Bad Little Health Habits To Quit Today

The internet has made health and wellness information accessible to all, and most of us try to make positive choices, but if you are like me, you still have plenty of the bad little habits lurking I mostly try to eat the right foods; try of exercise, and avoid damaging habits such as smoking and excessive drinking.

However.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t have plenty of bad habits to work on – and when I say work on I mean to get rid of! They’re not particularly damaging habits in and of themselves, they’re not going to kill me but they have the potential to compromise my health and my general enjoyment of life.

It is usually when the calendar approaches a New Year that people talk about the usual resolutions but I’m not a fan of the “This year I am going to” approach to change. I feel that you need to be in the right place mentally before you can nurture better habits, so bookmark, pin, or in some other way make a note of this page, and when you are ready, read on and discover some of the bad little health habits you can work on today.

#1 Cutting Your Cuticles

“How can trimming my cuticles be bad?” you might be thinking as you read this subheading. “There’s literally a tool you can buy called a cuticle trimmer, so surely there’s nothing wrong with tidying up my manicure?”

Sadly, there is: Your cuticles are there for a reason. Cuticles function as a protection against infection, which is incredibly important. If you trim your cuticles, then you’re actually creating microscopic tears that damage this essential natural defense.

If your cuticles are messy, then learn how to tidy them without resorting to cutting.

#2 – Listening To Loud Music While Wearing Earbuds

Sometimes, you just need volume. You want to be able to put on some music and blast all other thoughts out of your head, which is fine provided you do it infrequently.

Damage caused by loud noise is one of those problems that seem to exist in the future. We know that loud music might result in hearing loss, but it doesn’t really feel like a present threat; it feels like something we’ll have to deal with one day, but not today. So we turn the volume up and ignore the health warnings.

Oddly enough, this is one of the things I worry about as far as the kids go, but not myself!

If you do this on a regular basis, then there is a real chance you could compromise your hearing. In fact, you might want to take yourself for a hearing test to find out exactly how your ears are coping with sustained exposure to high volumes.

If an issue is identified, then take it as a wake-up call to change your behavior. Ideally, you’ll never listen to music at high volume through your earbuds or headphones ever again, but if you use loud music to alleviate stress, let’s face it, the volume is going up at some point.

Instead of piping loud music directly into your ear canals, listen to it without headphones or earbuds and if it disturbs the rest of the family, let them know you’re preserving your hearing.

#3 – “Rewarding” Yourself For Working Out

Whether you’ve been pushing yourself in the gym to improve your fitness, or stepping up and down the bottom stairs in the hallway it’s good to get your body moving. You’re taking charge of your health, working towards a better future, and you feel fantastic thanks to all of the endorphins rushing through your body.

It’s at this point that many of us make a critical mistake. The workout is over, we feel good and have done well, so what’s the harm in a cookie as a reward? After all, you’ve put in so much effort, and one little cookie isn’t going to hurt, is it?

That’s true, to a point; one cookie on occasion is not going to make a difference to your health, fitness, or any weight loss goal you are trying to achieve. However, if this indulgence becomes a regular habit, then there’s every chance your “reward” is actually undoing all the hard work that you put in in the gym.

Not only should you try to cut out the food rewards but you should try to work on the thought processes which tell you that any kind of good work on your part should be “rewarded” with food. This is the basis, along with the thought that some food is “good” and some food is “bad” of an unhealthy attitude toward food.

#4- Failing To Check For Contraindications With Supplements

Supplements don’t seem like medication; in fact, they usually carry an advisory which explicitly states they are not medication. So many people take them without reading the label because they seem harmless.

This is dangerous. Supplements are chemical substances, even when they are labelled as natural, organic, or GMO-free.  Just because something is “natural” doesn’t mean it cannot cause you harm, especially when taken in conjunction with other substances.

Supplements can interact with each other and they can also interact with prescribed medications. This is why it’s important to always check with a doctor or pharmacist before taking a supplement; their advice can help you avoid any nasty side effects or negative interactions.

Even more importantly, if you discover that a prescribed medication does, or has the potential to interact with a supplement, stop taking the supplement and speak with your doctor. Unless you are suffering a dangerous side effect, which is listed in the drug information, don’t ever decide to stop taking a prescribed medication without speaking with your doctor first.