Eat beans, try apple cider vinegar, and listen to pink noise — plus other wellness tips to know this week
Hello, Yahoo Life readers! I’m Kaitlin, and I’m sharing the best health and wellness tips to help you get through your week.
We’re already halfway through August, and the election is right around the corner. Take our new Yahoo Life survey to highlight your biggest health concerns on the ballot this year. If you’re heading to the movies to escape the heat this summer, find out what some readers think about the tough topic at the center of the survey It ends with us before choosing your movie.
As always, take a look at the weather in your area and, if you like, your horoscope. Then, check out the tips below.
🪵 Should You Try Wood Therapy?
To be clear, wood therapy isn’t about perfecting your woodcarving skills. Rather, it’s a form of massage that uses hand-held wooden tools. Practitioners claim it promotes lymphatic drainage (which relieves swelling), improves blood circulation, and reduces stress. Some even claim it reduces the appearance of cellulite.
As appealing as wood therapy may sound, there’s still a lot of research that needs to be done to prove its effectiveness. And while it’s still unclear whether wood therapy helps with cellulite, massage therapy in general has been shown to have a number of benefits, including reduced pain and a boost to your immune system. Curious about how you feel after a wood therapy session? Seek out a professional who offers wooden tools as part of their practice, but be sure to let them know in advance if you have a condition like osteoporosis, which could make wood therapy too intense for you.
🫘 Get started with broad beans
Fava beans may have been part of Hannibal Lecter’s diet, and you might want to include them in your diet, too. These beans, which contain nearly 13 grams of protein per cup, contain a chemical called levodopa that can be converted to dopamine. That means snacking on them may improve symptoms of depression. More research needs to be done, but in the meantime, you can use fava beans as the main ingredient for a protein-packed dip: Simply mash some with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and spread them on toast.
🚽 Don’t spend too much time in the toilet
If the bathroom is your favorite place to retreat, sorry, but you may be doing yourself more harm than you think. Sitting on the toilet for too long can put extra pressure on the lower part of your rectum and anus, which can lead to hemorrhoids (swollen veins that can cause pain, itching, and bleeding).
One tip to avoid sitting too long? Leave your phone outside the bathroom. Endless scrolling can force you to sit for long periods of time, making you vulnerable to these issues. And leaving your phone outside the toilet will also prevent your phone from picking up nasty germs that you could pass on to other people.
👩💻 Protect your mental health at work
A new study has found that work stress is linked to an increased risk of developing an abnormal heart rhythm. What can you do about it? One expert tells Yahoo Life that you can better manage the emotional and mental toll of your job by keeping a journal. Remind yourself of personal accomplishments (like compliments from a coworker) during stressful times.
✈️ Avoid the holiday blues
You planned your vacation months ago and were looking forward to having the best time possible, but you didn’t feel the magic when you arrived. The vacation blues are a bummer, but there are ways to avoid that feeling in the future. Experts tell Yahoo Life that you can ensure a better vacation mood by managing your physical well-being, which means getting enough sleep and eating nutritious foods, even if you’re running around to four museums a day.
If jet lag tends to disrupt your sleep patterns (not to mention your gut, which can be disrupted by interruptions to your circadian rhythm), you can try adjusting your sleep schedule by a few hours before you leave for vacation. This can help you feel more rested when you arrive.
🥗 Try vinegar
A recent study found that drinking vinegar daily can help reduce symptoms of depression. While more research needs to be done to confirm the findings, this is further evidence of vinegar’s benefits. One type of vinegar you might want to start with is apple cider vinegar, which is known to help regulate blood sugar and improve cholesterol levels. You can use it in a simple homemade salad dressing to replace sugary alternatives and improve your well-being.
🎨 Be creative
New research published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health found that people who enjoyed arts and crafts had greater feelings of happiness and life satisfaction. Previous studies have shown that creating art activates reward pathways in our brains, which can boost feelings of joy and accomplishment. You don’t have to be the next Picasso to get creative: Go to a “paint and taste” class with friends, or skip the evening scrolling in favor of making beaded bracelets.
🔉 Listen to the colorful noise
Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University found that white noise (a steady noise like a radio background) and pink noise (soft sounds like rain) can improve focus and cognitive performance in children and young adults with ADHD. Researchers believe these types of noise are effective for ADHD because they help mask distracting background noise.
Whether or not you have ADHD, incorporating these sounds into your sleep routine can help you sleep better by creating a blanket of sound that blocks out noise from the outside world. This means you’re less likely to be woken up by something like an ambulance siren while you’re trying to sleep.
🦷 Rethinking Oil Extraction
There are plenty of health myths surrounding oil, but there’s one you might want to pay attention to: the bath oil hype. While some people claim that swishing your mouth with oil can improve your oral hygiene, experts warn that there’s little evidence to support any benefits. And if you’re skipping flossing or brushing your teeth in favor of bath oil, you’re probably doing more harm than good.
Ultimately, oil mouthwash won’t hurt you, as long as you also follow the recommended practices to keep your teeth white, clean, and healthy. However, if you opt for oil mouthwash, avoid spitting the oil down the sink, which can clog your drains.
