All of us are prone to unintentionally erring in our hectic, everyday-life schedules.
Some of these lifestyle mistakes are highly detrimental to our health but can be easily avoided, once we understand their root cause and the extent of damage they induce. Six of the most common lifestyle mistakes have been explained below:
Brushing Teeth
What We Do: Everyone knows about the importance of dental care. It is no secret that stained teeth, bad breath and painful gums can ruin your social and personal life. Most of realize that brushing at night and mornings is central to keeping our dental health in top condition—however, this isn't even half of the real story!
What is the problem? The problem lies in tooth-brushing too much and not doing the supplementary things. Hard brushing is why people tend to develop weaker gums and widened gaps between their teeth. Brushing harder doesn’t mean better teeth, so stop waging a war against your pearlies!
To stop the deteriorating condition of your oral health, you need to floss. This should be ideally done after each, major meal but obviously that is too impractical. However, nightly flossing is essential for maintaining cavity-free teeth. Do you recall the age-old “kulla” that is now supposed to be a rural, uneducated thing to do?
Well, this is the easiest way to get rid of the debris between your teeth. Further, branded mouthwashes cannot prevent dental diseases in the manner that is advertised. These are more like dental care accessories. The real deal lies in gently brushing twice and flossing.
Sitting
What We Do: Nobody really cares about what the seating position is like until that gut-wrenching, stabbing pain in the neck or back surfaces. Until then, we are all happy twisting and bending in our chairs as we please.
What is the problem? Most of us slouch too much. Whether it is due to sheer boredom or the weight of our daily schedules, daytime laziness or habitually poor postures, we all tend to slump when sitting. This is laying the foundation for a future of back-related problems.
Many people still continue to use chairs that have 90 degree-angled backs. These straight-back chairs aren't the best choice for our spine. The spine needs to be supported in a basic way to ensure that it can keep the body balanced. Thus, office chairs that don’t have any curvature to support the spine are to be blamed for upper and lower back problems that have become common.
Our bodies weren’t tuned for sitting in the chair for such longer periods, bent over the computer. Sitting for hours, inclined or positioned at an odd angle is the reason why physiotherapists and orthopedist clinics are flourishing.
Pooping
What We Do: Yes, we all need to do this in the morning to get a sense of relief. There are no rules about doing this very basic activity but surprisingly, most people seem to do it wrongly. The human indoor plumbing is such that pooping comes naturally but if done without getting the basics right, over an extended period, it can lead to serious health problems.
What is the problem? The major problem is the modern toilet that is essentially just a modified seat. It is not shaped in conjunction with how our lower body has been naturally configured. The older, Indian toilet that made us bend on our knees was probably the best. However, modern sensibilities took over and we are compromising our health in the process. The human body was meant to squat in the field—this is just how our lower limbs are shaped. Squatting sets the angle right and removes the choke we induce on our anal-rectal passage. This is the reason behind the increasing number of people suffering from hemorrhoids and varicose veins around the anal region.
Bathing
What We Do: Yes, this is going to sound stupid, as if I am trying to create stories. Everybody has a bath every day, well most of us, and we all know how to do it, right? Wrong!! We have always been told to use lots of soap, get it foaming and use loads of water to rinse ourselves. Hot and cold water seem to be the two, most favorable choices. We have been told to scrub ourselves hard to get rid of the filth that settles upon the human skin.
What is the problem? Excessive scrubbing, using water from high speed showers and using water, which is too hot or cold, are all contributory factors towards stripping the skin’s outer, protective layer. This means we are making ourselves more prone to skin infections. We are allowing the free radicals to attack our skin more and this raises the chances of developing diseases. Many of the modern body cleaning lotions are essentially just hard, abrasive agents. They might induce the feeling of having cleaned yourself thoroughly but basically you have just scrubbed-off too much of what is supposed to be a natural part of your body.
In super-specialty hospitals, surgeons are asked not to shower before they are about to operate. This is because the hard bathing methods tend to create debris of skin that is continuously shred throughout the day.
Breathing
What We Do: Those who are familiar with the basics of yoga would realize what is correct breathing all about and how it differs from the usual breathing methods used by most people. The fact is that not many of us know what is a “breathing method” or if there is any method at all to breathe! None of us realizes that the way we breathe dictates our overall immunity, our stress levels and our aging tendency!
What is the problem? The problem is that all of us are shallow, chest breathers. We tend to inhale and exhale by extending the chest, up and down. Some of these wrong breathing methods are also showcased in health programs aired on TV. Breathing and yogic experts know that breathing is supposed to stress upon the lungs and the diaphragm. This means that our stomach should be moving in and out more while breathing. By breathing via the chest, we are using just about half of our lung capacity. We are creating an oxygen deficiency in our body. Chest breathing makes us more vulnerable to suffer from anxiety and fatigue.
As it turns out, Babies are a lot smarter than us when it comes to breathing. If you have ever watched a baby sleep on its back, you will know how that cute little tummy seems to move up and down—this is the right way to breathe!
Sleeping
What We Do: Some of us watch TV or read, others shut out all forms of artificial light while others pop a few sleeping pills to ensure they have a good night of sleep. This is the norm across the world, where the average sleeping patterns suggest some seriously disturbing facts.
What is the problem? We are trying to create solutions to a problem that actually doesn’t exist. Yes, if you have some sort of anxiety or stress-related problem, sleeping is going to be disturbed. However, every person is not essentially a mentally- disturbed individual. Most folks just have wrong sleeping habits. By doing the simplest of things such as eating less sugar and carbs after seven in the evening, developing a regular sleep pattern, staying away from stimulatory TV programs and not being hooked on to the PC during the evening hours, we can increase our chances of sleeping well.
Eating a lighter dinner which doesn’t contain too much of spices and avoiding desserts ensures that our metabolism slows down sufficiently to help us feel sleepy. Most importantly, if you still cannot sleep, don’t just lie on the bed and obsess about your life. Get up and do something that interests you or is sure to get you tired. Don’t try to enforce the sleep, let it come to you.
These are just some of the common, lifestyle errors committed by most people. The effort here is to sensitize readers towards avoidable mistakes that can help in improving their overall Health.
By Julius Choudhury
