Most people know about the basic stuff regarding sleep, exercise, and so on. Instead, I wanted to make a thread about more obscure but proven ways to prevent disease and improve health that cost (virtually) nothing. Perfect for the broke obsessive immortalist. Some of these will be old news to imminst members, but others might not.
Jumping Jacks - On days you don't work out, or whenever you find you've been sitting for too long, just get up and do some jumping jacks. This will get your circulatory system moving, which provides many benefits. Other calisthenics are also good obviously, but jumping jacks are the easiest.
Balance - During exercises, when doing curls and other such exercises, try standing on one foot. This will improve balance and build the muscles in your ankles, which can prevent injury among other benefits.
Add lemon to your tea - Adding lemon can boost the availability of the antioxidants in tea by quite a bit, and thus ultimately saves you money by giving you more bang for your buck.
Avoid antioxidants around exercise - For an hour or two before and after exercise it is best to refrain from antioxidant sources. See here.
Breathing Exercises - Meditation and/or controlled breathing exercises have many proven benefits on blood pressure, mood, stress, mental health, and so on. Even just two minutes is beneficial.
Careful What you Touch - Try to avoid using your bare palms to open doors, flush toilets, or turn faucets. Use your wrist, back of your hand, or your sleeve. Should be obvious, but few seem to do this.
Close the Lid Before Flushing - Flushing the toilet causes the contents to spray up into the bathroom, and leave a nice little coating on everything. Closing the lid before flushing prevents this.
Put Away Your Toothbrush - Place your oral hygiene products in the medicine cabinet to protect them from the aforementioned fecal aerosol.
Put on Socks First - This prevents bacteria and fungus from attaching itself to the inside of your underwear.
Lite Salt - Replace your normal salt with Morton Lite Salt or equivalent product. This is a bit more expensive than normal salt, but only a few dollars per year max. This can slightly reduce one's sodium intake, and increase one's potassium intake. So it is doubly good.
Keep Your Oils in the Dark - Many oils, such as olive oil, can become rancid more quickly when exposed to light. Rancid oil is obviously not very healthy.
Sun Avoidance - Stay out of the sun. Hide in the shade. Wear long sleeves and sunglasses. Whatever works for you. This can reduce or eliminate your need for sunscreen. You should already be getting your Vitamin D3 in pill form anyways. If not, go get some right now, the cost is trivial especially compared to the profound benefits.
Floss - Again, not free but close enough. Flossing doesn't just improve dental health, but it can reduce systemic inflammation for your whole body.
Feel free to add to this list, or dispute anything on it.
Also, I am interested in what people think about soap. I only use antibacterial soap if I have been out or have some good reason, since I recognize that bacteria is necessary for your skin. Additionally, I read in YOU: The Owner's Manual that fat-based soap can cause your body to reduce its production of oil and thus raise cholesterol. Yet, I remember reading Jeanne Calment rubbed olive oil on her skin all the time. So I made a compromise and strategically use a soap made from olive oil and aloe when showering. Good idea?
Edited by EmbraceUnity, 31 October 2010 - 06:21 PM.
