You won’t be surprised to hear that OTC and Prescription drugs are more popular than ever. The commercials are everywhere and nearly impossible to avoid! Not to mention we are indoctrinated and conditioned from birth to take some pharmaceutical to feel better and to avoid any discomfort.
However, have you ever thought that maybe all of these new medications with a long list of side effects aren’t necessarily making you healthier? In 2014, 1.3 million people ended up in emergency rooms due to bad reactions to prescription drugs. And the numbers are only rising!
What happened to all of those old natural health tips your grandparents told you? Sometimes called old wives tales? If you ignore natural remedies and cling to all these new chemicals, your body might not be able to keep up for much longer.
Learn the value of these 10 natural health remedies:
1. Ditch The Antibacterial Soap
You were taught that, the more you wash your hands, the healthier you’ll be. Unfortunately, this message is less of a health tip and more of a marketing tool. Aside from wearing surgical gloves all day, every day, the amount of bacteria you touch in a day is mostly out of your control.
In addition, using an “antibacterial” liquid soap might be marketed as the most responsible option, but it could be doing you more harm than good.
An American journal called Clinical Infectious Diseases published that triclosan, a main ingredient in most antibacterial soaps, can cause bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics.
Next time you’re shopping for bathroom soap, opt out for the good old bar of soap. If you’re worried about your skin drying out, find brands that are infused with shea butter or oils.
Schmidt's™ Vegan Soap | The New Face of Natural.™ shop.schmidtsnaturals.com/Soap Made from plant-derived ingredients, moisturizing, sudsy -- And it smells great.\Non-Sticky Feel · Award-Winning Deodorant · Made in Portland, OR · Sensitive Skin Formula
2. Disinfect With Honey
Honey isn’t only good for sweetening tea and baking, it’s also popular in the beauty industry as a skin treatment. This may seem like a fad, but honey has antibacterial properties.
However, the lesser known use for Manuka honey’s antibacterial properties is definitely not as popular. It can also be used to disinfect open wounds. Put a few drops of Manuka honey on small cuts and scrapes before using a Band-Aid to prevent infection. Manuka honey is also prepared on a translucent band-aide.
Quickly disinfecting a wound will allow it to heal faster with no scarring.
3. An Apple For Your Pain
Green apples have tons of health benefits. Both the apple itself and the peel help with:
-weight loss
-improving skin and hair
-digestion
-strengthening joints
-detoxifying the liver
-strengthening the immune system
-preventing asthma
-reducing the risk of cancer
While these have been scientifically proven, there’s another use for green apples that you may not have heard of. Sniffing green apples can have a positive effect on your brain. Inhaling that sweet scent can reduce migraines, help with claustrophobia, and reduce general anxiety.
Next time you feel a headache coming on, feel anxious or claustrophobia be sure to head for the fridge instead of the medicine cabinet.
4. Don’t Brush Your Teeth After Eating
We’re commonly taught to brush our teeth in the morning and at night. Some people take it a step further and brush after every meal. While this may seem responsible, it may be harming your teeth in the long run.
Even if you think like all the food is out of your teeth, enzymes in your mouth are still breaking down tiny pieces. That means that, after eating acidic foods like oranges, fish, or coffee, the acid can still be there for hours.
If you brush your teeth with all that acid still in your mouth, you’re essentially scrubbing off your enamel. Make sure to wait at least 30 minutes to an hour before cleaning those pearly whites.
5. Weird Bathroom Etiquette
It may seem like a small meaningless step in your routine, but closing the toilet lid before flushing will help protect your health and keep your bathroom clean. Every time you flush, a microscopic puff of particles shoots into the air and can linger there before landing on your floor, counter, and all surfaces.
Do yourself a favor and close the lid as a habit before flushing.
Also, in public restrooms, go into the first stall. People usually head straight to the last stall to have more privacy, so the first stall will statistically have less bacteria (and more toilet paper!)
Another important bathroom tip is to stand before you flush. That puff of particles mentioned, if you’re sitting down, it will transfer all of that fecal matter back onto your skin, causing intestinal bugs and even hepatitis.
