Strange health tricks that work

Eating cake first thing in the morning may actually be good for you

Most methods to improve your health are pretty clear-cut: to lose weight, eat less and exercise more; to boost energy, get more sleep; to prevent dehydration, drink more water. Others, however, are completely counterintuitive. As compiled by Reader’s Digest, Health, Men’s Fitness, Women’s Health and Shape magazine, the following tips really do work — but they may leave you scratching your head.

For healthy teeth, don’t brush after eating

We all love to freshen our mouths immediately post meals, but you might want to reconsider. Don’t brush your teeth right after meals and drinks, especially if you indulged in acidic goodies. Acidic foods, like citrus fruits, juices, tomatoes, soda (both diet and regular), can soften tooth enamel “like wet sandstone,” says Howard R. Gamble, president of the Academy of General Dentistry. Brushing your teeth at this stage can speed up the acid’s effect on your enamel and erode the layer underneath. Gamble suggests waiting at least an hour before brushing.

Sleep in a cold room

A fairly chilly bedroom could improve both your sleep and metabolism. An article in Obesity Reviews noted that the average indoor temperature has ticked upward during the past few decades. Researchers found that sleeping in a warm room stops the body from experiencing as many dips in temperature and thus thwarting from having to stoke its own calorie-burning furnace. Subjects automatically lost 10 pounds in a year, by sleeping in a chilly room.”Sleeping in a chillier room is a great way to force your body to heat itself up for hours,” says Louis J. Aronne, director of the Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Centre in New York City. “You will burn calories just by keeping yourself warm which increases metabolism, improving overall health.”

Light a vanilla-scented candle after dinner

The Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York found that people exposed to the particular aroma reported 63 per cent less anxiety and claustrophobia than those who were not exposed to the fragrance. A study at Tubingen University in Germany also revealed that vanilla reduced the startle reflex in humans. Because of its soothing properties, vanilla scents help promote restful sleep. The vanilla aroma has also been shown to dampen dessert cravings so you don’t feel like noshing on empty calories. One group of 160 volunteers actually lost an average of 4.5 pounds each in a month by wearing vanilla-scented patches.

Drink a hot beverage to cool off

Do you assume that an iced coffee or cold glasses of soft drinks will cool you off? Think again. Researchers at the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Kinetics found that drinking a hot beverage on a hot, dry day, can help your body stay cool and stabilise a healthy body temperature. Cultures where drinking hot tea in warm weather is the norm, like in Pakistan would have to agree. When you sip a hot drink, your body senses the change in temperature and increases your sweat production. Then, as the sweat evaporates from your skin, you cool off naturally. Next time you’re sizzling in the heat, grab a chai to cool down.

Surround yourself with blue

There’s a good reason you won’t see fast-food restaurants decorated in blue: the colour functions as an appetite suppressant and contributes to mindful eating. Researchers have found that people eat 33 per cent less in a blue room; the bluish light that results evidently makes food look less appealing and you eat just to satisfy hunger. So eat on blue plates, dress in blue while eating out or use a blue tablecloth at home to prevent yourself from overeating and falling prey to gastric influx and heaviness. Avoid red, yellow, and orange; studies find they encourage overeating.

Exercise when you’re tired

After a long, exhausting workday, exercising sounds like the last thing you’d want to get done, but getting a sweat session will in fact actually rejuvenate you. Fatigue along with moodiness and depression improved after a single 30-minute moderate intensity exercise session, according to a study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. “Everything we do uses oxygen, so when you exercise it helps you work more efficiently and you don’t tire as easily and thereby feel better on the inside,” says Mark Nutting, fitness director of SACO Sport & Fitness in Saco, Maine. “You also function better mentally, giving rise to a healthy and alert mind.”

Ditch antibacterial soap to prevent illness

Reaching for the soap bottle labelled “antibacterial” won’t necessarily reduce your risk of getting sick or passing illness to others. In fact, there is no evidence that antibacterial soaps are more effective than regular ones. What’s shocking is that long-term exposure to some ingredients in these products, such as triclosan, may pose major health risks like bacterial resistance or hormonal effects, according to a 2014 FDA statement. The state of Minnesota, US, has banned triclosan-containing antibacterial soaps altogether, which goes into full effect in 2017.

Eat cake for breakfast

Eating cake first thing in the morning may sound like the worst diet advice ever, but researchers found that “obese participants who ate a breakfast high in protein and carbohydrates that included a dessert were better able to stick to their diet and keep the pounds off longer than participants who ate a low-carb, low-calorie breakfast that did not include sweets.” Keri Gans, R.D., a registered dietician and author of The Small Change Diet says that allowing yourself a treat in the a.m. helps curb your cravings for sweets later in the day and promotes overall wellness while reducing your risk of diabetes. Morning is the best time of the day to indulge in sweets because your metabolism is working at its fastest and your body burns it off by the end of the day.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th,  2015.

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