Health is so important for adulting. We’ve probably all had the experience of getting sick, feeling miserable, and thinking we’ll be eternally grateful for our health as soon as we get better. Then we get better and completely forget to be grateful. Our health is the foundation on which everything else lies. However, it’s often hard to find the time (and money!) to support our health as best we can. Consequently, I’m always looking for health hacks that can boost my health as much as possible with as little time, effort, and money as possible.
Luckily, I have found a variety of health hacks that make a big difference. Plus, in many cases those health hacks actually save me money and time rather than the reverse. In this post, I’ll go over 15 life-changing health hacks that are supported by expert research and advice. I hope you find a few here that excite you and that you can fit easily into your life.
Incorporate an After-Meal Walk
In many cultures across the world, it’s common practice to take a walk after dinner. While this practice may seem largely social or cultural, it actually has tons of research-backed health benefits. On a somewhat obvious level, walking is amazing for our health. As I’ve discussed in other posts, walking is an incredible way to burn fat and calories, especially if you have the time to go for a longer walk or a couple of walks each day.
In fact, walking a mile burns a similar number of calories to running a mile. Of course, you can run a mile faster than you can walk a mile. However, many people enjoy walking a mile far more than running. Plus, walking is easier on your body. Consequently, it’s a much more accessible exercise for many people and an exercise that many people can do more regularly than running or other kinds of high-intensity exercise.
Walking also boosts our mental health. Researchers find that even short walks lead to a mood and energy boost.
And walking can come with social benefits. The longest ever study on happiness found that our social relationships are the most important factor for our wellbeing. Our social relationships also play a big role in the length of our lives. Walks are great opportunities to spend time with loved ones in person or to take the time to call a loved one and chat.
Why Is An After-Meal Walk Especially Important?
So why should you make your walk and after-meal walk? When we eat, our body is flooded with sugar and nutrients. If we exercise after we eat, our muscles can soak up those sugars and nutrients. However, if we don’t engage our muscles, our blood sugar can spike, straining our bodies. In the long-term, this can lead to things like weight gain and diabetes.
Consequently, going for just a 30-minute walk after dinner or another meal can stabilize your blood sugar, improve digestion, give you a chance to socialize with loved ones, lose weight, improve your mental health, and build your muscles. Now that’s a health hack that keeps on giving.
Underappreciated Health Hacks: Flossing Your Teeth
How many of us dread going to the dentist and having that moment when they ask us how often we floss? The reality is that many of us don’t floss our teeth enough and pay the price at that once or twice a year dentist appointment.
However, taking a few minutes each day to floss comes with more health benefits than you may realize. Flossing leads to whiter, healthier teeth, sure. It can also reduce your risk of gum disease by strengthening your gums and making them more impervious to damage and infection.
But did you know flossing can also reduce your risk of heart disease? Food and bacteria can easily get stuck in our gums if we don’t floss. Eventually that bacteria can enter our bloodstream, leading to inflammation. This has downstream effects on our whole body. By flossing, we reduce inflammation and bacteria in our gums and in our body in general. So taking a few minutes to floss once a day can truly be one of those health hacks that pay dividends.
Swap Alcohol for Sparkling Water: Health Hacks that Save You Money
This health hack is a controversial one. However, if you’re willing to try it out, it can majorly help your health and save you a lot of money. For the most part, alcohol is pretty bad for our health. It contains empty calories and increases our risk for liver disease, heart disease, some types of cancer, depression, and more. Plus, it’s expensive!
Many of us feel socially pressured to drink alcohol even if we don’t necessarily love the alcohol itself. This was the case for me. I found that while I loved spending time with friends at bars and restaurants, I didn’t necessarily love the cost or experience of the drinks I was buying. So I made an easy switch. Now I drink sparkling water with lime instead of alcohol.
This switch has come with tons of benefits. First, I save a lot of money. Second, I stay hydrated while avoiding unnecessary calories. Third, it tastes good and I actually enjoy drinking it. And fourth, it doesn’t come with social downsides. Generally, bartenders assume you’re a designated driver or avoiding alcohol for health reasons. And it looks like I’m just drinking a vodka soda. If anyone notices I’m not drinking alcohol and judges me for it, then I probably don’t want to be their friend anyway. It’s no exaggeration to say this swap has saved me thousands of dollars over time. Consequently, it’s one of those health hacks that also works as a money hack!
