Spit, Don't Rinse - Proper Toothbrushing Techniques

Along the same lines as how you've been showering wrong or you've been pooping wrong, there's another bathroom routine you've probably been doing wrong - brushing your teeth.

Spit, Don't Rinse

If your parents took you to the dentist as a kid, you might remember getting fluoride treatments. The dentist would fill a mouth guard with foam, fit it around your teeth, and then leave you alone with a suction hose in your mouth. You'd then sit there, alone, trying to keep your face from imploding.

Not after that hose is done with you...

Modern toothpastes have fluoride that fight tooth decay just as well as that foamy stuff at the dentist. The problem is how we use it. See, after the dentist uses the hose to suck the remaining fluoride from your mouth, he/she informed you that you weren't supposed to eat or drink for 30 minutes. That's how long it takes for your teeth to properly absorb the fluoride still sticking to them. If you brush your teeth and then rinse your mouth with water, all of that fluoride goes down the drain instead of into your enamel.

So, what should you do after brushing? Spit whatever toothpaste is left in your mouth into the sink, but leave the remaining toothpaste that is on your teeth. Then, avoid eating or drinking for 30 minutes. It'll feel really weird, like your teeth are fuzzy, but it's the proper way to brush. It took me a few weeks to get used to it.

Other Brushing Tips

When brushing with a manual toothbrush, tilt the bristles toward the gum-line and brush slowly. This has two benefits: 1) it'll help you get rid of tartar, and 2) it'll keep you from having a painful scraping the next time you go to the dentist.

Also, be sure you're not brushing too hard. If you're brushing with your fist wrapped around the toothbrush, you're likely using too much force. Over time, this can damage your gums. To see how much force you need, hold the toothbrush only between your thumb and forefinger like you're giving the "Okay" sign.

However much force you can manage holding a toothbrush like this is about how much force you should use while brushing. Plus, it makes you look like a fancy-pants French aristocrat while you're in the bathroom.

You've Been Pooping Wrong - Sitting on Toilets Causes Hemorrhoids

WARNING: 

This is a poop-related article. I'm doing my best to remain mature, but really, how mature can I be, given the subject matter?

Remember way back when I had that lengthy post about how most people shower wrong? Here's another life-altering thought: if you've been sitting down on toilet seats in order to poop, you've been unknowingly injuring yourself.

The Science of Number Two

Toilets are not from nature - there is no "toilet tree." The modern flush toilet was invented by Sir John Harington in 1596. Focused more on sanitation than anatomy, the toilet was raised off the floor. This makes sense to us modern poopers because we don't like the idea of touching the bathroom floor with our butts.

The problem is that our intestines aren't aligned for sitting down. Like other mammals, we are meant to squat in order to defecate. By squatting, our colon and lower intestine align with gravity in order to expel our waste with minimal effort. Think of it like the waterslides at popular water parks: the long, straight slide drops you straight down, very quickly. The slides with bumps and bends in them take longer to get down.

I can't believe I just compared pooping to waterslides...

Sitting on a toilet is like going down a bent slide - by forcing your waste to work against gravity, you must compensate by straining your lower abdominal muscles. As a rule of thumb, it takes three times as much effort to poop while sitting than squatting.This unnecessary strain can lead to bowel obstructions, diverticulitis (bowel rupture,) and hemorrhoids.

Think this is a load of crap? Feel free to review this study that found the optimum angle of the rectum for defecating. The best flexion, it concludes, comes from squatting. Or, if you'd prefer, peruse this study that timed bowel movements from three different positions. Its subjects reported their average dump took less time and less effort when they were squatting.


Where There's a Problem, There's a Product

If I have you concerned over your pooping habits, you could browse the website of a New Zealand company that sells the Lillipad Squatting Platform. For just $169, the company will send you a platform that will allow you to squat over your standard 14'' toilet. Or, if you're tight on cash, for $8 they will sell you the plans to build one for yourself.

She looks way too happy... And way too flexible...

 Personally speaking, while all this information is fun to know, please don't go out trying to fix something that isn't a problem. If you are having problems evacuating your bowels, see a physician, and consider a simple fix like changing your diet to include more fiber and water.

Sleep 90 Minute Cycles, Wake Up Refreshed

If you're like me, you have a long-standing hate with your alarm clock. Timex and I are not on speaking terms. Why is it that even when I manage to snag 8 hours of sleep (a rare feat) that I still wake up feeling exhausted?

