We think we know how our bodies function. We breath, eat, and sleep, using them day in and day out, but there are so many things we don’t actually know. There are new hacks we discover about our bodies all the time that we never knew existed.
For example, it turns out that there are ways to stop your hiccups or put pressure on your face to suppress a sneeze. Read on to learn about some simple and useful tricks that may relive pain, save you from embarrassment, or just make your life a little easier.
Here’s something new
It’s pretty annoying when your sinuses are congested. You can’t smell anything, and your whole face ends up hurting you. What if we told you that there’s a simple way to drain your stuffy nose?
Next time you have this problem, press your tongue on the roof your mouth and then press a finger in between both your eyebrows. Hold your finger there for about two to three minutes. It sounds weird but it oddly works most times.
Cooling your body
Ever wondering what to do if you just went for a run and you’re super hot and sweaty? Let’s just assume that you’re not near water and you still have a long walk ahead of you until you can get home and shower. There’s actually an easy trick to cool your body off.
All you have to do is pour the cold water on your wrists. This works because your blood vessels are close to the surface of your skin, so the cold water will lower your temperature.
No more heartburn
So you get invited to your’s friend’s house for dinner and she serves so much food. You had the best time, but when you come home later that night, you start to get heartburn. It might have been the alcohol or the spicy Indian food.
Either way it’s extremely uncomfortable. Luckily there’s a way to prevent this from happening the next time. When you go to bed, lie on you left side. Let’s hope you never get heartburn again!
Squatty potty
While this may be a slightly touchy subject, we do use the bathroom multiple times a day and it’s a very big part of our lives. Now that we got that out of the way, do you ever find that it’s hard to go to the bathroom sometimes? Maybe it’s actually the positioning that’s giving you a hard time.
Believe it or not, there are stools out there (like the squatty potty) that are made specifically to elevate your knees so you’re in a squatting position when you use the toilet. You’ll thank us later.
Brain freeze
We’re sure everyone has heard of the term “brain freeze.” Brain freeze is when you eat something very cold like ice cream, and you wind up getting a headache almost immediately. Why does this happen? When you eat something cold very fast, the back of your throat doesn’t have time to adjust to the temperature.
It sends a signal to the brain and the brain give you a headache, telling you to slow down. The trick to stop a brain freeze is to press your tongue to the roof of your mouth.
Decongestion
How annoying is it when you have a cold or when you have allergies? Your nose gets super congested and it can be really uncomfortable. For an alternative to medicine, we have a nifty little trick for you.
Lay on the side that is opposite to the stuffed nostril. Then tilt your head in a few different directions and stay in that position. When the pressure is released, you’ll know that you found the right position.
Getting nicked
This one is more of a guy thing. Shaving your beard can be a huge chore. It takes time and you have to be careful not to nick any part of your face or neck. But sometimes you’re rushed and there’s no time to spend a few minutes in the bathroom.
Still, we want to avoid nicking ourselves at all costs. Here’s one trick you can use the next time you shave. When you shave over your Adam’s apple, try swallowing as you swipe with the razor.
High fiving
Have any of you tried to high five your friends but you completely miss their hand? It’s happened to us a lot and it’s kind of embarrassing. Plus, you start questioning yourself as to why your friends are able to do it but you can’t. Maybe there’s something wrong with your arm.
In all seriousness, there is a way for this to stop happening. When someone high fives you, pay attention to where there elbow is and aline your elbow with their’s. How simple is that!
I can’t hear you
Let’s say you’re in a loud bar or club and your friend is trying to talk to you. You can’t hear a word she’s saying and she just keeps talking. How frustrating is that? This happens more often that not and you almost question as to why go out in the first place.
Fortunately, there is a cool hack you can try. Pull back lightly on the small flaps of your ears and then push them inward. Now you can finally hear what your friends are saying!
Night vision
Sometimes you have to get up in the middle of the night. Maybe it’s to use the bathroom or maybe you forgot to prepare some thing for the next day. Before you turn on the lights, we have a cool trick for you.
In order to be able to see when you shut the lights off again, cover one eye right be fore you turn the lights on. This way the other eye is still used to the night vision and the eye that stayed open will easily adjust in the dark again.
Just relax
It seems like almost everyone has had a panic attack or some sort of anxiety in their lives. Life is stressful and it’s completely normal to find yourself in these tough situations.
While we don’t guarantee this will help, there is a way to try to relax your body when this happens. Put a cold water bottle on your face in between your cheekbone and nose. Then hold your breath for 30 seconds. Your body should feel a bit more calm.
