photo courtesy of Got Jenna

There is always room for improvement, you know – it’s the biggest room in the house – Louise Liber. Top 8 Life Hacks aims to improve different life areas such as – health, finance, relationships and self.

Life Hack #5 – Take A Break, Do A Stretch (Health)

Do you take breaks and stretch in between your work? If not, you are at risk of back aches, stiff necks, dry eyes, headaches and a host of other problems. As we spend more and more time in front of computer, it has become essential that we maintain correct body posture and stretch often.

Here are simple stretches for five most affected areas; you can do these in your office, remaining seated and without feeling awkward or silly -

• Neck:

  * Bend your head so that your right ear touches your right shoulder. Bring your head back to center. Repeat the same for the left side. Don’t do any jerky movements. And don’t stretch beyond comfort. If you keep your eyes closed while doing this and focus your mind completely on the movement (and not
  thinking anything else), this can work as a stress buster as well.

• Eyes:

  * Close your eyes and cover them with your fingers. Move your eye balls in circular motion.

  * Every 30 minutes or so, move your eyes off the screen and refocus on a distant object. Preferably on colour green (since it’s soothing)

  * Blink frequently – this keeps eye surface lubricated.

• Shoulder:

  * Roll your shoulders clockwise and anti-clockwise. (You can also do a similar wrist roll)

  * Take a deep breath and shrug your shoulders. Lift them up to your ears and pause. Release and drop.

• Back:

  * Turn right and hold back of chair with your right hand and arm of chair with your left. Twist back as much as you can – you can use your right hand for a power pull. Hold for a while and release. Repeat on the other side.

• Butt:

  * Even if you stand up on in a while, your butt will thank you The easiest exercise that you can do at your desk is butt squeezes. Simply squeeze your buttock muscles, hold for a count of ten and release. Do this several times. If you wish to preserve your butt size and ensure they don’t increase, this exercise is meant for you.

These exercises can be done anywhere, anytime. And hence, there is no excuse to not to do them. Along with these, what helps most is to take a short break every two hours. Get up and away from your desk even for a minute or two.

If your work environment is not supportive of short break without any reason, this is what you can do –
Keep a bottle which can have up to two glasses of water. Make it a point to finish the bottle within two hours. Every two hours, get up and refill the bottle from water cooler. Your break will become legitimate and bonus – you will drink 8 glasses of water at your work place.

I personally find a short break after two hours to be quite relaxing and refreshing. It helps me clear my mind and refocus. In addition to this, my productivity level boosted as I started taking breaks.

Do you take breaks and do stretches? Do try out the exercises I mentioned and let me know how you find them. Share in comments.

Read Other Hacks:
• Life Hacks:
  #1
  #2
  #3
  #4
  

Take A Break, Do A Stretch is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

Water Is The Most Neglected Nutrient In Your Diet But One Of The Most Vital – Kelly Barton

There is always room for improvement, you know – it’s the biggest room in the house – Louise Liber.
Top 8 Life Hacks aims to improve different life areas such as – health, finance, relationships and self.

Life Hack #1 : Drink Adequate Quantity Of Water (Health)

How do you know when to drink water?

If you answered when you get thirsty, you couldn’t be more wrong. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated. To ensure that you don’t get dehydrated, you should keep drinking water at regular intervals.

Why Drink Water

Water is known as a true miracle worker. Benefits of drinking adequate amount of water are -

• For Body
  • De-toxifies your body
  • Relieves constipation
  • Helps maintain blood pressure
  • Reduces chances of getting kidney stones
• For Productivity
  • Improves mental and physical performance
  • Boosts your energy levels
  • Relieves some headaches
  • Releases stress
• For Weight Loss
  • Prevents water retention
  • Increases your metabolism rate
  • Decreases fat deposits
  • Is a natural appetite suppressant
• For Beauty
  • Improves skin
  • Has anti-aging qualities
  • Help reduce zits/pimples on face
  • Makes your skin clean and clear

