The Best FREE Healthcare!
By Kim Marquardt, RN MSN
This blog post is from the Nurse Kim archives of myth
busting. I want to share some "alternative" or maybe just lesser
known health and wellness viewpoints for you to chew on.
*These posts are not intended as official medical advice.
They ARE meant to be fun, informative, and thought
provoking, hopefully sparking an interest for you to do your own research (you
can start with the links I provide!) and discover the marvels of the human body,
and how it can function at its optimal performance level if we understand how
it works and interacts with our environment and our diet.
I have a passion for health and wellness through lifestyle
and nutrition and have done thousands of hours of research in addition to being
a registered nurse for 23 years. I have done A LOT of self-experimentation in
and around diet, lifestyle, body care, and supplementation and have spent a lot
of time looking into the science behind it all (or lack thereof!). Check back
weekly for the latest post!
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Let’s face it...
The healthcare system in this country is anything but FREE and anything but the BEST – a hard but true reality. Added to that, trying to pursue health and wellness for oneself often comes with some hefty price tags: expensive “health” food, diet programs, cookbooks, vitamins and supplements, eBooks, exercise apps, gym memberships, weights, bands, straps, mats, shoes, even special “workout” clothes… Yeesh! And the list goes on and on.
But what if I told you there is an abundant amount of 100% FREE ways to vastly improve health? Things we often don’t think of in our modern, indoor, sterile, temperature controlled, technology ravaged world, but that if practiced regularly, can extend our life span, but more importantly our health span (after all, there’s no point in living to a ripe old age if you are miserable and sick the last several decades of it).
Let’s go through 10 health hacks that are enjoyable, attainable, life preserving, and yes, best of all… FREE!!!
Those of you who are a bit squeamish may not want to click HERE to check out the study of how they tested it in healing wounds and improving auto immune function, but to summarize, “Grounding appears to improve sleep, normalize the day–night cortisol rhythm, reduce pain, reduce stress, shift the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic toward parasympathetic activation, increase heart rate variability, speed wound healing, and reduce blood viscosity.” That was a mouthful, but I’m sure you get the gist… grounding has some amazing benefits. Try it!
OK back to the hacks – Sunlight is probably one of the most inappropriately villainized elements in nature. Ever since we discovered that it had something to do with aging, and maybe skin cancer (yes, I said MAYBE, check THIS out), we decided that sunscreen was absolutely necessary anytime we stepped outside or started avoiding the sun altogether. Of course, why find the happy middle when you can shoot for an absolute extreme, right? That tends to be the human way. No, we should not all get out our baby oil and reflectors but YES, the epidemic levels of Vit D deficiency in this country have everything to do with the fact that we are hiding from healthy sun exposure, and this affects so many facets of health.
What is healthy sunshine? 15-20 minutes of sun exposure every day, WITH your skin exposed, WITHOUT sunscreen on. I know, I know, truly shocking. But there is no shortage of literature showing how beneficial healthy sun exposure is.
Hold onto your hat for this stat (Hey! That rhymes!) from the World Health Organization: “UVR exposure is a minor contributor to the world's disease burden, causing an estimated annual loss of 1.6 million DALYs [disability-adjusted life years]; i.e. 0.1% of the total global disease burden. A markedly larger annual disease burden, 3.3 billion [with a B!!!] DALYs, might result from reduction in global UVR exposure to very low levels (link).”
They go on to say that “Sun protection messages are important to prevent diseases of UVR exposure. However, without high dietary (or supplemental) intake of vitamin D, some sun exposure is essential to avoid diseases of vitamin D insufficiency.”
Did you catch that? Too little sun is much worse, not equally bad, but MUCH WORSE than excessive amounts of sun! Don’t tell your dermatologist. Also… don’t tell your dermatologist that there is no shortage on literature suggesting how toxic chemical sunscreens are. *If you need a sunscreen, use a mineral-based product.
The fact of the matter is the human body was never meant to digest food around the clock. Digestion is an all-consuming process. The body needs a break from it. If you think about it, only in modern times (and only in rich countries in the west) do we have food lying around everywhere for constant consumption.
The agricultural revolution and refrigeration were wonderful things and saved a lot of lives, but as with sunlight, we went extreme. Small meals/snacking all day, eating all kinds of foods out of season, and consuming nonstop processed “food products” are some of the most detrimental health habits resulting in a roller coaster of blood sugar elevation and crash and, you guessed it, the “hangry” phenomenon.
You don’t have to take on any extreme fasting practices, simply eating 2 or 3 meals a day of real, one ingredient whole foods with no snacking in between can make a huge difference. From there, you can decide if and when it might be right for you to experiment with other methods of therapeutic fasting for even more pronounced health benefits.
But what if I told you there is an abundant amount of 100% FREE ways to vastly improve health? Things we often don’t think of in our modern, indoor, sterile, temperature controlled, technology ravaged world, but that if practiced regularly, can extend our life span, but more importantly our health span (after all, there’s no point in living to a ripe old age if you are miserable and sick the last several decades of it).
Let’s go through 10 health hacks that are enjoyable, attainable, life preserving, and yes, best of all… FREE!!!