The towel trick
This cool trick isn’t as popular but it’s genius, so you’re in for a treat— if you wear swim trunks. After you go swimming, you probably wrap your towel around your waist, get in the car , and get the seat all wet. Well you may never do that again once you try this hack.
Wrap the towel tightly around your waist this time and also tightly around your knees so your knees are touching each other. Then squat down and your trunks should be completely dry. Amazing!
It’s all mental
Have you ever tried to do pull-ups at the gym or at the park but you can’t seem to do even one? It doesn’t look so hard but for some reason you can’t pull your body over the bar! If you’re a reasonably fit person, it may just be all in your mind.
The next time you try, imagine that you’re not pulling your body up but rather you’re pulling your elbows down. Just thinking about that can make the workout easier and it forces you to use more of the muscles in your back.
No more gag reflex
Have you ever brushed your teeth or smelled something terrible and started to gag? It’s a problem for a lot of people and it’s a really uncomfortable feeling. Luckily we have a suggestion that actually seems to work for many people.
Make a fist and squeeze your left thumb into the palm of your hand. It might be a weird suggestion but it cuts off your gag reflex. Try it the next time you brush your teeth and the feeling comes on.
Healthy and yummy
They say that chocolate is the cure for everything. And who doesn’t like eating chocolate? All jokes aside, chocolate can actually be very good for you. Dark chocolate is filled with nutrients like fiber and iron, and is a great source of antioxidants.
It may also improve low blood pressure and can lower the risk of heart disease. Now we’re not saying to consume tons of it per day, but having some a few times a week many actually be beneficial.
Be prepared
No one likes to puke. That much is pretty obvious, but it happens every so often and we can’t really do much about it. It might be that you’re not feeling well, or maybe you got food poisoning at your friend’s birthday dinner.
What we can tell you though, is that there’s a way to know that when it’s going to happen so at least you’re a bit more prepared. Your mouth tends to fill up with saliva before it happens, because the food in your stomach is harmful to your throat.
Better balance
Did you know that there’s an easy way to both strengthen your balance and exercise your calves? We almost didn’t believe it either but the truth is that there’s an easy way. It’s so easy, you can do it every day when you get out of bed in the morning.
Just tiptoe when you walk from your bed to your bathroom and back. Your balance will get better and you’ll have awesome calves. It’s a win win.
Look into the light
There are many annoying things in this world, but there’s one thing that’s right at the top of our list. Have you ever felt a sneeze coming on but the sneeze just doesn’t come out? You wait and the feeling is there but then you fail to actually sneeze in the end?
Yup we’ve all been there and it’s really frustrating. We do have a weird suggestion that works for some people. When you’re about to sneeze, look at a bright light.
Stretching
How many of us walk around with sore backs, aching shoulders, and tired feet? We’re pretty sure that just about everyone reading this is nodding their heads. We carry bags on our shoulders and backs, walk all day, and stand on our feet for way too long.
There is a way to minimize the soreness that we’re feeling. Take five to ten minutes out of your busy day to stretch on the floor. We guarantee this will work wonders for your body.
Changing positions
Have you ever taken a long exam and you find yourself stuck on a question? We’re pretty the answer is yes. The question can either be on simple vocabulary or a math complex math problem, but either way, you can’t figure out the answer for anything.
There is a hack that appears to work in this situation. If you don’t remember the answer, adjust the position on your seat and it might help you think differently.
Can’t forget this
This one is pretty obvious but we’ll put it on the list anyway. It makes up about 60 percent of our bodies and we need it to survive. Did you guess what we’re talking about? That’s right, we’re talking about water.
It’s very important to drink water and health experts say you should drink about half a gallon per day. You could argue that it’s not so much of a hack but more of a reminder— start your day off with a glass of water.
Float away
So you’re swimming in the ocean but it’s not so relaxing. The water is super deep and you’re treading to keep yourself afloat. Honestly, treading water can get tiring really fast. The good news is that there’s an easy solution for this problem.
We suggest that you should float on your back and arch your spine. While you do that, push your hips up to the direction of the sky. Now spread your arms out and relax. So easy.
Stop those hiccups
Hiccups are so annoying and always unavoidable. They show up at the worse time possible and are so hard to get rid of. They’re caused by involuntary contractions in your diaphragm and when this happens, your vocal chords close for a short period of time.
Luckily there is a way to stop these hiccups. One thing you can try is to breath in deeply, hold your breath, swallow twice, and exhale through your nose.