How Much Water Do You Need

• 8*8 Rule
  • As per the 8*8 you should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water everyday – that’s 2 quarts – 1.8 liters.
• Calculate By Weight
  • Divide your weight (in pounds) by 2 to get number of ounces you need to drink everyday. Or divide your weight (in kg) by 30 to get number of liters your need to drink everyday.
• Other Factors
  • There are other factors to consider as well – exercise, environment, consumption of dehydrating drinks, illness like flu, vomit or diarrhea etc. If you are losing water in any of above mentioned ways, then you should be having more water to match water lost. There are certain illness types for which reducing water consumption is required. It’s best to go by what doctor says when ill.

How To Drink Adequate Water

• Tips On How To Drink More Water -
  • Keep water within reach – “always”
  • Set up fixed time to drink water using reminders
  • Discard or make difficult to access all options you use in place of water when thirsty – soda, candy, beverages etc
  • Keep track of how much water you drink
  • Drink water first thing in the morning
  • Get into a habit of drinking water – in the morning, on reaching office, before leaving house etc
  • Eat water rich foods
  • Add a dash of lemon or honey for flavor
  • Drink a full glass always (rather than taking sips)

Do you drink enough water? How do you ensure you meet your daily water needs? Share in comments.

Water – A Drink To Your Health is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

We never repent of having eaten too little. ~Thomas Jefferson, 1825

It’s hindu new year next week. Our way of celebrating is to visit everyone we know to wish them new year. And because it’s impossible to visit everyone in a day, the celebration goes on for a week, sometimes even a month. No one is left out – aunts, uncles, grannies, friends, relatives … we meet and catch up with all. And unfortunately, all of them choose food as a way to show their love. We are over stuffed with sweets, chocolates, special dishes etc which find their way to our stomach and somehow manage to stay there forever. It’s common to put on 3-5 pounds during this period. Tough time for those who are dieting or managing their weight.

Staying on a diet is difficult. And so is saying no to relatives and friends without offending them. (‘no’ is often taken personally making matters worse). Sometimes, it seems as if we need to stop socializing to be able to diet (of course this is not an acceptable option). So how does one exactly stay on diet without offending the host?

[I will be using 'host' loosely for friends, relatives ... anyone we visit]

Some strategies I use:

1. Declare You Are On A Diet
If the host-family is understanding and supportive of your diet, things couldn’t get easier. Simply share with them before hand that you are on a diet and assure them you will not be shy and have dishes which complement your diet.

2. Share A Plate
It’s difficult to figure out who had how much food when they are sharing the same plate. Share a plate with a friend, partner or sibling.

3. Take Small Portions
A little bit of everything on plate leaves no room for the host to insist you for more food. You can easily say that you will have more once you finish the food item off your plate.

4. Eat Slow, Chew More
Eating slow ensures that your plate is full and you look as if you have been eating for quite some time. This leads to an assumption that you have had lot of food and thus your host might not force you to have more.

5. Quit The Clean Plate Club
If your host fills your plate with food, or you have to take more just to please them, it doesn’t mean that you need to finish it all. It’s ok to leave food on the plate.

6. Appreciate Food Dishes Which You Can Have
Verbally appreciate food dishes you can have – this will shift focus to food dishes which complement your diet. If your host do ask you to have more, then it will be of dishes you want.

7. Conversate
Social gatherings are all about having meeting people and not about having food. Conversate, change focus from food to talks. It’s difficult for the host to keep track of who had how much food if he/she is engrossed in a conversation.

8. Say No Even If You Are Hungry
I prefer going back hungry and having some food at home rather than eating too much and then feeling guilty about it. Some people love to make you have food after you say no. Hence, say no when you are hungry – so that you can have one helping because they say so and yet, have eaten only as much as you wanted to.

What are your strategies on staying on diet without offending the host? Do share in comments.

Staying On Diet Without Offending The Host is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.