Bad habits that are good for you

Here are ten common “bad” habits that are actually good for your health.

1.    Downing coffee

Too much caffeine is not good for your health. However, when consumed in moderation (no more than three cups per day), caffeine has several benefits. It can speed up your metabolism, boost exercise endurance and reduce the risk of gallstones and kidney stones.

Caffeine is full of anti-inflammatory compounds and may therefore minimise the risk for Parkinson’s disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes. Coffee also has more antioxidants than almost any other food.

2.    Drinking beer

For years the French made us believe that a glass of red wine is the answer to all heart problems. It now seems as if beer might be an even better heart-disease fighter than red wine. Although both have heart-protecting antioxidants, beer has additional high levels of vitamin B6. Beer also provides a dose of energy-revving iron as well as dietary silicon, a mineral that helps promote bone formation, thus improving bone density and helping protect against osteoporosis.

Beer contains a minimum of 500 kilojoules per serving. Therefore, if you drink beer, make sure you keep to one per day to get the healthy benefits without the added kilojoules and kilograms.

3.    Chewing gum

Want a good memory and stay slim at the same time? Keep chewing the gum. Chewing gum boosts thinking and alertness, in part by increasing blood flow to the brain. People who chew gum before eating have fewer sweet cravings and eat about 150 fewer kilojoules.

The secret is to go with the sugar-free kind.

4.    Snacking on sweets

The word out on the street is that sugar is BAD for you. However, it is not necessary to avoid all sweets. Researchers have found that people who eat sweets regularly have lower BMIs, smaller waist circumferences and lower levels of inflammation than those who completely shun the sugary stuff. The reason is two-fold: while sweets may taste just as sweet as other desserts, a single serving is typically lower in saturated fat and kilojoules. The second reason is that it has a psychological benefit because it communicates to your body that it is not totally deprived of all sweet things.

The secret is to:

• • Eat sweets close after a physical workout

• • Limit yourself to a twice-weekly indulgence

• • Look for sweets that contain less than 30 grams of sugar per serving.

5.    Skipping your workout two days in a row

It is a good idea to be active every day, but you do not have to exercise hard every day to be healthy. Muscles need time to repair and strengthen, which can only happen with rest on the days that you take off from exercising. Exercise overload can also cause you to get tired and start dreading exercise.

Try to organise your schedule so that at least two of your weekly exercises are workouts with weights, which will deliver the most toning and fat-burning benefits.

6.    Zoning out

Ever experienced that feeling of staring into the distance at the team meeting? Do not see this as a sign of laziness or procrastinating. Dreaminess can actually be associated with good “working memory”. Working memory accounts for that experience of “being on autopilot”, thinking of one thing while doing another. Another example is when you’re commuting all the way home and not remembering the trip. It has also been associated with measures of intelligence such as IQ and reading comprehension.

Daydreaming also has been linked to problem-solving abilities.

7.    Snacking on chocolate

For years advertisers made us believe chocolate is good for our love life. Now we know that chocolate has some additional benefits. Thanks to the antioxidants found in cacao, it is a role player in the fight against heart diseases. Chocolate is also good for your wellbeing as it boosts the mood by making you feel less anxious.

The secret is not to reach for any old chocolate bar. Go for chocolate blends with at least 70% cacao, which will pack the biggest heart-healthy benefits with the least amount of sugar, and limit yourself to about four dark chocolate bars a week.

8.    Sleeping in

Feeling guilty about your weekend lie-in? Wish you were a morning person? Think again. Sleep can help you live longer, boost your memory and reduce stress, while not getting enough can lead to accidents, weight gain and increased risk of heart disease. Relying on an alarm clock to wake you up means that your body rhythm falls out of sync. This can cause you to eat at irregular times − often when your body isn’t ready for proper digestion.

If you’re dependent on your alarm clock, try going to bed earlier each night until you wake up the next day feeling refreshed. Then, on the weekend, don’t set an alarm, but follow your new routine.

9.    Skipping a shower

Know the feeling of just not getting yourself off the couch and into a shower on a lazy weekend? Might not be good for your friendships, but you are doing your health and the environment a favour. Daily washing not only strips your skin of the natural oils that keep it hydrated and supple, it could also strip your skin of good bacteria that help to prevent disease.

Therefore, try to keep showers short (ten minutes tops) and use warm rather than scalding-hot water.

10.    Sunbathing

In recent years, the message was a definite NO! when it comes to exposing yourself to the sun. However, little and frequent sun exposure is good for us. Vitamin D produced in our bodies by sun exposure could help ward off colds and flu. It is a well-known fact that vitamin D deficiencies in the body can lead to depression.

However, to stay safe you should cover up after ten minutes and your skin should never be red at the end of the day.

 

Sources
www.womenshealthmag.com – Bad Habits that are Actually Good for You
www.mensfitness.com – Seven bad habits that can make you healthier
www.fitnessmagazine.com – Bad Habits Gone Good
www.learnvest.com – 10 Bad Habits That Are Actually Good for You
www.prevention.com – 4 Bad Habits That Are Good For You
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk – Swearing and coffee: 10 ‘bad’ habits that are good for you