(Newswire.net — June 24, 2019) — For the most part, we think we’re doing our best to make decisions that benefit our health. We try to eat well, get exercise, and reduce stress as much as possible. But sometimes the biggest contributing factors are the ones we don’t consider.
Spotlighting 3 Overlooked Culprits
In our sanitized, American, 21st century context, it’s easy to feel as if we live a relatively safe life. Yes, we know that there are big threats out there – like war, nuclear bombs, gun violence, and global warming – but on the individual level, we feel fairly safe. No sane person sits in his living room and thinks to himself, “All those little things I did today – they’re killing me!” Yet, for most of us, this sentiment wouldn’t be far from the truth.
Even if you’re exercising, watching your weight, and wearing your seatbelt, there are still dozens of less obvious factors that could potentially have a negative impact on your health. We’re going to focus on three in particular:
1. Household Cleaning Products
When you go to the store and purchase a cleaning product for your home, you assume that it’ll help you achieve a cleaner and safer home. But what most consumers don’t realize is that most commercial cleaning products are laced with dangerous chemicals.
Many household cleaning products – including the majority of the ones you have on hand at any given moment – are comprised of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These toxic chemicals can contribute to chronic respiratory problems, headaches, allergic reactions, and even cancer. They’re found in a number of air fresheners, bleaches, detergents, cleaning, rug cleaners, floor polish, and oven cleaners.
The best way to avoid these VOCs and dangerous chemicals is to remove them from your home and instead make your own cleaning products out of natural ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, and other safe alternatives.
2. Bedroom Mattresses
“The average American sleeps 6.8 hours per night. That amounts to 2,482 hours per year (or more than 103 days). And if you consider that the average lifespan of a mattress is somewhere around 10 years, this means you’ll eventually spend the better part of 24,820 hours – or in excess of 1,000 days – on your mattress,” Perfect Cloud explains.
Sadly, the majority of Americans sleep on mattresses that aren’t well optimized for their bodies. The result is back and neck pain, headaches, jaw pain, and restless, sleepless nights.
The current purchase process of going to your local mattress store, testing out some floor models for a few minutes, and buying the mattress that you’ll sleep on for the next eight or nine years needs to be done away with. Instead, consumers need to become more informed about what to look for in a mattress and have the luxury to try their new mattress out for a few weeks or months before fully committing to it.
Thankfully, many mattress companies are spending time educating their customers about how their mattresses are made, which mattresses are right for which body type, and how to optimize for better sleep. They’re also offering generous trial periods where customers can test out their products and get refunds if they don’t meet expectations. This is the way mattress shopping should be.
3. Media Exposure
In 2007, a groundbreaking study revealed that the average American was exposed to 5,000 ads per day. But that was 12 years ago – when Facebook and YouTube were still in their infancy. That was back when Google’s advertising revenue was approximately $16.4 billion. (It surpassed $116.3 billion last year.) So it’s safe to say that the average American is probably exposed to at least twice as many ads today.
Regardless of what the number is, constant exposure to advertising and media isn’t a positive thing for the human brain. An overabundance of messages sends mixed signals to the brain, which can result in increased stress, anxiety, and even depression. This is especially true with chronic exposure to the 24-hour news cycle.
“These images change our overall mood to a more negative one — more sad or more anxious — and it is this change in mood that leads to psychological changes in the way we attend to things around us (e.g. we are more likely to pick out things in our environment that are potentially negative or threatening),” British psychologist Dr. Graham Davey explains. “This can have a vicious cycle effect on mood generally for some time.”
The solution isn’t to ignore the outside world, but rather to find balance between screen time and periods where you unplug. Limiting recreational screen time to a couple of hours per day can make a big difference in your mental health and emotional stability.
Are You Health-Conscious?
Most Americans have a basic understanding or awareness of what they should be doing to live healthy. Most of it has to do with eating habits, exercise, eliminating risky behavior, and seeing the doctor once a year. But there’s more to living healthy than these elementary basics. You also have to consider the silent factors – such as household cleaning products, your bedroom mattress, or chronic media exposure – and how they’re affecting your mind and body.