10 ‘innocent’ habits that could wreck your health

CHECKING work email at home is bad for your blood pressure, new research reveals. So what are the other secret health saboteurs?

1

Checking emails at night

Many of us do it, but constantly monitoring office messages while at home is bad for your wellbeing.

Researchers at Lehigh and Colorado State universities in the US found that those who checked work emails while off-duty experienced the greatest stress and reported the lowest scores for wellbeing. Worse still, the impact spilled over to others at home, making their partners more stressed too.

■ FIX IT: Set a 6pm cut-off time for looking at emails. If your job really requires it, set up rotas to ensure each member of staff gets some evenings off.

2

Not washing salad

Few of us bother to wash bagged salad leaves before we tuck in, but even if the packet says “prewashed” we could be risking E. coli or salmonella. Bacteria in tiny soil traces found on imported rocket leaves caused 153 cases of E.coli in 2016 – including two deaths.

A study by Imperial College London showed harmful bacteria, often from contaminated manure, can grip salad leaves with microscopic hooks, making them hard to shift without a very thorough hand wash.

■ FIX IT: Wash all salad leaves – and other veg – carefully in a bowl of still water with a few drops of white wine or cider vinegar to act as a natural disinfectant.

3

Sitting down cross-legged

Crossing your legs at the knees while sitting is a comfy position for many. But it can temporarily raise your blood pressure by 10%, says a study in journal Blood Pressure Monitoring.

Crossed legs can also put stress on your hip joints and “can cause pooling of blood in the legs when the veins are compressed, which could increase your risk of a blood clot,” says cardiologist and author of The Great Cholesterol Myth, Dr Stephen Sinatra.

■ FIX IT: Train yourself to cross your legs at your ankles which won’t compress veins.

4

Squeezing spots

It might be tempting to squeeze a spot, but dermatologists say it could result in a scar and, if you’re really unlucky, a life-threatening infection!

This is because popping a pimple opens the skin and bacteria from your fingers can enter the bloodstream.

US dermatologist Dr Jeremy Brauer says this is concerning if it’s in the area known as “the danger triangle” – the skin from the corners of your mouth to the bridge of your nose. Blood vessels here drain to the base of your brain, where infection can spark paralysis, blindness or death.

■ FIX IT: Don’t squeeze. But if you really can’t resist, wash your face and hands thoroughly, then wrap tissue around each forefinger to protect the skin as you apply pressure. Then disinfect the area with a drop of TCP.

5

Toasting bread on the high setting

When starchy foods such as bread are cooked for too long at high temperatures, it produces acrylamide. This chemical compound is cancercausing, says the World Health Organization, and the UK’s Food Standards Agency believes we eat too much of it. ■ FIX IT: Until more research is completed, the FSA suggests limiting the amount of acrylamide you consume, which means cutting down on fried and baked foods such as biscuits, crisps and chips – and toasting bread only to “the lightest colour acceptable”.

6

Wearing sunblock every day

We’ve been told for years that wearing sunblock is vital and many of us apply it daily to our faces. But now it seems a total block could rob your body of vitamin D, which could put you at higher risk of osteoporosis and heart disease. This is because vitamin D is created by the action of sunlight on bare skin. ■ FIX IT: Allow around 30 minutes of suncream-free exposure daily, while the sun is not too hot, to stimulate vitamin D production. The Government also recommends taking a vitamin D supplement over the winter months. Try: Better You

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7

Drinking hot tea and coffee

People who drink very hot liquid may increase their risk of oesophageal cancer according to a probe by the World Health Organization. It’s thought scalding temperatures can damage the skin cells lining the oesophagus.

■ FIX IT: Let your hot drinks cool.

8

Using hand dryers

A study found some hand dryers in public toilets can suck up faecal germs from the bathroom air and blow it back on to your clean hands.

■ FIX IT: Grab a paper towel or loo roll to dry your hands. Better still, carry hand sanitiser gel – such as Cuticura Moisture Hand Gel (£1.55, Boots) – to use instead when out and about.

9

Saturday lie-ins

Snoozing at the weekend as a strategy to catch up on lost shut-eye seems to make sense. But it can make you struggle to sleep that night, causing exhaustion and overeating.

This is because lie-ins disrupt your normal circadian rhythm – the 24-hour body clock that governs basic functions, from when we wake up and sleep, to when we feel hungry. The body can crave unhealthy foods as it tries to compensate for depleted reserves.

■ FIX IT: Wake up and go to sleep at roughly the same time every day.

10

Brushing teeth too hard

Twice a day for two minutes is vital for healthy teeth, but brushing too vigorously can cause harm. Not only can it damage tooth enamel, making teeth more susceptible to decay, it can also wear your gums away.

This can leave the roots of your teeth exposed, causing sensitivity and increasing the risk of gum disease.

■ FIX IT: Pick a brush with medium bristles – too firm can wear the gums, but too soft and it won’t remove all the plaque and food debris properly.

Dentist Dr Reena Wadia also advises “holding your toothbrush with a gentle ‘pen’ grip, using your wrist rather than your whole arm”.

Or you could simply switch to an electric brush that requires less pressure, plus many now have a sensor which beeps if you’re pressing too hard.

Crossing your legs as you sit down can temporarily raise your blood pressure by 10%