Increase Your Water Intake
On top of it, the strategy above helps with another big health hack: increasing your water consumption. It sounds so simple, but this strategy pays dividends. For one thing, dehydration often masks as hunger. This can mean that we end up eating unnecessary calories when really we just need to drink a glass of water.
Plus, dehydration can lead to headaches, lightheadedness, and mood swings. It increases your risk of kidney disease and heatstroke and can strain your immune system. And it can even accelerate signs of aging like fine lines and wrinkles.
So how much water do you need? The old adage of 8 glasses per day isn’t really accurate. The amount varies depending on the person, their environment, and their level of activity. Some people advise you to just drink when you’re thirsty. I don’t love this advice because we can mentally adapt to the amount of water we drink, even if it’s not enough.
Rather, the key is in your pee. See what I did there? If your pee is light colored and clear, you’re probably pretty well hydrated. If not, you should try to boost the amount of water you drink. And if you drink a lot and still feel dehydrated, you may need to increase your electrolyte intake. You can check out my guide on getting electrolytes, including from whole food sources.
Add Spinach to (Almost) Everything for an Easy Health Hack
Have you ever bought a bag of spinach only to have it turn slimy and smelly before you can use it all? I definitely have. However, I’ve had this issue less often now that I try to incorporate spinach into my meals in easy and creative ways.
Spinach comes with a wide range of health benefits. It’s full of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, iron, calcium, and magnesium. Plus, it’s low in calories and doesn’t have a whole lot of flavor.
That’s super handy because it means you can throw a handful on spinach in your blender any time you’re making a smoothie. I also toss it in at the end of the cooking process any time I’m making any kind of sauce or pasta dish. It cooks down to practically nothing in a few minutes. As a result, you can get a hit of nutrition but you and your family will barely notice it’s there.
Consequently, if you’re looking for easy health hacks that are also good for the environment (and your wallet), this is a great one. It reduces waste and improves your health!
Pre-Chop Garlic and Cruciferous Vegetables for a Surprising Health Hack
Another way you can majorly up the nutritional value of your meals is by chopping your garlic and cruciferous veggies 40 minutes before you cook them. Cruciferous vegetables include things like broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and cabbage. If you chop them and let them sit for 40 or more minutes before cooking or eating, they develop a compound called sulfurophane that prevents cancer.
Likewise, if you chop garlic and let it sit for 10 minutes or more, it develops a compound called allicin that is anti-cancerous, anti-asthmatic, antimicrobial, and more. It sounds like magic. But these health hacks result from enzymes reacting with oxygen to develop these helpful compounds. So try chopping your veggies at the beginning of your meal preparation to reap extra health benefits.
Use Smaller Dishes and Utensils
Like many of us, I like to have a bowl of chips at the end of the day while watching a show with Andrew. We keep ourselves from going overboard by using small bowls that are made for serving sauces. Studies show that people eat less when they use smaller plates and bowls. The visual of having a full plate or bowl can trick our brains into thinking we’re eating a lot.
Likewise, using smaller utensils can mean that we take longer to eat our food. Mentally, this makes us feel like we’re eating more. And physically, it gives our bodies more time to digest our food Indeed, it takes our bodies about 20 minutes to digest the food we eat so it often takes us that long to notice we’re full.
So if you struggle with overeating or are looking for a simple way to limit calories, try getting smaller bowls, plates, and utensils. It might just feel like the effortless swap you need.
Swap Chips and Cookies with Cereal
I love my nightly bowl of chips. And I don’t feel bad about this little indulgence. Indeed, I believe that moderation is truly one of the most important “health hacks” for a healthy and happy life. However, I will admit that lately I’ve been trying to be mindful of calories.
I made the very unfortunate decision to get fitted for my wedding dress a few weeks before I ran the Boston Marathon when I was at my very fittest. That means I now have to fit into that wedding dress despite not training for a marathon (or wanting to train for a marathon). Plus, I used those measurements for the bridesmaid dress I have to fit into in a few weeks.
So how do I fit into these dresses despite working out less? Part of my strategy involves being mindful about what I eat (the other part involves incorporating that after-dinner walk). However, I’m not willing to give up my little nightly snack. So instead, I’ve been swapping those chips for a little bowl of Cheerios or Chex (without milk). I still get the crunch and I love the flavor. But I get those benefits with fewer calories and a lot of vitamins and minerals.
Regardless of the time of day, if you need something crunchy but want something a little healthier than chips, crackers or cookies, consider a little bowl of your favorite (low sugar) cereal.
