HEALTH HACKS!

Life is so busy, packed with chores, to-do lists and more. In the busyness of fulfilling your outside tasks, are you doing enough for what happens within? When there’s so much planning going into everything else needed for your life to function, are you doing the same for your heath which drives it all?

Hacks are important. They are quick, simple, easy to remember and become an everyday part of your life.

Now you may wonder why I’m calling all of them hacks? Because, when you practice them by default, you will internalise it enough to make living healthy easy, rather than an additional burden.

EATING HACKS

Add color to your food. If you love what you see, the body responds to the food. Noticed when you are sick, how you prefer bland foods? The body knows, so listen to it.
Use all your senses when you eat. Observe the color with your eyes, smell the food, let it roll on your tongue. This helps you chew food properly, and digests better.
Eat a little less than full. How do you know you’re full? When the slight discomfort is setting in, yet you know there’s more food you can gulp. Don’t load your stomach so it becomes difficult to digest.
Cook food that is a little less than done. Veggies can be stir-fried, eaten as salads or consumed raw. Capsicum, carrots, peas, cucumber, the options of such foods are many.

DRINKING HACKS

Water keeps organs functioning smoothly. Drink 2-3 litres of water everyday. To measure, wrap 3 rubber bands around the bottle. As you empty a 1 litre bottle, remove a single band. This makes it easier to count
Water doesn’t comprise just plain drinking water. All kinds of liquids can be drunk throughout the day. Watery fruits like melons, kanji, porridge and bisi bele baath are all included
Drink water in glass bottles. Plastic leaches and interacts on water, especially in closed rooms/cars, when direct sunlight hits them
Keep bottles in places where you stop by around the house – the foyer, showcase, TV unit, even the closet. Seeing it, makes picking it up easier

SLEEPING HACKS

Sleep duration can differ for different people. Some can live on 6 hours, some need 8 hours of shut-eye. Again, there’s never any ‘one size fits all’ pattern
Wind down an hour before bed time – no gadgets, laptops, mobiles and tablets. Read a book or listen to music. What you do carries over into the subconsciousness when you sleep.
Waking up early is preferable but we know not all of us are early birds, at least I definitely am not. Figure a time that works for you. The trick is to maintain this timing consistently
Deep or REM sleep which is the third sleep stage, and occurs about 2-3 hours before waking up is the most crucial. During this stage, BP drops, tissues undergo repair, energy levels get recharged and pituitary gland releases growth hormones. This sleep stage is especially important in children. If disturbed in adults persistently, there’s an increased risk of hypertension, joint pains, stress induced anxiety and more.

PEEING HACKS

Urination is a very critical body function. Pee as frequently as possible, and drink plenty of water for that to happen
Keep a watch on the duration between passing urine. Too frequent urination and excessive time between two visits needs looking into
Watch the color, feel for pain or burning sensation when passing. Too yellow, red, a strange odour, low output aren’t good signs
Eat foods with high water content, so they replenish body fluids for you to pee frequently

GASTRO-INTESTINAL HACKS

Passing stools is a very critical body function. Any change of bowel movement, hard stools, excessively soft stools when persistent must be looked into
Stool frequency differs from one person to another. Some go twice, some once. Frequent stools with mucous, pain and discomfort can mean a simple irritation to IBS to another disorder
Heartburn, acidity, frequent uncomfortable burps indicate upper GI problems. Discomfort and stomach distension usually goes away with homemade remedies but must not be allowed to persist
Pain in the stomach region is often a radiation of it from other areas of the body. Kidney stones, pain due to gas accumulation differs in nature, consistency and location.

LIFE HACKS

Stop procrastinating. Exercise where you can, eat when you’re hungry, drink water frequently, don’t keep health checkups and screenings for later.
Stop avoiding. Embrace the good and bad things in live. Life was never made to live with one emotion, ups and downs are what make it interesting and fuels growth
Stop running. Slow down, pause, breathe, eat at your own pace, live one day at a time. By running to catch up with tasks and life in general, we miss much of what we have and people who matter to us at any moment
Stop valuing others more than yourself. You come before others. Your health, your thirst, your sleep and work matter. One can never pour from an empty cup. If your cup is full with good food, drink, relationships, happiness, self growth, only then will it spill on to others.

These simple hacks pretty much sum up the way I live and see others living. When you learn to listen, when you develop intuitive capabilities to read signs, feel your body’s rhythms, it will tell you what ails it. Always be attuned to your body’s health.

-Charmaine Kenita

The author is a food writer, doctor, yogi and a believer in the power of stories. She writes on a variety of subjects, is a branding expert, content curator and founder of Out ‘O’ Box Content, a boutique content and social media firm. She also teaches yoga, works on recycled projects and is a passionate voice behind the city’s environmental causes.

HEALTH HACKS!

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