6. Hot Drinks to Cool Off
What’s the first thing you usually reach for when you’re burning hot and need to cool off? If you answered ice water, you’d be wrong. The best way to cool off is to drink hot liquids like tea or hot water.
Drinking a hot beverage will make you sweat. Once that sweat evaporates, you’ll instantly feel cooler.
Researchers at the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Kinetics studied the core temperature of two groups of cyclists; one group who had had hot drinks and one that didn’t. Their tests showed that the cyclists who drank hot beverages before testing had lower body temperatures than those who didn’t.
Yarrow tea, in particular, makes you sweat out toxins, and is an amazing way to break fevers.
7. Cure Low Sex Drive At The Farmers Market
Age can often bring low testosterone and libido, but some people are already born with lower levels. Instead of scheduling a doctor’s appointment to get a prescription, head to your local farmer’s market and get a Peruvian Maca plant.
Maca is a vegetable root. If you don’t want to prepare the root yourself, you can buy prepared Maca root powder or capsules.
Maca Root Benefits
- Rich in Antioxidents
- Enhances Energy, Mood and Memory
- Improves Female Sexual Health
- Balances Estrogen Levels
- Boosts Male Fertility
- Boosts Sex Drive
- Relieves Menopausal and Postmenopausal Symptoms
- Hormone Imbalance Issues
8. Take a Coffee Nap
Most people wake up in the morning, have a cup or two of coffee, and then have ANOTHER cup again in the late afternoon. But even then, most people find it hard to last the entire day without crashing.
What if this isn’t because you aren’t taking enough coffee breaks, but because you could be doing more with the ones you already take. A Japanese study found that combining coffee and naps (everyone’s two favorite things) can actually improve energy and performance more than coffee alone.
Instead of going right back to work after downing your coffee, take a quick 20-minute nap. Research shows that your body will start to absorb the caffeine in coffee after about 20 minutes. By the time you wake up from your nap, you’ll be wide awake and ready to take on the rest of your day!
And that nap you took will help that caffeinated energy boost last for hours longer than normal.
9. Mustaches Make You Sneeze
Do you get horrible allergies every Spring that come out of nowhere? If you’re a man with a large mustache or beard, those terrible symptoms might not be a coincidence. Pollen will actually gather in your beard and make normal allergy symptoms even worse!
The quickest solution is to shave the stash, but if you can’t bring yourself to live without your beautiful beard, there are plenty options for beard shampoos. Wash it twice a day to keep clean and pollen-free!
10. Don’t Play the Blame Game
Did you know that blaming other people for your problems can cause you distress and prevents you from moving on?!
Research has shown that blaming others increases stress and causes health complications like higher blood pressure, risk of stroke and heart attack. While not taking responsibility may keep you out of trouble now, it can kill you in the long run.
Research has linked better aging in general to having a strong purpose in life. If the brain begins to give up, the body will quickly follow. Some research even links the elderly having high levels of purpose to having quicker walking speeds and firmer grip strength.
The stress of not taking responsibility for your actions, health, and life leaves a person feeling like they have a lack of control or power in their life.
The next time something goes wrong, rather than avoiding responsibility and blaming others, own your actions and choices for the good of your health.
Weird Health Tips
Did your grandmother tellyou to put potato slices on your head to cure a fever? Give it a shot before popping that aspirin.
Did you weird aunt tell you to put a sliced onion on the bottom of each foot and wear socks over them to bed for the flu? Test her theory! (wash your feet the next morning)
The devil is in the details, and making these little changes can add years to your life and keep you from taking OTC or prescription drugs that knocks your immune system out (which is your body's defense system) and have a long list of negative side effects--worse than the symptoms you have.
Weirdomatic has 10 tips for relieving muscle pain that’ll save you a lot of money on massages.
Last, but not least, for every symptom there are five or more natural remedies with few or no side effects to resolve it. With the Internet it is easy to find remedies. I highly recommend Dr. Mercola and Dr. Axe's website. Or use a key word search Natural Remedies for (include symptom)
I am here only to be truly helpful.