Stopping a sneeze
Just like there are ways to get your sneezes to come out, there are ways to stop them from coming out. Sometimes the room is really quiet and the last thing you want is to sneeze loudly. Even if you sneeze into your arm, it can still be uncomfortable with everyone turning around to look at you.
Good news is that we have a way to prevent your sneeze from coming out. Press down on the area right between your nose and upper lip. Works every time!
Feeling nervous
We all get really nervous sometimes. Maybe it’s the night before a major exam, a first date, or you’re just a nervous person. Either way we feel your pain and there are some ways you can deal with this anxiety. One way is as follows.
Try putting your thumb in your mouth, then close your lips and blow out air. Even though you might look silly with your cheeks all puffed up, you may feel more at ease, which is really all that matters.
Always exercise
We’re sure you’ve heard this a thousand times already but we’re here to say it again. The best way to make your mind and body feel better is to exercise. We’re not saying you need to join Crossfit tomorrow—however, it’s definitely beneficial to add some exercise into your weekly routine.
Maybe walk or bike to work a few times a week, and work out in your room for half hour. It will make you feel better physically and mentally. We promise.
A little weird
Okay so this one isn’t really much of a hack . It’s more like a weird body thing that happens when you exercise, but we’ll put it on this list anyway.
If you position yourself next to a door frame and have your arms hanging down, start pushing both arms against the frame for 30 seconds. Then let go and relax your arms. You’ll notice that your arms will rise upwards as you relax them. Cool huh?
Ouch, that hurts!
How many times have you eaten or drank something too hot by mistake? We’ve all done it countless times. There were time that we drank coffee too soon after it was made, or thought the pizza slice had cooled down enough.
If you find yourself burning your tongue (it happens to the best of us) we suggest you try this easy hack. Drink some extremely cold water and swish it around in your mouth. But just as a side note, sucking on ice doesn’t help much.
Try this
Everyone has a part of there body that they’re self-conscious about. It might be your stomach or maybe our arms. But in this case we’re going to talk about the chin.
There are some people have have a double chin and you can spend too much of your time obsessing about how unflattering it looks. If you want a quick fix, try putting your tongue on the roof of your mouth. This is also helpful if you want a more defined jawline.
Good to know
Nobody like to get a nosebleed. It’s uncomfortable, embarrassing, and kind of ruins the rest of your day. This usually happens from the dryness of indoor heating in the winter but you can also get them from an allergy or an injury.
The good news is that next time you’ll know how to stop them with this simple hack. Lean your head forward and pinch your nose for about five minutes. Your nose will stop bleeding, we promise.
Drink your water upside down
Okay, this one totally sounds like it makes no sense, but plenty of people actually swear by it. If you don’t really know what “drinking water upside down” means, just look at the picture. Any why would anyone want to do this, you might ask? Because it cures hiccups! Don’t believe us? Just give it a try.
It works for some people, and for some people it does absolutely nothing. But if you’ve already exhausted other anti-hiccup strategies, try this one out. Just get a class of water and drink it by tipping it the opposite way.
Never get jet lag again
Jet lag is something that anyone who has travelled far distances has had to deal with. Your body has a natural rhythm that it is accustomed to, and hopping on a jet and arriving in a new time zone totally messes with that. You can feel groggy, have trouble sleeping, and even have some other uncomfortable physical symptoms.
There is an odd hack that is prescribed for beating jet lag, though, and it’s to fast for long periods of time before flying. Simply avoid food for about 16 hours and say goodbye to jet lag.
Try out different sleep schedules
As simple as sleep is, it’s something many people struggle with. If you’re someone who can sleep plenty of time and still wake up feeling exhausted, you might just want to look into the life hack of polyphasic sleep schedules. That’s basically a fancy term that refers to having several smaller naps during the day rather than sleeping for a really long period of time once a day.
There are multiple schedules you can try out, including six separate naps that last 20 minutes each throughout a day. You’ll get lots of rest and have way more free time.
Get up earlier and earlier
There are a lot of different sleep problems that people struggle with. Perhaps the most common, though, is simply not being able to wake up as early as you should. Not being a morning person can be a real drag, especially if you have a job that forces you into an early schedule.
One trick that is commonly used to shift your internal clock and get up earlier is to slowly adjust in small increments. Wake up at 11AM one day, then 10:50 the next day. You’ll hardly notice the changes, and you’ll be up at 6AM soon!
Ditch those morning headaches
Okay, so you can get up easily in the morning. But maybe you have a different issue. Perhaps you’re one of the many people who get out of bed in the morning with a raging headache. There are a few reasons for why this might be happening, but the most common is low blood sugar. Because you aren’t eating for however long you’re sleeping, your blood sugar depletes throughout the night.