Drink Coffee: For Health Hacks We Can All Get Behind
That’s right, drinking coffee is included in these health hacks! Hallelujah! Coffee is much maligned, though it really shouldn’t be. Coffee is one of the few foods or beverages that has enough research behind it to pretty definitively establish its health benefits. Researchers find that coffee reduces our risk of heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, liver disease, stroke, kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and some types of cancer. Generally these studies find that 1-3 cups of coffee a day is the sweet spot.
Coffee can come with health costs. However, those costs come largely from overdoing it and/or drinking coffee too late in the day. For example, consuming too much caffeine can lead to headaches and shakiness. Drinking too much coffee, particularly too late in the day can also disrupt your sleep. Caffeine also takes about 10 hours to clear your body. So to benefit from coffee and avoid those health costs, try limiting yourself to 3 cups a day and stopping your intake at least 10 hours before bed.
Sleep for 7-9 Hours per Night: One of the Most Important Health Hacks
It may sound silly to include this in a list of health hacks because we all know sleep is important. That being said, many people don’t realize just how important it is. Getting enough sleep is key for our mood and alertness. We’ve all experienced the brain fog and grumpiness that comes from a bad night of sleep.
But long term, too little sleep increases your risk of obesity, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, stroke, dementia, the list goes on and on. Billionaire Bryan Johnson, who started a big study of longevity called the Blueprint Project, has even said that of all the interventions and products he’s tried and studied, getting enough sleep has been the most important for his health. Indeed, some studies have found that good sleep can increase your lifespan by about 5 years!
You can check out my health hacks for sleeping better. However, the key is to aim for 7-9 hours (women generally need more sleep than men). Try to go to sleep and wake up at consistent times, keep your sleep space cool, and wind down (preferably without screens) 30-60 minutes before bed. These tips can dramatically improve your sleep quality and quantity over time.
Breathe with Your Mouth Closed
Like sleep, many people don’t realize just how important our breath and how we breathe is for our health. Compared to other species, humans breathe very poorly. No other species snores, has asthma, and chokes on stuff like we do.
Why are we so unlucky in this area? It’s largely thanks to our ability to speak and, to a lesser extent, our ability to cook food. Both of those things changed our anatomy in pretty dramatic ways. You can learn all about this in James Nestor’s excellent book, Breath. However, the long and short of it is that our anatomy and environment isn’t conducive to breathing very effectively.
This sucks because our breath is obviously what delivers oxygen to our body. By not breathing well, we reduce our endurance and put pressure on our internal organs. Open-mouthed breathing is particularly harmful. It raises our risk of infection by increasing our exposure to toxins in the air (the hairs in our nose help filter those out). Plus, it leads to worse sleep quality and the negative effects associated with that.
By training ourselves to breathe with our mouths closed, we can dramatically improve our health. For optimal breathing, rest your tongue lightly at the roof of your mouth, leave a small space between your teeth, and breathe with your mouth closed. To practice this, you might place a small piece of paper tape between your lips. It takes time, but you can train yourself to breathe with your mouth closed.
Schedule a Consistent Friends Hangout or Call
As noted above, strong social relationships are the most important factor for our happiness and key for health and longevity. And we don’t need a lot of relationships. It’s far more about the quality than the quantity. As we get older, many of us find it harder to schedule the time to see or talk with even a few friends. As a result, we may have fewer and fewer close friends as we age.
I believe that one of the best ways to avoid that is to schedule a consistent time to spend with your friends. Ideally weekly, but biweekly or even monthly works too. That time can merely be a weekly phone call with a friend or family member. For Andrew and my friends, we do a biweekly trivia night. I also try to walk weekly with my parents. And I have monthly hangouts scheduled with a couple of friends.
Why Is Consistency the Key?
A regularly scheduled hangout comes with a few key benefits. First, it takes the decision-making and planning effort out of hanging out with friends. You both know when and where you’re spending time together. Plus, you end up building your life around that consistent activity so it ultimately feels natural. Almost all of us have more time than we think, we just don’t use it effectively. By building a regular activity into our schedule, we can naturally reallocate our time from less effective activities (like scrolling social media) to more effective ones, like actually being social.
And you’ll likely find that as you spend more time with friends or family in your weekly hangout, additional hangouts spin out from that. Our trivia nights have inspired us to go on hikes and runs together, to go to concerts, have game nights, and more.
