1. Cracking your knuckles
It’s not only annoying to the ears when you crack your knuckles, something actually happens that can do you harm. Synovial fluid is a substance that keeps your joints moving with ease. The noise your knuckles produce when you “crack” them is from the small bubbles bursting in the said fluid. Over time, cracking your knuckles will increase your likelihood of having inflamed hands and a weaker grasp.
2. Biting your nails
This can do real harm to your teeth and the skin that surrounds your nail bed. If you keep this up, it can potentially turn into an infection. And since your fingers frequently carry germs, you could be more prone to sickness if you’re putting your fingers into your mouth. To lessen these risks, keep your nails clean and well-trimmed.
If stress makes you into a nail-biter, you might want to try other things to cope with pressure that has nothing to do with your nails being bitten. If this habit becomes too much that even yourself becomes annoyed and concerned at the same time, you can consult a doctor to get you to stop.
3. Not getting enough sleep
This already is a no-brainer. Not only will you feel sluggish the next day, which means you’re unable to focus on your tasks at hand, you’re also bringing yourself closer to a variety of medical afflictions, which include heart disease and diabetes.
Your mental health can take a toll as well when your risk of depression goes up. Sleep deprivation can also affect your memory and not in a good way. Bring yourself to get 7-8 hours every day and stick with a regular sleeping routine.
4. Blasting your headphones
We get it; you don’t want to hear the world’s crap so you blast your headphones to retreat into another dimension with nothing but your music. The thing is, your body isn’t a fortress. Sound is quantified in decibels. Normal talk is about 60 decibels. If you want to be safe, keep your headphones’ volume below 75.
Don’t listen for many hours. Otherwise, you may lose your hearing over time if you’re exposed to too much noise most of the time. The bad news is that loss of hearing in adults is associated with brain tissue loss and deterioration of certain mental faculties.
5. Surfing the internet prior bedtime
The light that comes from electronic devices often called as the “blue light”, can screw your sleep. Some studies also show that excessive exposure to nighttime light might be connected to breast and prostate cancer, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. You need to be relaxed when you go to bed. Scrolling the newsfeed with so much information before bed is the opposite of relaxing, so keep your bed calm during that time of the night when you’re about to slumber.
6. Sitting for hours
Most jobs today require people to sit at their desks for hours on end. After spending hours sitting at the workplace, people then would resume sitting in the comforts of their home watching television or just surfing the net with their phones. To sit after a physically challenging activity is relaxing.
But sitting most of the time every day is poison. For one, this decelerates your metabolism, resulting in weight gain. It’s also associated with medical problems, such as heart disease. It’s not so hard to rectify this. Just get up and move around. A 10-minute walk per day can also make a huge difference.
7. Drinking excessively
People who drink a lot are potential candidates for having a kidney disease, liver disease, heart-related issues, digestive problems, bone impairment, and even cancer. Drinking can have health benefits as long as done moderately – that’s one drink for women and two for men per day. Drinking more than that can signal trouble.
8. Overeating
Eating too much, even if you’re consuming healthy food, can still make you gain weight. Excessive calories can lead to more fat getting stored in your body. Eventually, this can knock you down in the forms of heart disease and high blood pressure, among others.
Overconsumption of food can also increase the risk for certain forms of cancer. For this reason, it is important to be cautious of your portion sizes, especially when you’re in front of the screen. Mindless eating often results in you eating a whole bag of chips without your knowing.
9. Eating too fast
When you eat in a hurry, it doesn’t give you the satisfaction you’re supposed to feel after completing a meal. When you’re not satisfied you naturally tend to eat more. This can lead you to eat too much throughout the day. On the other hand, eating slowly can make your body feel satiated with less food. Why? Because your body has the chance to recognize it’s already full.
10. Leaving out flossing
Brushing your teeth isn’t enough. You need to make sure that there’s nothing between your teeth, too. That is if you want to remove the plaque, which is loaded with bacteria that result in cavities. Excessive plaque can also cause gum disease, which is linked to other serious, life-threatening medical conditions such as stroke.