Nature
Did you know that simply stepping outdoors into the fresh air and observing/experiencing nature and green spaces can reduce blood pressure, balance hormones, and relieve stress? Well, it can! And would you believe that it can even reduce crime rates and promote community cohesion?! Whoa! Numerous studies have been done showing that exposure to nature is not simply a nice to have for health, but a have to have. Check out more info HERE!Grounding
Those of you who have ever heard someone gush over the benefits of grounding may have just rolled your eyes thinking this post is getting too woo-woo! But not so fast! For those who don’t know, grounding is the practice of bringing your body in contact with the surface of the earth, walking barefoot outdoors (on a natural surface like grass or dirt) the most common method. And yes, there is science to back up the benefits.Those of you who are a bit squeamish may not want to click HERE to check out the study of how they tested it in healing wounds and improving auto immune function, but to summarize, “Grounding appears to improve sleep, normalize the day–night cortisol rhythm, reduce pain, reduce stress, shift the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic toward parasympathetic activation, increase heart rate variability, speed wound healing, and reduce blood viscosity.” That was a mouthful, but I’m sure you get the gist… grounding has some amazing benefits. Try it!
Sunlight
Side note: The nice thing about these first three (and many of the ones to follow) is guess what!? They can all be experienced/achieved simultaneously! So you don’t need to spend your entire day trying to figure out how to incorporate all these practices.OK back to the hacks – Sunlight is probably one of the most inappropriately villainized elements in nature. Ever since we discovered that it had something to do with aging, and maybe skin cancer (yes, I said MAYBE, check THIS out), we decided that sunscreen was absolutely necessary anytime we stepped outside or started avoiding the sun altogether. Of course, why find the happy middle when you can shoot for an absolute extreme, right? That tends to be the human way. No, we should not all get out our baby oil and reflectors but YES, the epidemic levels of Vit D deficiency in this country have everything to do with the fact that we are hiding from healthy sun exposure, and this affects so many facets of health.
What is healthy sunshine? 15-20 minutes of sun exposure every day, WITH your skin exposed, WITHOUT sunscreen on. I know, I know, truly shocking. But there is no shortage of literature showing how beneficial healthy sun exposure is.
Hold onto your hat for this stat (Hey! That rhymes!) from the World Health Organization: “UVR exposure is a minor contributor to the world's disease burden, causing an estimated annual loss of 1.6 million DALYs [disability-adjusted life years]; i.e. 0.1% of the total global disease burden. A markedly larger annual disease burden, 3.3 billion [with a B!!!] DALYs, might result from reduction in global UVR exposure to very low levels (link).”
They go on to say that “Sun protection messages are important to prevent diseases of UVR exposure. However, without high dietary (or supplemental) intake of vitamin D, some sun exposure is essential to avoid diseases of vitamin D insufficiency.”
Did you catch that? Too little sun is much worse, not equally bad, but MUCH WORSE than excessive amounts of sun! Don’t tell your dermatologist. Also… don’t tell your dermatologist that there is no shortage on literature suggesting how toxic chemical sunscreens are. *If you need a sunscreen, use a mineral-based product.
Water
Before you run screaming for the restroom, it may not be what you think. I am not an avid water drinker. There I said it. By that I mean, I do not shoot for some unreasonable amount of water consumption each day thinking it somehow touts amazing health benefits. These are a few tidbits I do know:- Choose mineral water over plain filtered water. The point of hydration is to get electrolytes to your tissues, not simply to consume liquid.
- Do not shoot for some unreasonable amount of water drinking per day (X ounces per lb. of body weight). This has absolutely no scientific basis and actually, in drinking large amounts of plain filtered water as mentioned above can deplete your electrolytes.
- Rule of thumb: drink when you are thirsty. The body is an amazing self-regulating entity, and guess what, when you are thirsty, that is when you should drink water. I know, Nobel prize over here please.
Fasting
It doesn’t get any freer than fasting. By now, most of you have undoubtedly heard of the health benefits associated with fasting as it has become quite mainstream. I won’t link any articles here because they are too numerous to pick just one and a 5-minute Google search will give you all you need.The fact of the matter is the human body was never meant to digest food around the clock. Digestion is an all-consuming process. The body needs a break from it. If you think about it, only in modern times (and only in rich countries in the west) do we have food lying around everywhere for constant consumption.
The agricultural revolution and refrigeration were wonderful things and saved a lot of lives, but as with sunlight, we went extreme. Small meals/snacking all day, eating all kinds of foods out of season, and consuming nonstop processed “food products” are some of the most detrimental health habits resulting in a roller coaster of blood sugar elevation and crash and, you guessed it, the “hangry” phenomenon.
You don’t have to take on any extreme fasting practices, simply eating 2 or 3 meals a day of real, one ingredient whole foods with no snacking in between can make a huge difference. From there, you can decide if and when it might be right for you to experiment with other methods of therapeutic fasting for even more pronounced health benefits.
Well… since this is shaping up to be the longest blog post EVER, let’s save the other 5 Best FREE Healthcare hacks for next week, shall we?? You have plenty to chew on until then! Cheers!
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