This cat shares my pain.

Well, studies indicate that the traditional 8-hour ideal of sleep isn't perfect for everyone. In fact, it's perfect for almost no one!

Average Sleep Needs
Age	Hours
Newborns (0-2 months)	12 - 18
Infants (3 months to 1 year)	14 - 15
Toddlers (1 to 3 years)	12 - 14
Preschoolers (3 to 5 years)	11 - 13
School-aged children (5 to 12 years)	10 - 11
Teens and preteens (12 to 18 years)	8.5 - 10
Adults (18+)	7.5 - 9

(Borrowed from this website that has everything you need to know about sleep)

The Sleep Cycle

As you sleep, your body transitions through several different stages. During these stages, different parts of your brain and body are activated to promote healing and relaxation. You also solidify memories in your sleep. If everything goes the way it is supposed to, you wake up feeling relaxed and ready to start the day.

This yawning hedgehog is ready for the daily grind.

Completing a cycle takes 90 minutes on average. If you were to wake up before a cycle has time to complete, your brain would not be ready to perform as it should. Furthermore, key bodily components like blood pressure and base temperature also shift during the cycle, so you would wake up feeling physically unfit as well.

One stage of sleep, the REM stage, is popularly understood as the stage when dreams occur. The only time you are likely to remember your dreams is if you wake up during this stage. Otherwise, the conscious mind has no time to analyze and commit the dream to memory. If you're someone who feels they never dream, the truth of the matter is that you're dreaming, on average, 4-6 dreams per night. You just don't remember them!

How to Avoid Breaking the Cycle

So now that you know about the 90 minute sleep cycle, how can you use this to help yourself sleep better? Well, for starters, you can try to allocate yourself enough time to sleep in increments of 90 minutes. Rather than aim for 8 hours, aim for 7 and a half hours of sleep. Use that extra 30 minutes of wakefulness to gradually relax before bed, like I mentioned in last week's post.

If you have an iPhone, consider this wonderful app that will monitor your movements while sleeping. Not only will it coach you to more restful sleep based on your habits, but it will monitor your progress through the sleep stages and wake you when you have completed a cycle.

You've been replaced, chump.

Or, if you're like me and don't have an iPhone, consider this article from LifeHacker that offers advice for getting the sleep you so rightfully deserve!

iPads, Phones and Laptops Before Bed Cause Sleep Loss

I grew up sleeping with the TV on. The quiet noise and flickering screen conquered two of my childhood fears: silence and darkness. Comforted, I would drift off within minutes of turning on the tube.

Lately, however, I have not had that same quality of sleep as I had when I was young. So I decided to look into it, and what I found was...

Some Electronic Screens Imitate Sunlight

Why do humans naturally get sleepy when we see it's getting dark outside? Contrary to what you might have been told as a kid, no, it has nothing to do with the Sandman.

Our brains secrete a hormone called melatonin during lengthy periods of darkness, and this hormone then helps us drift off to sleep.

The problem is that the light produced by many LCD screens (especially energy-efficient screens popular in smartphones, tablets, e-readers and laptops,) mimics the wavelengths of natural sunlight. In particular, blue light, a natural hue in the sunlight we see nearly everyday, is the troublemaker. Because blue light has only come from the sun until these last 20 or so years, our brains haven't had time to figure out the difference between the glowing orb and our Androids.

How big of an effect do these devices have on our brains? Just two hours of exposure to artificial light can reduce melatonin secretion by 22% according to a 2012 sleep experiment. The findings of this experiment, which are largely debatable due to the low sample size, are inviting further research into the effects of electronics on our brain chemistry.

What to Do?

If you feel like you just can't break away from your electronic device before bed (and I can relate to the feeling - I've almost beat Plants Vs. Zombies!) then the experts suggest dimming the backlight to reduce negative effect.

Just... One... More... Level...

Ideally, however, you should spend 30 minutes before you lay down in bed away from bright electronic screens. Maybe crack open an old book you've been meaning to get around to or do some stretches. Find a routine that helps you relax so you can get the most out of your sleep every night and be better prepared to handle the next day!

Your Ape Index Affects Climbing and Swimming

Over a bottle of beer, a friend casually mentioned to me, “I have a 2 inch Ape Index.”

“Oh really?” I replied, suspecting a foul innuendo.

“Yeah, dude!”

“That’s, uh… Good for you?”

