Strange-But-True Ways To Boost Your Health

When it comes to health care, things are a little scary right now. For the average person, healthcare costs are expected to rise yet again this year by another 6.9 percent, unless Donald Trump manages to do something miraculous. Most people on average incomes won’t be able to pay their deductibles to access their healthcare in the future, meaning that many could go without treatment.

 

As floridamedicareadvantageplans.com reports, some people aren’t covered at all, meaning that many seniors could go without care unless they take out the right cover. The crisis in the healthcare market has gotten a lot of people thinking: what if there was something that they could do to improve their health that wasn’t the usual “eat less and exercise more?”

 

It turns out that there are actually very many strange methods to improve your health, help you get better sleep, improve your hydration and generally keep you in good shape for longer. Here are some ideas.

 

Strange Health Tip #1: Drink Coffee For A Better Nap

 

A Japanese study decided to test which was better: a twenty-minute nap, or a twenty-minute nap where participants drank coffee beforehand.

It turned out that the people who took the 20-minute nap and had a coffee beforehand felt more alert and ready to face the day than those that didn’t.

 

The reason was because it takes coffee about 20 minutes to have its effect. Once the Japanese participants woke up, the caffeine kicked in and improvement their wakefulness and alertness.

 

Strange Health Tip #2: Don’t Brush After Eating

 

It turns out that it’s actually a bad idea to brush your teeth right after meals, especially if what you ate was acidic in some way. Acidic foods include things like fizzy drinks, tomatoes, and citrus fruits. According to Howard Gamble, president of the Academy of General Dentistry, after your teeth have been exposed to acid, they are like wet sandstone. Even gentle brushing can cause them to break down, exposing the soft dentin underneath.

 

Gamble says that to protect the teeth, you need to brush 30 to 60 minutes after you’ve finished eating, as this will allow the acid to leave the mouth.

 

Strange Health Tip #3: Gain Weight To Go Down A Dress Size

 

No, your eyes don’t deceive you. Gaining weight really is the best way to go down a dress size. But why?

It turns out that women who exercise tend to weigh more than those who don’t, especially those women who do weights. This is because muscle weighs more than fat.

 

The cool thing about muscle is the way that it is distributed around the body, says Mark Nutting, a fitness director at a gym in Maine. He says that when women work out, they lose size from their stomachs and thighs, allowing them to fit into smaller clothing, but they gain weight, thanks to increased muscle mass on the rest of their body. Often a 150 lb woman who does regular exercise is able to fit into the same dress size as a 140 lb woman who doesn’t do any exercise.

 

Strange Health Tip #4: Cut Down Your Calories By Eating More

 

You might think that the best way to lose weight is to eat less. But it turns out that nature is a funny thing. Some of the least calorie-dense foods on the planet, like marrow and beetroot, also take up the most space.

 

Amy Goodson, a dietitian from Texas, says that the best way to lose weight is to eat a bigger volume of food when you feel peckish. A bag of chips that tries to claim that it is healthy because it only contains “99 calories” won’t do much to fill you up and may actually leave you feeling even hungrier. A bowl of strawberries, on the other hand, will help you fill up for longer.

 

Goodson recommends that women who find themselves getting hungry around 11 am in the morning or between 4 pm and 6 pm at night focus on getting healthy proteins. Peanut butter with apple, she says, contains chemicals that will make you feel more sated than if you just go with low-calorie junk food. Even though peanut butter contains a lot of calories, she says that it helps reduce your overall calorie intake.

 

Strange Health Tip #5: Don’t Drink Energy Drinks When You’re Tired

 

Energy drinks are supposed to be able to give you alertness. As a result, they contain a bunch of stimulants, including caffeine. Some energy drinks contain as much as five times as much caffeine as regular coffee.

 

The problem with these drinks is that the energy they give you is fleeting, says Goodson. Yes, they’ll make you feel hyper for a bit and might give you extra focus, but they’ll leave you feeling anxious and irritable for the rest of the day.

There’s also the issue that some energy drinks contain more than 50 grams of sugar per can. That equate to around 13 teaspoons or double what the government recommends people should consume. The result of all that sugar is usually mental fogginess and an inability to concentrate.

 

Strange Health Tip #6: Drink Water To Combat Bloating

 

Many people think that drinking water will only make bloating worse. But according to James Lee, a gastroenterologist speaking on health.com, the opposite is true. Many women get into trouble when they switch to a high-fibre diet but don’t up their fluid intake. It turns out that high-fiber diets require a higher fluid intake to keep the bowels moving properly. Fiber soaks up a lot of water and can cause food to get trapped in the stomach, leading to unpleasant side effects. When gut motility is reduced, you end up with gas and bloating, says Lee.

 

Strange Health Tip #7: Ditch Diet Soda To Lose Weight

Diet soda is supposed to be calorie-free. And it is. There’s just one problem. Scientists have found out that it impedes weight loss. First, it changes the composition of bacteria in our guts, which is associated with weight gain. And secondly, it can give us a desire to eat more sweet food, bumping up calories elsewhere. Goodson’s advice is to avoid the stuff like the plague.