If you don’t have a friend or family member who is willing or able to make a regular time commitment, set aside time each week to call or spend time with a different friend and/or family member. It might be that on Sundays from 10-11am you go on a walk and call a friend. Make it consistent and you’ll start to see the health payoffs in no time.
Get Fitted for Shoes
We rarely appreciate how important our feet are for the rest of our body. The way we walk can affect not just our feet, but our knees, back, posture, and more. Indeed, if you have knee pain, there’s a good chance you can trace it to walking with your feet too turned out or turned in. How do we support our feet and learn to walk better?
One of the easiest ways is by going to a shoe store and doing a gait analysis. By doing this, we can learn whether our feet are flat or arched, whether we turn our feet out or in, and where we put the most pressure. A footwear professional can then help you figure out what type of shoes to wear to address these issues.
Additionally, make sure to replace your shoes every 300-500 miles. As a frequent walker and runner, I hit that mileage pretty dang quickly. While I would prefer to not spend so much money on shoes, I start getting plantar fasciitis every time I wait too long to replace my shoes. This highlights just how important our shoes are for our ability to live a healthy, (mostly) pain-free life.
Spend Time in Nature: Health Hacks That Keeps Giving
Spending time in nature is amazing for both our mental and physical health. The book Nature Fix goes over the wide range of incredible benefits of nature for our health. I can’t do the same justice to those benefits here. However, briefly, researchers find that time in nature dramatically reduces our stress hormones and boosts mental health. Individuals with PTSD have seen their symptoms lessen markedly with time spent in nature.
Plus, trees and plants are full of natural oils and compounds that we breathe in when we’re around them. Those compounds boost our immune system and may even protect us from cancer.
Few of us have access to large forests or hiking areas nearby. However, you can get many of these benefits in urban parks or, if you have one, your backyard. For those living in apartments, you might try cultivating plants to get a daily dose of those benefits. Indeed, raising plants can boost your mental health and, for some types, improve air quality.
Use a Standing Desk
Finally, this is another health hack that many of us are aware of, but we might not realize how helpful or accessible it is. Researchers find that sitting poses a health risk that is similar to that posed by obesity and/or smoking. Indeed, sitting for hours at a time with no movement break increases our risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and blood clots.
On top of that, sitting wreaks havoc on our muscles and joints. If you have sore hip flexors and/or a sore lower back, there’s a good chance it’s from sitting. Your hip flexors have to work to keep your body in a sitting position. And we rarely have great posture while sitting, so we can put strain on our backs and joints. If you cross your legs while sitting, you can also create muscle imbalances in your legs and back. You can learn more about some of these issues in my post on Dead Butt Syndrome.
Using a standing desk helps alleviate some of these issues. Standing improves blood flow and can reduce soreness and muscle tension. Plus, it works your muscles more than sitting. While standing is no workout replacement, you do burn a handful of extra calories by standing rather than sitting (though the difference is disappointingly small).
Finally, there are mental benefits to standing. Standing helps keep you alert. You may therefore feel like you can pay better attention and feel less tired throughout the day.
How to Pay Less for a Standing Desk: Money Hacks for Your Health Hacks
Creating a standing desk is less expensive than you think. For many years, I used a pile of board games to prop up my computer. Now, I use this adjustable laptop stand from Amazon for $40 to create an easy, adjustable standing desk.
You can also ask your employer for a standing desk. If you anticipate that they’ll be resistant to buying you one, get a doctor’s note. If you are experiencing any pain from sitting at your desk all day or if sitting increases your risk of illness, you have a legitimate medical reason for a standing desk. While your employer may still not purchase you one, it can substantially help your chances.
Final Thoughts on Health Hacks
Many of us want to make positive health changes. However, starting a new workout routine or revamping our diet can feel very intimidating. Luckily, you can create big, positive differences in your health by making small adjustments to your routine or diet. Adding a 30-minute walk with your kids or a phone call with your mom or a few more glasses of water to your day or any of the other tips here can be transformative. And they may just empower you to make more positive changes in your life, be they small or large.
Have you made any health changes that you have found especially helpful? Let me know in the comments! And remember that I am not a medical professional. Before making any changes to your health, speak to a doctor.
I hope you found this post helpful. If you did, please consider liking, subscribing, or sharing with others. It’s always a huge help. Interested in related content? Check out my posts on 10-minute workout routines for beginners, why walking is a better workout than you think, how to transform your gut health, and setting SMART goals.