To combat this, eat a sugar-free and light snack of about 200 calories before going to sleep. It won’t keep you up, but it’ll cure low blood sugar.
The trick to easy memorization
Sleep is an incredibly powerful thing. During it, our brains do all kinds of crazy things, including dreaming, problem solving, and even solidifying memories. Yep, memories! You can use sleep to your advantage if you realize this. If you need to memorize something, such as a list of terms for a test or a presentation for work, read it and recite it before sleeping.
Your brain will wrestle with it as you sleep, essentially giving you hours of free memorization. You’ll wake up with it totally drilled into your memory. This one trick really works quite well.
No tears left to cry
Being emotional is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you get to experience a full range of feelings to a very deep extent. You get to be in touch with the world and those around you. But it can be annoying when you have a really strong emotional reaction to something that most other people don’t think twice about.
Instead of crying again at that poster of an orphan on the train, try this trick. Keep your eyes open and don’t blink. That’s it! It’s an easy way to dry up tears and prevent crying.
Distract yourself from laughing
We all remember that one friend we had in high school that we just couldn’t help but laugh around. Maybe you had that friend in college, too. Maybe you have that friend as an adult. And maybe you’re that friend for someone else. No matter who it was, though, you can thank them for all the times they made you laugh at inappropriate times.
There is a solution to this problem, though. If you feel the giggles coming on during grandma’s funeral, distract yourself by pinching your skin or biting your lip. It hurts, but it works.
A magical toothache trick
There are few things in life as annoying as toothaches. They hurt so bad, and it usually feels like there’s nothing you can do about it except head to the dentist’s office.
And with how scary that place is, we all know how important it is to procrastinate that visit as long as possible. (We’re kidding. Go to the dentist, folks! It’s good for you.) A nice short term fix for a toothache is pretty unbelievable sounding, but it’s real. Just hold an ice cube between your thumb and index finger. We can’t explain it, but it works.
Stop painful cramps while running
We have very painful memories from gym class. We remember standing on the side of the track, massaging painful stitches in our sides, while other students zoomed past us. But stitches don’t just happen to amateurs; these cramps can occur to even master runners. If you’ve ever looked for a hack that will help out, look no more.
All you need to do is exhale when you step with your left foot. Runners typically exhale while stepping with their right foot, which causes pressure to build up around the liver and other organs.
Breathe like the divers do
This one isn’t exactly the most useful trick in the book, but keep this in the back of your mind if you ever need to dive deep underwater or hold your breath for a long time for some reason. It’s a trick used by professional divers to hold their breath for insanely long times, and it can work for you, too.
What you need to do is take a series of quick, short breaths before holding your breath. Hyperventilation will make your brain think it has a lot of oxygen, turning off your instinct to take a deep breath.
Fall asleep like a pro
The human brain is incredibly complex. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t trick it. If you’re someone who has trouble with tossing and turning before bed, you might just need to fool your brain into thinking that the bed isn’t a place to relax and hang out. You need to teach your brain that the bed is only a place for sleep.
To do this, simply only get into bed when it’s bedtime. Get out immediately in the morning and don’t laze around in bed watching Netflix during the day. Your brain will get the point quickly enough.
What to do when your arm falls asleep
We all know that the crazy pins and needles sensation that we refer to as parts of our body “being asleep” has to deal with blood flow, but that knowledge rarely actually helps us get those body parts back awake again. There are specific tricks for each body part, but here’s one that works well for your arms.
The next time you feel pins and needles in one of your arms, try rocking your head back and forth. This will loosen up your neck. Tightness in the neck often causes arms to fall asleep, believe it or not.
How to deal with a throat itch
The nerves in our body are very curious things. While they seem relatively straightforward, the way that they connect to our brain is actually not as simple as you might guess. That’s why phantom limb syndrome exists, among plenty of other physiological oddities. You can take advantage of this if you ever have an itch in your throat.
When clearing your throat stops working, scratch your ear. For whatever reason, this will cause the itching in your throat to cease. Our bodies are very strange things, we’ve gotta say.
Is your food too spicy?
Whether you’re eating a ghost pepper on a dare or are just suffering from an extra spicy batch of curry from the local Thai restaurant, having a mouth on fire because of spicy food is always a painful experience. Most people start chugging water to deal with this, but that never really works. Instead, look to dairy.
Drink a huge glass of milk or eat a bunch of ice cream. You’ll be surprised at how well it helps lessen the pain of spicy food! Plus you get to eat ice cream. That’s a win-win right there, we say.
