Lifestyle medicine is not a guide of dos and don’ts that aim to restrict our spontaneity in life. It should be seen as a good friend, as a health baddy that improves your life and makes you feel good, healthy and confident. In this article, I offer you funny tips and actual, mindblowing fun facts, always to remember, that may help you embrace good, healthy daily habits.
Table Of Contents
- Cheer up, have a banana!
- Keep calm, eat your eggs and drive safely!
- Instagram stories can mess with your memory.
- Oatmeal helps fight depression.
- Daily small workouts improve skin quality.
- If your food does not rot, it’s unhealthy!
- Spicy food increases your memory.
- Stretch yourself often like your cat.
- When needing a muse, buy yourself a diary.
- Sunbathing may help you lose weight.
- References
Cheer up, have a banana!
Studies reveal that bananas offer a remarkable amount of magnesium and vitamin B6, known as pyridoxine. Vitamin B6 plays a critical role in producing dopamine and serotonin, which are neurotransmitters that contribute to feelings of happiness. Bananas also provide dietary fibre, which helps stabilize blood sugar levels and promote happiness. Moreover, bananas, especially when they have green on their peels, are rich in prebiotics, a type of fibre that supports the growth of healthy gut bacteria. Maintaining a balanced gut microbiome is linked to a lower incidence of mood disorders.(Schimelpfening, 2012)
Keep calm, eat your eggs and drive safely!
According to neuroscience research, eating eggs can actually enhance your reflexes. By having an omelette for breakfast, you can start improving your responsiveness. The amino acid tyrosine, present in eggs, is converted into norepinephrine and dopamine, which increase energy and alertness and improve mood. A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia in 2014 found that tyrosine can enhance response time and cognitive performance, similar to the effects of medications like Ritalin or Modafinil. (Lorenza et al, 2014)
Instagram stories can mess with your memory.
When vacationing, consider enjoying the experience without a camera, as research from 2018 published in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition shows. Participants needed help to recall painting details when taking pictures, regardless of whether the photo was saved. (Julia et al, 2018)
Oatmeal helps fight depression.
Individuals with depression and insomnia, often interconnected, may have low serotonin levels due to a lack of tryptophan, a hormone formed from the amino acid. High-tryptophan foods, such as oatmeal, eggs, chicken, and peanuts, as a 2016 Nutrients journal study suggests, may help regulate mood and sleep. (Trisha et al, 2016)
Daily small workouts improve skin quality.
Regular physical activity promotes improved blood circulation, which nourishes skin cells and keeps them vibrant. Blood transportation of oxygen and nutrients to working skin cells ensures a healthier and more revitalized appearance.(Wunsch et al., 2017)
If your food does not rot, it’s unhealthy!
Unnatural preservatives, additives, and chemicals in foods that do not expire can harm your body. To ensure optimal health, it is crucial to prioritize a diet that incorporates fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products while maintaining balance in your food choices.(Warburton, 2006)
Spicy food increases your memory.
Black pepper, a spice commonly used in traditional medicine and found in many kitchens, has been found to have a range of health benefits. These benefits include reduced risk of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and various types of cancer. Additionally, black pepper has been shown to have hepatoprotective and neuroprotective effects, making it a potential natural remedy for age-related health issues such as Alzheimer’s. These effects are likely due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.(Mirmosayyeb et al., 2017)
Stretch yourself often like your cat.
Have you ever observed that your feline friend stretches whenever its position changes? This stretching helps to keep the muscles flexible, strong, and healthy, which is crucial for maintaining a range of motion in the joints. Without it, the muscles can become short and tight. Additionally, regular leg stretching may offer protection against heart disease and stroke. According to a study published online on July 1, 2020, in The Journal of Physiology, simple leg stretches can promote blood flow throughout the body and facilitate the heart’s function. (A V Bisconti E Cè,2020)
When needing a muse, buy yourself a diary.
A study on Japanese university students and recent graduates revealed that writing on physical paper can enhance memory retention. According to researchers, the combination of unique, complex, spatial, and tactile information associated with handwriting on physical paper is responsible for this effect. (Keita et al, 2021)
Sunbathing may help you lose weight.
Although taking a morning stroll in the sunshine may not be the sole solution, a study found that exposure to sunlight in the a.m. positively affected BMI.(Noordam et al., 2019)
References
Schimelpfening, N. (2012, March 29). Does Eating Bananas Improve Your Mood?. https://www.verywellmind.com/bananas-increase-serotonin-fact-or-fiction-1066923
Lorenza S. Colzato, Bryant J. Jongkees, Roberta Sellaro, Wery P.M. van den Wildenberg, Bernhard Hommel (2014, September). Eating to stop: Tyrosine supplementation enhances inhibitory control but not response execution, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0028393214000098?via%3Dihub
Julia S. Soares, Benjamin C. Storm (2018, March), Forget in a Flash: A Further Investigation of the Photo-Taking-Impairment Effect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211368117301687
Trisha A. Jenkins, Jason C. D. Nguyen, Kate E. Polglaze, and Paul P. Bertrand (2016, January), Influence of Tryptophan and Serotonin on Mood and Cognition with a Possible Role of the Gut-Brain Axis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728667/
Wunsch, K., Kasten, N., & Fuchs, R. (2017, April 1). The effect of physical activity on sleep quality, well-being, and affect in academic stress periods. https://doi.org/10.2147/nss.s132078
Warburton, D E R. (2006, March 14). Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.051351
A V Bisconti E Cè, S Longo, M Venturelli, G Coratella, E Limonta, C Doria, S Rampichini, F Esposito (2020, July) Evidence for improved systemic and local vascular function after long-term passive static stretching training of the musculoskeletal system https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32613634/
Mirmosayyeb, O., Tanhaei, A., Sohrabi, H R., Martins, R N., Tanhaei, M., Najafi, M A., Safaei, A., & Meamar, R. (2017, January 1). Possible role of common spices as a preventive and therapeutic agent for Alzheimer′s disease. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 8(1), 5-5. https://doi.org/10.4103/2008-7802.199640
Keita U, Takuya I., Takahiro Y., Kuniyoshi L., Paper notebooks vs. (2021 March) Mobile devices: brain Activation Differences During Memory Retrieval. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.634158/full
Noordam, R., Ramkisoensing, A., Loh, N Y., Neville, M J., Rosendaal, F R., Dijk, K W V., Heemst, D V., Karpe, F., Christodoulides, C., & Kooijman, S. (2019, February 12). Associations of Outdoor Temperature, Bright Sunlight, and Cardiometabolic Traits in Two European Population-Based Cohorts. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 104(7), 2903-2910. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2018-02532