"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day", Mother used to say, and she was right! As the first meal of the day, breakfast gives your body a kick start of energy to begin the day.
When we sleep at night our body functions in a "low energy mode", and the energy resources mostly come from our blood sugar. Henceforth, when we wake up in the morning our blood sugar tends to be low, and we feel hungry. That's where breakfast comes in, to replenish our energy resources and give us a head start for the day.
Additionally, the quality of the breakfast matters. A proper breakfast should be rich in carbohydrates that are easy to digest, to allow a quick rise in blood sugar. However, it should be low in fat containing products, as the digestion of fats would burn more energy and possibly make us feel tired.
We've surely all experienced (more than once, at least) the urge to jump on a tasty meal without washing our hands. More than the average population gives in to that urgency and omit to practice this "oh so easy" health habit.
The truth is, it is important to always keep your hands clean, because you never know when you are going to need them! Throughout the day, we get into contact with different objects of relative cleanliness: our cell phones in our pockets, our handbags, car keys, office documents, bathroom door, etc. You name it. And with every encounter, our hands innocently pick up germs as we go along. These germs could end up in our foods, mouth or eyes.
Henceforth, keeping our hands clean should become a health habit. And to even make it easier, why not consider walking with a pocket hands sanitizer?
Why is your mom so peculiar about having you eating all your vegetables? Because she knows they are what is best for you. Yes, mommy always knows best. Vegetables are the key ingredients of a healthy diet, and this for several reasons.
First of all, they are naturally low in fats and calories, and some of them have no cholesterol at all! What does that mean for you? A lower risk of developing hypertension, heart diseases or stroke.
Secondly, vegetables are rich in potassium (especially sweet potatoes, spinach, beans) which helps to maintain a balanced blood pressure. Vegetables also abound of dietary fibers which improve your digestion and bowel function, decrease the risk of constipation and associated diseases. The folic acid contained in your green leafy vegetables is useful for cellular division, especially for red blood cells. The vitamin C that they contain helps with wound healing and dental health, and vitamin A contributes to a healthy vision and a healthy skin!
So as you can see, vegetables improve your health in so many ways, and the best way to thank them is by eating them!
Kids tend to believe that sitting closer to the TV makes them see the images better, but this is actually the opposite.
The closer you sit in front of a large screen, the more your eyes are exposed to a wider surface, and the less focused the image becomes. You might be able to see images clearer at first, but after a while as the pupil dilates because of the increasing amount of light that penetrates through it, the image becomes blurry and the eyes have a hard time focusing on the image. This could cause watering of the eyes as well as mild headaches.
If such behavior continues, your visual acuity might be temporarily (or permanently) affected.
It is so much easier to simply let go of yourself while sitting on your chair, isn't it? Right! But don't do it. Bad posture when sitting can permanently affect the curvature of your vertebral column, especially at a young age.
The reason is, as your bones are progressively growing and your vertebral column is being solidified, any improper positioning may cause your vertebral column to assume that shape and maintain it for the rest of your life. This is the reason why children are encouraged to practice maintaining adequate sitting positions at school, in front of the computer or even while sitting at the dinner table.
We tend to believe that the louder the music in our ears, the better the feeling. This might be correct according to each person, but one thing is sure for everyone: loud music has the propensity to cause ear damage and irreversible hearing loss.
Unfortunately, we live in a fast-paced age where we tend to be satisfied by the extremes: extremely hot coffee, extremely cold water, extremely loud music. The problem is, even though our generations are changing, the human anatomy and our body limits are not. The human ear is capable of perceiving sounds (as vibrations) of frequencies ranging from 20 to 20,000 Hz. Sound frequencies higher than 20,000 Hz cause increasingly louder vibrations of the hair cells (stereocilia) which could eventually get damaged, a process leading to hearing loss.
It's fizzy, it's bubbly, but it's not so good for your health. So listen to your mom, don't drink so much soda!
Sodas are also referred to as carbonated drinks, beverages in which carbon dioxide is added to improve the taste, the texture or both. The problem is, carbon dioxide is a gas that we normally exhale through our nostrils as we breathe air out of our lungs, and consuming it could cause gastrointestinal disturbances; flatulence being the most common.
In addition, sodas and other soft drinks are pumped with sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners. This means that they raise our blood sugar as much as sugar does (or even more), which could put someone at risk of diabetes, uncontrolled weight gain (especially visceral weight gain) and obesity, with continuous consumption.
Because most of the soft drinks are acidic, they could cause enamel erosion and tooth decay.
Brushing our teeth is one of the first health habits we are taught at an early age. More interestingly, being successfully able to brush his/her own teeth gives a child a certain sense of independence (just like potty training does).
But why is it so important to brush our teeth? Well, it's simple: because you need to maintain a healthy smile, and smiling can give you anything and get you anywhere! Henceforth, as we grow up we progressively develop the habits of nurturing our smile.
Generally, it is recommended to brush one's teeth upon waking up in the morning, after every meal and before going to bed at night; and the reasons for these recommendations are also logical. When we wake up in the morning, acids and remaining food particles would have built up on our teeth during the night, and so we brush our teeth to get rid of it and to eliminate the resulting bad breath. After every meal, acids are once again released, which can erode our dental enamel. Here, teeth-brushing should occur 30 mns after the meal instead of right after, as the teeth might still be sensitive from the release of salivary enzymes. Lastly, it...
Brushing our teeth is one of the first health habits we are taught at an early age. More interestingly, being successfully able to brush his/her own teeth gives a child a certain sense of independence (just like potty training does).
But why is it so important to brush our teeth? Well, it's simple: because you need to maintain a healthy smile, and smiling can give you anything and get you anywhere! Henceforth, as we grow up we progressively develop the habits of nurturing our smile.
Generally, it is recommended to brush one's teeth upon waking up in the morning, after every meal and before going to bed at night; and the reasons for these recommendations are also logical. When we wake up in the morning, acids and remaining food particles would have built up on our teeth during the night, and so we brush our teeth to get rid of it and to eliminate the resulting bad breath. After every meal, acids are once again released, which can erode our dental enamel. Here, teeth-brushing should occur 30 mns after the meal instead of right after, as the teeth might still be sensitive from the release of salivary enzymes. Lastly, it is important to brush your teeth before bed time to ensure that there are no remaining food particles that could trigger bacterial activity and acid release during the night, as you sleep.
Did you know that it actually takes more muscles to frown than to smile? Yes, that's right! Smiling is much easier than frowning. And the more your facial muscles tighten, the more your skin will fold. In other words, frowning gives you more wrinkles than smiling!
Another interesting fact is, it takes you more energy to frown than to smile, and this is simply explained by the fact that frowning requires more muscles than smiling.
This is the number one secret for remaining young: Smile. Smile. Smile. Don't rush into jumping on any anti-ageing creams or any other thing of the sort, but simply smile, it works wonders.
Staying up too late compromises our sleep (both in quantity and quality), and maintaining regular sleep hours is important in achieving physiological balance. The body needs to be allocated enough time to rest, every day.
The importance of sleep is more highlighted when it comes to brain functioning. During our sleep, our brain works to strengthen our memory, reorganize and compartmentalize the information learned during the day and refresh all our neuronal connections. If we don't get enough sleep, we are not fully functional because our brain is not at its optimal capacities. Some studies even showed that a person with insufficient sleep functions at the same level as a person who is partially intoxicated with alcohol.
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