He then brought out measuring tape and found that I have a 6 inch Ape Index. But what does this mean?

Ape Index

Michael Phelps has an Ape Index of 3 inches. Sonny Liston, a famous boxer, has an Ape Index of 29 centimeters. They both owe their prowess in their respective sports to their Index. But what is an Ape Index, anyway?

Those arms... Those long, long arms!

Well, there’s two ways to look at it:

Ape Index 1, the most widely accepted version, views the Ape Index as a ratio between height (toe to head) and arm span (fingertip to fingertip.) If your arm span is longer than you are tall, you have an Ape Index greater than 1. If you’re a perfect square, your Ape Index is 1. If your arms are short (like a T-Rex) you have an Ape Index of less than 1.

The Vitruvian Man is a perfect square - the "ideal man."

Ape Index 2, the far easier version (especially when drunkenly measuring yourself,) is to subtract your height from your arm span in inches or centimeters.

If you don’t like math, measure yourself (or have a friend measure you for a more accurate reading,) and then plug the numbers into this online Ape Index calculator.

What Does This Mean?

Having longer arms does not mean you're more monkey than your shorter-armed friends. Instead, having longer arms affords you with unique advantages: While rock climbing, a climber with a longer arm span can reach higher, often making difficult courses easier by skipping intermediary steps. Similarly with swimming, a swimmer with longer arms can displace more water per stroke, therefore moving further than those with shorter arms. The Ape Index also helps fighters determine their reach – a crucial measurement for deciding appropriate matchups.

With my freak-ish arms and gigantic feet, I could be an amazing swimmer… in theory. Every human body is different, building muscle and moving energy in slightly different ways. Even though my arm ratio is more beneficial than Michael Phelps’, I might have a harder time than he does in building the appropriate muscle. That's based mostly on genetics. And while I might be able to reach the canned green beans on the top shelf at the supermarket, I’m hardly interested in climbing mountains or getting into a boxing ring.

Natural characteristics are not indicative of natural talent or capability… But it does make for something interesting to measure after a few beers!

Classical Music Lowers Blood Pressure and Relieves Stress

Sorry for my week-long hiatus. My school work was piling up. Now that I’m past midterms, I’m back to blogging. And you know what I could use? Some stress relief. This week, I’m dedicating my blogs to methods for relieving stress.

All Aboard the Coltrane

John Coltrane makes my soul float. That is the simplest way I can put it. Whenever I’m stressed, I throw on some of his smooth saxophone jazz. As I drink in his mellow tones my shoulders sag, my eyes close and I take a deep breath. Coltrane is a musical magician. Don’t believe me? Have this playing while you read on – it makes everything better.

Nice, isn’t it? Anyway, I wondered if jazz actually has a physiological (fancy term for “bodily”) effect on lowering stress. Unfortunately, what few studies I found show that jazz is as effective as silence for treating stress. Fortunately, I found a type of music that supposedly does work.

Stress and Blood Pressure

Have you ever heard the saying, “Settle down before you pop a blood vessel?” Blood pressure has a noted correlation with stress. BAM! Someone just stuck a gun in your face! What’s happening!? Your heart is racing! The stress of having your life threatened has released adrenaline, making your heart beat faster and your blood vessels constrict.

Okay, now focus on the jazz. There is no gun. Relax. It’s okay. Sorry to do that to you.

Imagine you're here. See? Isn't that nice?

As you relax, your heartbeat slows and everything goes back to normal. This is what we call acute or situational stress. But people who work long hours at stressful jobs subject themselves to chronic stress. Rather than worrying about that hypothetical gun (it’s not there, I promise, keep listening to Coltrane,) people in an office worry for weeks at a time about deadlines and mounting assignments. This chronic stress leads to heart disease.

The Power of Classics

I’ve read three different studies about the power of classical music. The first one, conducted at the Institute of Behavioural Sciences in Budapest, Hungary, concludes that students listening to classical music before bed sleep better than those who listen to audiobooks or nothing at all. Although the study didn’t include anyone over the age of 28, you might want to give this a shot – just listen to 45 minutes of relaxing classical music before you fall asleep.

Another study, this time from the University of California, compared several different types of music on their effect on blood pressure. The subjects had to do three minutes of intensive math (yeah, that would stress me out too) and then either listened to classical, jazz, pop or nothing. Jazz and pop music had nearly the same effect on lowering blood pressure as sitting in silence, suggesting there was no effect. But classical music lowered blood pressure on average 80% faster than silence!

