Shower every day? Rinse after brushing teeth? These 'healthy' habits could be devilishly bad for you.
Could your daily routine be ruining your health? We all know that smoking, drinking and bingeing on junk food are behaviours to avoid if we want to keep fit — but an increasing amount of research is emerging to suggest other seemingly benign habits could also be bad for us.
Here are the seven daily sins, and what we can do about them.
Daily sin: shower every day The modern preoccupation with personal hygiene could be to the detriment of our skin, according to Dr Nick Lowe, consultant dermatologist at the Cranley Clinic in London.
He says: "Using piping-hot water combined with harsh soaps can strip the skin of its oils, resulting in dryness, cracking and even infection."
If the prospect of skipping a daily shower horrifies you, at least make sure you wash with cooler water, he says.
If you have a tendency towards dry skin, use a soap-free shower gel or aqueous cream.
Daily sin: sleeping eight hours a day The notion of getting eight hours of solid sleep each night is a 'modern convention' that could leave you feeling more tired, says Professor Jim Horne, of Loughborough University's Sleep Research Centre.
'A short four to 15-minute "power nap" can be as effective as an extra hour at night.'
He adds: 'This modern notion that waking in the middle of the night is a bad thing can actually be destructive to the quality of our sleep.
'For instance we wake at 3am and lie there becoming anxious about not sleeping, whereas we should simply get up and occupy our minds with something distracting but relaxing — such as doing a jigsaw or reading a book — until our bodies tell us we're ready to sleep again.'
Daily sin: rising after brushing teethFight the urge to rinse after cleaning your teeth, says dentist Dr Phil Stemmer, from The Fresh Breath Centre in London.
'Rinsing washes away the protective flouride coating left by the toothpaste, which would otherwise add hours of protection.'
And whatever you do don't clean you teeth straight after eating, he says.
'The best routine is to brush your teeth before meals, and then freshen up after eating using an alcohol-free mouthwash.'
Daily sin: sitting on the looA study published by Israeli scientists in the journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences revealed that squatting instead of sitting is a more natural position. This in turn reduces the risk of bowel problems such as haemorrhoids and diverticular disease.
He advises patients who are having trouble with bowel movements to place something under their feet while seated on the toilet, as this helps to simulate the squatting position.
Daily sin: cleaningIt's the perfect excuse to unplug the vacuum and abandon the washing up — housework can actually be bad for your health, according to research published earlier this year.
Scientists in the U.S. found those who took on most of the responsibility for running the home had significantly higher blood pressure than those who left it to their partner.
Daily sin: breathing wronglyAsk anyone to take in a deep breath and they will no doubt puff out their chest as they inhale — but this is wrong, says Neil Shah, psychotherapist and director of the Stress Management Society.
'This means that stale air lingers in the bottom of our lungs.Yet it's the bottom section of the lungs that contains the warmest and wettest blood vessels — the most efficient for gas exchange and moving oxygen into the blood.'
Luckily, you can train your body to go back to breathing properly, he says.
To practice it, try to inflate your stomach as you breathe in, while keeping your chest relatively still — imagine a beach ball inflating in the space between your belly button and your spine, pushing your tummy out.
Then contract your abdominal muscles on the exhale.
Just a few minutes each day practising can have a huge effect — it can help combat stress and even lower blood pressure.
Daily sin: relaxing after dinnerWe've all been there — after a busy day you whip up a quick supper before relaxing on the sofa for an hour and then head towards your bed.
'If you're inactive during the evening, or you eat just before bed, your body's more likely to lay down that food as fat,' says Claire MacEvilly, nutritionist at the Human Nutrition Research laboratory at Cambridge University.
'But taking a brisk 20-minute walk after dinner means there's no reason why eating your evening meal at 8pm, or even 9pm should make you put on any weight.'
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Topic: Seven Daily Sins (Read 6579 times)