Some Simple Healthy Habits |
I have seen people suffer from heart problems when they least expected it. I would say I was 'lucky' that I had a lot of health problems like tendonitis, knee pain, etc at a relatively young age i.e. a couple of years ago. I did some research at sites likes health.yahoo.com and realised that being overweight is one of the primary causes of most diseases.You may not necessarily *look* overweight, but consult a height/weight scale to be sure. Also, these habits would be preventive too. This is a compilation of information from various sources, its quite likely that
you already know many of the things that are here, but there's a good chance
that you might pick up atleast one new habit thats useful.
Many of us lack the time or discipline to consistently follow any of the conventional ways of maintaining health. No doubt we should nevertheless give it our best shot.However, I am not writing about those methods... I am listing three simple value-adding *habits* which can easily be incorporated into one's routine.
Water helps burn fat
You will also get rid of extra salt. (I came to know recently that drinking warm water with honey and lemon in the
mornings is highly recommended though I havent tried it out) Brushing teeth at night I find many of my friends lack this habit - it seems to be more a part of western culture. Believe me... I know its importance because I got so many silver fillings in my teeth (plus a root canal... ouch) that a customs official might suspect I carry some kind of weapon in my mouth every time I pass through a metal detector! I used to hate brushing teeth at night since it would spoil my lovely drowsiness and I wouldn't get sleep till late in the night. However once it became a habit, I can't sleep very easily if I havent brushed my teeth!!
Its also important to mouthwash after eating anything, atleast with plain water... its just a simple 10 second activity! 4 Rules of Eating
Breathing To breathe properly, it is important that you also maintain a proper posture. Look carefully around you and you will observe the apathy with regard to this vital statistic of life. Right now, stop and check on how you are sitting or standing. Slouched, are you?!? If you exist all-folded-up, you’ll restrict your breathing, squash your internal organ functioning, and generally limit the effectiveness of your clarity, awareness levels, and overall perspectives in life. When you breathe, remember to keep your spine straight and upright. The head should be held relaxed but looking straight ahead with the chin only slightly upraised. If the whole vertebral column is taut and rigid, moving upward from the coccyx (the tailbone at the base of the spine), seek to loosen and relax each of the many vertebrae turn by turn, all the way to the crown of your head. Simultaneously, lengthen up the front of your body from the pubic bone to the upper portion of the breastbone. Never sit with a crooked spine and squeezed lungs. As you breathe, deep and slow, remember that your diaphragm should (the area just below your ribs; the muscular partition between your chest and your stomach) expand with every inflow, and should contract with every outflow of breath. Throughout the day, cultivate the habit of doing spot checks on your breathing process. Speak with your diaphragm, and encourage it to expand a little bit more than it normally does. When you breathe in, the region of the abdomen must expand, and when we breathe out, it must contract; so many of us do just the reverse. Make a conscious and then unconscious habit of this and see the effects it quickly weaves into your life. (dont have the exact URL... one of the Speaking Tree articles in http://spirituality.indiatimes.com ) Different kinds of food
Different people have different opinions of which food falls under which category... but you get the general idea! I think one observation if you've been to both North and South India, is that in North India people are much more rough and aggressive whereas in South India people (on an average) are relatively much more mild. I suspect this could be because of the spices used in North Indian food, compared to the relatively more bland food in South India. Also if you compare the temperament of people in North Karnataka (who eat chillies for lunch!) and those in South Karnataka... this difference is visible too. Overeating to avoid wastage of food Most of us Indians know the value of food and don't like to waste it. I have seen many situations where people, including me, have overeaten just to avoid the food already on their plate going to waste. My friend gave me an excellent suggestion... before putting anything on your plate, make an estimate of exactly how much you're going to eat. Do not be absent minded at the time of putting something on your plate, whether you are helping yourself or when somebody is serving you. Be assertive enough to say a polite no, no matter how much the host may try to persuade you. Eye improvement techniques "Fundamental rule: Listen to your eyes. Whether they are sore, tearing, itchy or tired, they are sending you a message. Listen to them. If your eyes hurt when you have been working at the computer for too long, stop and take a break. Be receptive to your eyes." ~ excerpt from the below site. http://sunflower.singnet.com.sg/~hanwen/exercise.htm http://sunflower.singnet.com.sg/~hanwen/eyetips.htm http://sunflower.singnet.com.sg/~hanwen/bates.htm The technique of Palming described there (or here http://www.seeing.org ) is very relaxing. Another relaxing technique is to splash cold water on the eyes (with the eyes closed) every now and then. This was from a book Eye Care by Dr. Gala (not 100% sure of the name... its a very thin book with a yellow cover costing Rs 15) which has many useful techniques and excercises. Another tip from the same book: hot water on the head weakens eyesight and should be avoided as far as possible.
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