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24 Body Hacks to Help You Feel Refreshed

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Doctors aren’t the only ones that know a thing or two about the body. After all, everyone’s got one! Take a look at these 24 tips and tricks regarding our physical being . One might just change our life – or at least your day.

1. Advice from someone with experience

​If you take a warm shower before you get in bed, your core temperature will drop as you lie in bed (because it rose in the shower)…
Your body reads this as a stage of falling asleep, leading you to fall asleep much faster.

I’m an insomniac, most prescription sleep meds don’t work for me, but this plus better sleep hygiene has helped me a ton.

2. Kinda like the high-five elbow trick

​If you need to draw a straight line without a ruler, draw two dots, and put your pencil on one of them…
Stare at the other dot and draw your line without looking anywhere else.

Our brains will automatically make your hand go to where you are looking creating a straight line.

3. ‘Yet’ is the key word here

If you mildly hurt yourself like a stubbed toe, or a paper cut, pinch yourself elsewhere and focus on that feeling.
Your body assumes it’s more painful and stops feeling the pain from the other spot as much. It helps lessen the length you have to deal with the pain of the injury. I don’t think this will work for gunshot wounds, or decapitations, but I haven’t had the chance to test it… Yet.

4. It’s the other 20% that’s an issue

If you get a stitch in your chest that bothers you when you breathe in, you have to brace yourself and breathe in all the way quickly. ​
The trick is to do it like the lung equivalent of pulling off a bandaid.

As someone who gets these all the time, 80% of the time it’ll be gone immediately.

5. Water is always the key

​If you get a lot of mild headaches try drinking more water…
Especially if they feel like they might be caffeine headaches, or maybe tension headaches. They could be caused by dehydration.

6. Hiccups

​If someone else has hiccups, ask them when the last time they saw a white horse was.
They’ll think about it for a split second, then give you some sort of answer, then their hiccups are gone.

Sometimes I do this to random people and not even tell them why I asked. They usually walk away thinking I’m some sort of weirdo, but hey, their hiccups are gone.

7. How does this help me?

​Every time I pee I scratch this one spot on my back…
Now when it is important that I pee before a long car ride or know I am going to a place without a restroom, I go to the bathroom and scratch that spot on my back and I start to pee whether or not I had to.

8. Walk away the stress

​Walking each day for a certain amount of time increases your mental capacities.
It reduces mental stress. If your mind has less stress, it can use it’s capacities on other topics more efficiently.

9. Thats a good trick

​If you get up to go to the toilet at night, close one eye and keep it closed while the lights are on…
When you turn the light back off, the closed eye will still be adjusted to the dark.

10. Who actually WANTS to sneeze?

​If you want to make yourself sneeze, try staying in a dark place for a while and then going out into the sun.
For 18 to 35% of people, that’ll induce a sneeze due the photic sneeze effect, or Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst Syndrome (ACHOO). Because scientists especially love a good acronym.

11. Reflux

​If you have a bit of acid reflux, sleep on your left side.
Or sleep on two pillows. It helps keep the acid down where it’s supposed to be if your neck is elevated. However, if you experience it frequently, talk to your doctor.

12. All about body positioning

​The pinhole effect…
If you’re short or long sighted, then take off your glasses and make a tiny, TINY hole with your hand. Look through it and read something you normally couldn’t.

13. ​Force your attention elsewhere

My father had a knee replacement a few years ago and tried to tough out the post-op period at home without any opiates…
This led to one incident of pretty severe pain which made him finally pop some Percosets, but before the drugs kicked in he was still thrashing around in agony.

To take his mind off it, I started asking him about his college apartment in all kinds of elaborate detail, like what kind of carpet was on the floor, what color shower curtain did they have, what sort of dishes and on what shelves were they kept etc. etc. It forced him to focus his attention on his memories of this place and not on the pain he was currently experiencing. It was successful, at least long enough for the drugs to start doing real work on the problem.

14. Pay attention to your spit

​If you’re worried you’re gonna throw up, your mouth usually fills with saliva a minute or two beforehand…
This is because the contents of your own stomach are harmful to your throat. It’s a pretty good indication that you’re gonna hurl.

15. ​And they say television rots your brain

Drink water before bed if you want to wake up early.
That Christmas episode of the Simpsons changed my life.

16. Sit a while

​Sometimes in the morning before my shower I’ll sit on the toilet to pee rather than stand.
When I’m done peeing I’ll continue to just sit there and read the news or whatever on my phone. 7 times out of 10 I’ll end up pooping if I sit there long enough. This prevents that horrible situation where you shower then as soon as you get out you have to poop. I’m not a morning person so perhaps if I got up a little earlier and had a cup of coffee things would progress naturally, but this works for me.

17. Pulse points

​If you are overheating or feel really warm, put cold water on your wrist or neck to cool down faster.
These are some pulse points where the blood vessels are closer to the surface of the skin.

18. ​Outside is key

Hate running? Try changing your stride to lots of smaller shorter steps.
I went from 3 miles being a monumental hurdle to twice a week 8 mile runs feeling great. It’s a lot easier on your knees and feet too. Also, audiobooks help with the boredom. Run outside, not on a treadmill.

19. Nasal spray might be easier

​If you ever have a blocked nose, try this:
1. Exhale completely out of your mouth until your lungs are empty. Do not breath back in yet.

2. Pinch your nose with thumb and forefinger. Don’t breathe yet.

3. Tilt your head all the way back, and then all he way forward. Do not breathe in yet.

4. Repeat the head tilting exercise for as long as you can hold your breath. When you can’t hold it anymore let go of your nose and breathe in a nice lungful. Your nose will be clear – at least for long enough to use some Nasal spray and clear it properly.

This is awesome! You look a total idiot and I have no idea how it works. But it does.

20. ​Stretching!

Rolling around and stretching on the floor for 5-10 minutes helps to relieve a huge amount of body aches/soreness for me.
It’s something I’m doing fairly regularly now because it works miracles when I’m physically spent at the end of a long day.

Highly recommended!

21. If it works, it works

Cramped your foot? Grab your big toe, pull it forward and wiggle it about as fast as possible, cramp goes away.
Not sure if it’s just a placebo type affect, but it works every time for me.

22. ​Push and blow

You can help loosen a plugged sinus by alternating pushing on the roof of your mouth…
This can be done with your tongue or thumb, then using your other hand to push just above the bridge of the nose.

23. ​Good, cuz i hate exercise

Weight loss is 75 to 100 percent diet…
Going to the gym and running a mile does not burn as much calories as you think.

A professor did a study where he only ate twinkies for a month. Because the caloric intake was low, he lost weight (or maintained). This truly showed it was the volume and less about the contents of what we eat which controls our weight.

Obviously you get no essential vitamins and nutrients from just twinkies. I don’t advocate it. But all these diet fads are useless. The key concept is controlling caloric intake. That’s all it takes.

24. Consult your physician

Vitamin D.
Just don’t take more than 10,000iu a day for more than 3 months because you’ll get toxicity. I take 4000iu a day.

Talk to your doctor about dose.

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You rock! Thanks for reading!