Five-Minute Health Fixes

Five-Minute Health Fixes How much time do you spend taking care of your health each day? Sometimes it seems as though we don’t have even a few minutes to do that.

But you can do yourself a lot of good by incorporating these 10 quick health fixes into your daily routine:

Eat Breakfast Take a few minutes in the morning to eat a well-balanced meal, even if you’re not hungry. According to Melinda Johnson, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association (ADA), “That one act [of eating breakfast] seems to make a difference in people's overall weight.” Eating breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism for the day and can help hold those hunger pangs until lunch—making you less likely to grab a high-cal snack from the office vending machine. In addition, breakfast eaters tend to ingest more vitamins and minerals and less fat and cholesterol than those who skip eating in the a.m.

Get Moving Did you know that every 20 steps you take burns 1 calorie? There are so many easy ways to add a few extra steps into your daily routine. Skip the bus and walk to work, take the stairs instead of the elevator or pace while you’re on the phone or brushing your teeth. If you’ve been sitting at your desk all day, head to your co-workers cube instead of sending her an email, or walk a few blocks to get lunch. Even window shopping at the mall can torch more calories than you think!

Keep in mind however, that it’s still extremely important to get in at least 30 minutes of higher-intensity exercise per day.

TV Exercises Don’t just sit there. While you’re watching ‘How I Met Your Mother’ re-runs on TV, get off the couch and do some strength training. Grab five-pound weights or a resistance band and do bicep curls, or get on the floor and do a few sets of leg lifts and crunches. The more muscle you have, the more your body has to work to keep those muscles, which results in more calories burned. TV exercises are a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

Get Busy Yes, you can reap health benefits from the bedroom. And according to a survey of sex therapists in the ‘Journal of Sexual Medicine’, forget about marathon sessions between the sheets—the most satisfying sex lasts between three and thirteen minutes. Getting busy every so often can improve your health by lowering blood pressure, reducing risk of heart disease and bettering immunity.

Zap Your Sponge Cleaning with your sponge could actually be making things dirtier—and you sick. According to Dr. Neil Schachter, M.D., author of ‘The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds & Flu’, the moist pours of your sponge can harbor tons of illness-causing bacteria like salmonella. To kill 99 percent of the bacteria residing on your sponge, nuke your wet sponge in the microwave for two minutes, twice a week.

Floss Don’t overlook oral health. The simple act of flossing your teeth every day could add 6.4 years to your life, says Dr. Michael Roizen, MD, author of ‘RealAge’. Even if you diligently brush your teeth twice a day, without flossing, you’re cleaning only about fifty percent of your teeth’s surface. Thus, bad bacteria and plaque remain in your mouth that can cause cavities, inflammation, and even worse, gum disease. So leave a box of dental floss by your bedside or computer to help you remember.

Drink Tea According to a review in the ‘International Journal of Cancer’, drinking a cup of hot tea in the morning can decrease your risk of kidney cancer by 15 percent.

Here’s a tip: to reap as many of tea’s health benefits as you can, add some lemon juice to your cup. According to Dr. Mario Ferruzzi, Ph.D, a researcher from Purdue University, the citrus can help us absorb 80 percent of the tea’s cancer-fighting agents when normally we’d only soak up 20 percent.

Step Outside If you’re bumming out or feeling a bit under the weather, just five minutes of an outdoor activity can really lift your spirits and boost your mental health. A study in Britain looked at the impact of outdoor activities such as walking cycling and gardening—they found that the biggest positive effect on people’s moods was in thanks to just five minutes of ‘green exercise’.

Protect Your Skin In reality, the best way to protect your skin from cancer-causing and age-inducing rays is to stay out of the sun. But now that beach season is here, we know that avoiding the sun all together is probably not going to happen.

To reduce your risk of skin damage—or worse, melanoma—always wear sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher (make it SPF 30 if you’re out in direct sun.) And reapply often, even if the bottle says it’s waterproof!

Wipe It Down You wash your hands after using the restroom to rid yourself of illness-inducing germs. But what about detoxing those other surfaces that your hands touch? Research shows that the average desk has almost 400 times the amount of bacteria as a toilet seat. (Gross, right?) To keep yourself healthy and bug-free, use a disinfecting wipe to wipe down surfaces like your work desk, keyboard and cell phone at least once a week.