Are Your Bad Habits Actually That Bad For Your Health?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know you shouldn't bite your nails or use with your iPhone right before you go to sleep, but chances are, you're going to keep doing these things anyway. So how bad is it? Let's take a look.

Crossing Your Legs

How bad is it? Don't stress over this one.

Forget the old wives tale about crossed legs causing varicose veins—whether you get those is based solely on heredity factors. And while crossing your legs can temporarily elevate blood pressure (which is why physicians often ask patients to keep their feet flat during checks) there are no long-term heart-health effects from sitting with your legs crossed. Instead of worrying about how you're sitting, you should be worried about how much you're sitting, says Deirdre Mattina, MD, member of the American College of Cardiology. Numerous studies have shown that prolonged sitting is associated with an increased risk of developing cancer and diabetes, among other health issues. "Basically, the more hours you sit, the quicker you die," says Mattina.

The fix: 

It's pretty much impossible to avoid sitting altogether, so Mattina suggests taking frequent walking breaks. If you're at the office, stroll over to someone's desk to chat instead of sending an email or simply set yourself a little reminder to get up and move every 30 minutes or so.

Biting Your Fingernails

How bad is it? It's not horrible, but it's also not harmless.

In addition to giving you funky-looking fingernails, nail biting can damage future nail growth. "Chronic nail biting can change the shape of the nail permanently so that they grow shorter and wider, making nails look stubby," says Dana Stern, MD, professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. That's because frequent nail-biters are constantly damaging their nail matrix, the delicate, soft-tissue structure that produces the hard nail. Biting can also lead to nail discoloration and infections from outside bacteria and yeast from the mouth.

The fix: 

Since nail biting is often linked to anxiety, finding out why you have the urge to nibble is the first step (working with a psychologist or psychiatrist may help). Then, Stern suggests dropping some cash on regular manicures. "If you keep them polished, you're investing in them and it makes you pause before you bite," says Stern. The only downside: chipped or peeling polish, which can trigger the urge to nibble or pick.

Cracking Your Knuckles

How bad is it? Not a big deal—unless you do it 24/7

The satisfying (or, to others, really gross) sound of a knuckle cracking is actually joint fluid moving around in your digits, meaning the popping sound you hear isn't doing any major damage, unless you're doing it incessantly. "If you do it constantly, you'll wear out the ligaments in your joints," says Leon Benson, MD, orthopedic specialist and spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Stretch out those ligaments too much and you could seriously impair their functioning, which could lead to arthritis.

The Fix: 

Chronic knuckle cracking is often linked to anxiety, so any type of treatment has to first begin with psychiatric help, says Benson. But for less intense or just occasional crackers, simply being more mindful of when you have the urge to crack and trying to stop yourself may be enough.

Texting (Or Facebooking Or Instagram Stalking) In Bed

How bad is it? You need to stop doing this—today

Smartphones are the grown-up equivalent of a security blanket, but taking it to bed with you isn't a good idea for your sleep schedule. "Cell phones emit a blue-green wavelength of light that's stimulating to us," says Diane Augelli, MD, assistant professor at the Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine. That extra stimulation suppresses melatonin (a hormone your body produces to promote sleepiness), making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. What's more: chronic melatonin suppression could lead to an increased risk of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Fix: 

"Ideally, you would just set your alarm before bed then not look at your phone again until the morning," says Augelli. Many experts go as far as to suggest turning off all electronics at least an hour before bed. Either way, it all comes down to willpower: "If you're worried about your sleep and your cell phone is impacting your sleep, you just have to make the choice to stay away from your phone," says Augelli.

Skipping Breakfast

How bad is it? It's not great.

On harried mornings, breakfast often feels like a luxury you just can't afford. But failing to break that overnight fast deprives your body of the fuel it needs to rev your metabolism and give you enough energy to start the day, says Alissa Rumsey, RD, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Denying your body of that morning meal can also make you hungrier and more likely to overeat later in the day, and may even affect your concentration and memory. And if you skip breakfast on the regular, you could permanently slow down your metabolism, putting you at risk for issues like weight gain and diabetes.

The Fix: 

Use your weekends to prepare for the week. "Hard-boil a bunch of eggs, which are easy to grab in the morning, or stock up on containers of Greek yogurt with some nuts and fruit," says Rumsey. Smoothies are another easy solution—tossing dry ingredients into a blender the night before and adding liquid in the morning to blend cuts morning prep time in half . Still short on time? Stash some breakfast essentials at work—you'll still reap the same benefits of an immediate breakfast if you eat within an hour of waking.

Clearing Your Throat

How bad is it? Pretty bad

We usually clear our throats when we feel like something is stuck in it—totally normal during cold and flu season with the extra mucous created by sniffles and sneezes. But the problem with throat clearing is its habitual nature: "Throat clearing can become a vicious cycle; the more you do it, the more you want to do it," says Dale Tylor, MD, an otolaryngologist at the Washington Township Medical Foundation in Fremond, CA. And anytime you clear your throat, you're slamming your vocal cords together more forcefully than usual. "If you do that enough, you could get calluses or nodules on your vocal cords, which can significantly worsen your voice, making you very hoarse," says Tylor. Habitual throat-clearers could even develop a vocal cord hemorrhage, bleeding underneath the lining of the vocal cords, which requires speech therapy or surgery to heal.

