself on those days; I just eat sensibly.” — Gisele Bündchen, supermodel and environmental activist
3. Eat without distractions
How often do you eat while watching TV, scrolling through social media, or working on your laptop? If you’re like most people, you probably do this a lot. But this habit can make you overeat, digest poorly, and enjoy your food less. Mindful eating is the opposite: it’s the practice of paying full attention to your food and how it makes you feel. When you eat mindfully, you naturally slow down, eat less, and savor every bite. To start eating mindfully, remove any distractions from your eating environment and focus on your food.
4. Breathe into your belly
Most of us breathe shallowly into our chests, which can cause stress, anxiety, and fatigue. Breathing deeply into our bellies can have the opposite effect: it can calm our nervous system, lower our blood pressure and heart rate, and increase our oxygen intake.
5. Use baking soda as a natural produce scrub
We all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us, but they can also contain harmful pesticides and bacteria on their skins. A simple solution is to use baking soda as a natural produce scrub. Baking soda can help dissolve dirt and residue from your produce and make them safer to eat. Just add a teaspoon of baking soda to a bowl of water and soak your produce for a few minutes, then rinse them well.
6. Transform your water bottle to drink more water
Drinking enough water is essential for our health, but many of us struggle to stay hydrated throughout the day. One way to make drinking water more appealing is to transform your water bottle with some natural flavorings. You can add fruits, herbs, spices, or even vegetables to your water bottle and let them infuse for a few hours or overnight. Some delicious combinations are lemon and mint, cucumber and basil, strawberry and kiwi, or ginger and turmeric.
7. Meal prep your way to healthy lunches
Eating out for lunch every day can be expensive, unhealthy, and boring. A better alternative is to meal prep your own lunches at home and bring them to work or school. Meal prepping can save you time, money, and calories while giving you more control over what you eat. You can prepare a batch of salads, sandwiches, wraps, bowls, or soups on the weekend and store them in containers in the fridge or freezer. Then you can just grab one in the morning and enjoy a healthy lunch later.
8. Take a stretch break
Sitting for long periods of time can be bad for our posture, muscles, joints, and mood. Stretching regularly can help counteract these negative effects by improving our blood flow, flexibility, mobility, and relaxation. Stretching can also prevent injuries, reduce pain, and enhance our performance in physical activities. To take a stretch break, you can follow some simple online videos or apps, or just do some basic stretches for your neck, shoulders, back, hips, and legs. Try to stretch for at least 10 minutes every hour or two.
9. Try Tabata
If you want to get fit fast, but don’t have much time to exercise, Tabata might be the perfect workout for you. Tabata is a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that involves doing 20 seconds of intense exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated eight times for a total of four minutes. Tabata can burn more calories than traditional cardio, boost your metabolism, and improve your endurance. You can do Tabata with any exercise that gets your heart rate up, such as jumping jacks, squats, burpees, or push-ups.
10. Breathe into a paper bag
Have you ever felt dizzy, lightheaded, or tingling in your hands or feet? These symptoms could be caused by hyperventilation, which means breathing too fast or too deeply. Hyperventilation can occur when we’re stressed, anxious, or panicking. One way to stop hyperventilation is to breathe into a paper bag. This helps rebalance the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our blood and calm our breathing. Just hold a paper bag over your mouth and nose and breathe slowly and deeply for a few minutes.
You don’t have to do them all at once; just pick one that appeals to you and make it a habit before moving on to another one. Soon you’ll be feeling better every day!
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” — Lao Tzu
Invest in your health to get a have real ROI out of life.