Deal with it Yoga - Silence is for chumps! More Mozart, please!

And finally, a study on patients undergoing ophthalmic (eye) surgery found that playing classical music helped to keep patients calmer, lowering heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate, and aiding not only surgery, but recovery. I don’t expect any of my readers to go out and get their eyes cut open any time soon, but if classical music can help keep people calm during that, it has to be pretty good!

Shameless Plug

Take some time out of your day to enjoy some classics. Personally, I prefer Coltrane for my stress. But if you’re looking for some classical music, try looking for Debussy or Mozart on YouTube. And if you’re in the Metro Detroit area, tune into 90.9 FM for classical music during the day and jazz music at night. Nothing makes a drive home from work better than Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.

Apple Seeds Contain Cyanide, But Are Not Poisonous

Apples are kind of a big deal. They symbolize knowledge and sin. They also symbolize health and discord. Personally, I see an apple and wonder two things, “Is it apple-picking season already?” and “Can I put a stick through that and cover it in caramel?”

Hey, this might be a health blog, but I’m still human.

So with happy things to think about like cider, Johnny Appleseed, and tasty treats, why all the negative associations with apples? Well, maybe it’s because…

Apple Seeds Carry a Cyanide Compound

Cyanide, made famous by murder mysteries and spy novels, is a nasty little chemical that keeps oxygen out of blood. A fatal dose of cyanide with turn someone grey and knock them unconscious. From there, the person will slip into a coma and eventually die. The medical definition for this condition is called "hypoxia."

And apples, despite their vitamins and nutrients, carry a compound within every seed called “amygdalin.” This compound breaks down into sugar and hydrogen cyanide – the same deadly chemical used in WWII gas chambers.

Oh the humanity! They're organizing! Save the children!

So apples have the capacity to kill you. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Apple Seeds Can’t Really Hurt You

Just kidding. Don’t be afraid - the dosage of this chemical in a single apple seed is miniscule. What’s more, the chemical can only be accessed if the seed is crushed or destroyed. Seeds have grown to survive the digestive tracts of animals as a way of travelling to find a better place to grow.

Even if you bought a bushel of apples, cored them, crushed the seeds into fine powder and put that into a drink, you still wouldn’t come close to a fatal dose. You would only waste a lot of apples and a lot of time.

 

Now if you used peaches, you’d be getting somewhere… But you didn’t hear that from me.

An apple a day

Keeps the doctor away

I propose we add a second verse to this rhyme:

But eating the core?

Have a coffin in store

I don’t think my addition will catch on in the schoolyard… Ah well.

Mustard: Pain Relief for Arthritis and Burns

Mustard. It’s such an unassuming condiment. It serves Ketchup’s sidekick – a yellow Robin to the tomato-y Batman. And yet, we all know someone who enjoys mustard as though it were crafted by the culinary gods. I had a buddy named Jimmy who drank it from the bottle on a dare. (A dare, I should mention, that he posed on himself.) There’s a regular at the restaurant I work at who uses mustard on his steak.

Personally, I can’t stand it. But, for some reason, this stuff is popular… And did you know mustard can be used as first aid?

A Bit of Mustard for Your Burns

The next time you get a minor burn, dab a little yellow mustard on it. Yep, you don’t even need fancy mustard for today’s trick – just classic yellow. The wound will sting a bit at first, but after a couple seconds you should feel better. Mustard doesn’t speed healing, unfortunately.

Oh, and in case it wasn’t obvious, don’t put mustard on an open wound. Lightly singed skin? Great. Open sore? Not great. Getting some greasy salt into already damaged tissue would be the opposite of pain relief.

"It's not the condiment we want... It's the one we need... The Yellow Knight."

 Mustard Seeds for Arthritis

The true player in the mustard is the seed. Many holistic healers suggest mustard seed pills to treat pains throughout the body, from arthritis to migraines. Or, you can make a plaster out of mustard seed to treat pain in a specific joint (instructions in the link.) The chemicals in mustard seed create heat when they touch the skin, immediately soothing away aches. However, the heat they create at first is pretty intense, so take measures not to burn yourself in the process. Arthritis is bad enough - don’t add chemical burn to your list of problems.

Not a mustard cast. Mustard doesn't work as well as plaster for broken bones.

 Do You Love Mustard?

If you love this curious condiment (more power to you,) check out this link and post your own story!