 

The Fix: Each time you feel the urge to "ahem," take a sip of carbonated water, suggests Tylor. A a 2007 study that found 63% of throat-clearers noticed a reduction in their urges after sipping some ice-cold seltzer.

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5 Surprising Causes Of Alzheimer's Disease

It's happened to all of us: we forget where we parked our car or why we walked into a room. Some amount of forgetfulness is normal, especially when you're busy or have a lot on your mind. But for nearly five million Americans, that forgetfulness will progress into Alzheimer's disease.

Decades of research have shown that the buildup in the brain of toxic proteins, called beta amyloid and tau, can lead to Alzheimer's. What's less clear is what causes these proteins to accumulate. Some new studies have begun to explain this process, revealing that the causes of Alzheimer's disease go beyond genetics and unhealthy habits (though those are important factors, too). Here, some of the most unusual (and scary!) causes new science is pointing to.

• You're on Anti-Anxiety Medication.

A class of medications called benzodiazepines, which include the popular drugs lorazepam (Ativan), alprazolam (Xanax), and clonazepam (Klonopin), are frequently used to treat anxiety and insomnia. Although studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of these drugs have only evaluated their short term use (generally three months or so), many people take them long-term. A study published in the British Medical Journal followed 1,796 Canadians with Alzheimer's disease and 7,184 healthy controls for six years and found that taking benzodiazepines for more than three months was associated with up to a 51% increase in Alzheimer's disease.

The moral of the story? If you need benzodiazepines only on occasion, you're probably safe. If anxiety and insomnia are a regular issue for you, consider cognitive behavioral therapy, which has been found to effectively treat both conditions—without the harmful side effects of drugs.

• You've Hit your Head Too Many Times.

With an estimated 300,000 Americans getting a sports-related concussion each year, according to data from the University of Pittsburgh's Brain and Spine Injury Program, lots of us are familiar with the worries that can accompany a head injury. Most people recover without a hitch, but for others, the inflammation that helps to heal the damaged brain tissue becomes chronic. Here is where the potential links to Alzheimer's disease can be found, says Brian Giunta, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the University of Southern Florida.

Cells in your brain called microglia play an important role in inflammation. "When the microglia are constantly in a pro-inflammatory state, they are less able to clear amyloid beta from the brain," Giunta says.

Without microglia to clear the misfolded proteins, it can build up in the brain and kill neurons. It's still not clear why the inflammatory process stays switched on in some people or how many cases of Alzheimer's disease are potentially linked with traumatic brain injury, Giunta says.

• You're Regularly Sleep-Deprived.

A lack of sleep has hit near-epidemic levels in recent years, as we attempt to juggle career, children, marriages, hobbies, and more. For lots of us, something's gotta give—and many of us choose to sacrifice shut-eye. Besides making you drowsy behind the wheel and giving you the midnight munchies, this sleep loss can also speed up the development of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the Neurobiology of Aging.

"Sleep problems are common in people with Alzheimer's disease, but it wasn't clear whether this was cause or effect," says Domenico Praticò, MD, a pharmacologist and immunologist at Temple University in Philadelphia. In a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, Praticò and colleagues found that letting these mice only sleep for four hours a night increased the amount of tau in their brains. It also altered learning and memory, as well as how well neurons were able to communicate with each other. Chronic sleep deprivation, Praticò explains, stresses the brain and body (which is why you may be so tired), which speeds up the harmful processes leading to Alzheimer's disease.

"Sleep deprivation is a form of chronic stress on the body. It's also the time when the brain gets rid of bad things," such as excess amyloid beta protein, Praticò said. 

• You're lonely.

Remaining engaged with friends and the broader community is part of what many of us consider the good life. It's good medicine, too. A study in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry identified links between loneliness and the development of dementia.

We often feel loneliness

The researchers found that feelings of loneliness in older adults gave them 1.63 times the odds of developing dementia during the three years of the study. Scientists still don't know what's driving this association, but the implications are clear: Staying connected is good for you.

We are waiting

• You have diabetes in your brain.

To neuroscientist Suzanne de la Monte, MD, of Brown University, Alzheimer's disease is really a metabolic disease that affects the brain. The links are so close that she has begun referring to Alzheimer's disease as Type 3 diabetes.

Brain cells use glucose as fuel, and insulin tells these cells to slurp up glucose in the blood. De la Monte's big insight was that brain cells can develop insulin resistance, just like other cells in the body.

"Any organ can be affected by insulin resistance," de la Monte says. "You can have it in the liver- we call that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. If you get it in the kidney, we call it renal disease. If you get it in the brain, we call it Alzheimer's."

Her research over the past few years has revealed that this creates a toxic environment for the brain, leading to the harmful buildup of proteins and neuron death seen in Alzheimer's.

In addition to telling us more about how Alzheimer's can be prevented through healthy diet and exercise, it could also help potentially treat the disease. Preliminary studies have shown that inhaled insulin can help reduce symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia.

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