When you reach my age, you develop some weird little ingrained lifestyle habits that you don’t realise are odd-ball until, well, you write a blog post about them. Health advice, IMO, can be a bit too polished and holier-than-thou. And a bit dreary. Rarely do folk share the gritty, daggy stuff. Today, I figured I might.
Please don’t leave me out on a limb in my gritty, dagginess. Share yours below, yeah?
1. I tape my lips at night with surgical tape. I’m a teeth grinder. I could use an expensive mouth guard. But my dentist sensibly suggested I try this technique. I take a 10cm strip of that white surgical tape that’s a few bucks at the pharmacy (the 1.5cm wide one) and gently place it across my lips, sealing them together. I ensure I fold over each end so I have a “tab” for pulling it off in the morning.
Yes, oddly, this technique keeps my jaw relaxed all night. It works. And it’s almost free.
2. I scrape my tongue with a tablespoon. Tongue scraping is great. I used to have a fancy tongue scraper. I lost it. Now I just use a stainless steel dessert spoon.
3. I scrub my face with sand. I don’t think anyone needs a fancy face scrub. After a surf or swim I rub fine sand on my face. Or I use some rosehip or jojoba oil mixed with a bit of sugar or granulated stevia and gently scrub. I also have fancier recipes in Simplicious.
4. I cover my greys with mascara. A light wave of the wand over my hairline and all is fixed.
5. I squat when I check my emails. I have peristalsis issues resulting from my Hashimotos. In English, this means I struggle to “go” regularly, as many people out there with inflammation or auto immune disease issue tend to, too. The most effective trick I’ve found is to sit in an Asian street hawker-like squat as I drink hot water and lemon and go through emails first thing in the morning. The pose massages things, I think. And the distraction of emails also seems to help. I know, I know. I advocate not starting work until you’ve had a morning routine. But I often have to attend to overseas correspondence. And mostly I’m reading interesting articles from the New York Times etc. And, frankly, it keeps me regular.
