9 Habits That Damage Our Health Without Us Even Noticing

It’s probably fair to say that fitness has truly become a trend these days. We’re not saying that staying in shape or being fit is a new thing in any way. Of course that has been a popular notion since the dawn of time, but fitness as a way of life, as a style almost has definitely come into the forefront in the last couple of days. It probably has something to do with the invention and popularization of athleisure, which a lot of people have a lot of views and opinions about, but hey, if it gets people to pay more attention to what they eat and gets them moving more, we’re all for it. So if you want to jump on the bandwagon and be more healthy, you should probably be aware of these 10 habits that damage our health without us even noticing.

1. Buying Cheap Sunglasses
We’re all guilty of buying cheap sunglasses. After all, we know we’ll probably end up sitting on them or losing them on vacation, so we don’t see the point in investing into a good pair. However, the cheap glasses are made of cheap plastic that doesn’t actually protect our eyes from harmful UV rays. What’s even scarier is that because sunglasses provide shade, it causes our pupils to dilate ( instead of contracting in the sunlight) and receive an even bigger dose of harmful ultraviolet, which can damage our eye, cause cataract, and in the worst case scenario can even result in cancer. So do yourself a favor and invest into a good pair of sunglasses, but if you can’t afford that you’re probably better off just skipping sunglasses altogether instead of buying the cheap ones.

2. Crossing Your Legs

How often do you cross your legs when sitting down? Chances are you don’t even notice it. You just do it, it’s second nature to you. But sitting with your legs crossed creates hypertension and can actually lead to the development of varicose veins and even serious nerve damage. So next time you catch yourself switching up your legs when sitting cross legged, perhaps make a conscious effort to just sit with both of your feet firmly planted on the floor.

3. Eating At Your Desk At Work

Lots of people do this in order to save time and get more done, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you. First of all, the office isn’t meant for food consumption. People have various allergies you could trigger with your food, and also, smells travel very quickly and it’s just simply rude to eat at your desk and make other people smell your food. But even if you don’t care about the rules of etiquette and common sense, you might care about the fact that offices accumulate tons of bacteria that aren’t good for your digestive tract.

4. Sleeping On Your Side Or Stomach

A lot of people find it more comfortable to fall asleep on their side or even on their stomach, but however comfy those positions may be they can cause a lot of issues for your body. When you sleep on your side, you prevent your diaphragm from fully expanding, which can cause breathing problems, back pain. Sleeping on your stomach is even worse, because not only are you limiting the movement of your diaphragm, but you’re also putting a lot of pressure on all of your internal organs. Basically it’s best to sleep on your back.

5. Feeding Birds

It’s not something a lot of us do on the regular basis, but a lot of people do feed pigeons in order to make them sit on their hand and take a cool picture. Well that is actually very dangerous because there’s always a 50% chance that they carry contagious diseases like ornithosis, colibacillosis, tuberculosis, rabbit fever and others. Basically city pigeons are no better than city rats. So stay away from them.

6. Microwaving Popcorn

It’s not that popcorn is bad for you, or that microwaves are evil or anything like that. It’s more about the ingredients in those microwavable popcorn pouches. A lot of the time they include diacetyl, which is a synthetic oil that when heated evaporates, you breathe it in and it damages your lungs. So next time you microwave yourself some popcorn for movie night – wait a little and let your popcorn cool before taking it out of the microwave. It’ll take just a couple of minutes, but your lungs will thank you.

7. Treating Pain With A Hot Water Bottle

Using a hot water bottle or an ice-pack is one of the most common household remedies for pain, and sure, it works in certain situations, but there’s a lot of injuries that and conditions that could be made worse by these sort of treatments. For example, what you might mistake for a cramp could be an acute abdomen inflammation like appendicitis, that won’t be cured by a hot water bottle or an ice-pack, it could actually get worse. Sprains and injuries also should not be treated with a hot water bottle for the first couple of hours or in some cases even days.

8. Wearing Open Footwear In Cities

You’re probably already thinking “but what am I supposed to wear in the summer?” After all, it is the season for sandals, flip flops and open-toe shoes. Well, it’s up to you if you want to take the risk of getting your feet stepped on or cut, and potentially infected. Just think about all the bacteria on the streets and how easy it would be for it to get into your bloodstream through a tiny cut on your foot.

9. Drinking Too Much Water

Water is life, and we definitely need healthy amounts of it to function properly. We’re sure you’ve seen those pictures that show people are 80% water. But that doesn’t mean you should drink half your weight in water. We generally drink when we’re thirsty and that really is enough for our body. You’ll definitely benefit from switching up your soda and coffee to water, but making yourself drink too much water can be bad for you, especially if you have kidney problems or cardiovascular issues.