The 10 "good habits" you think are actually quietly "stealing" your health!

Drinking soup every day, walking 10,000 steps a day, sleeping on a hard bed... Are these behaviors familiar to you? Many people think they are "good habits" that are good for health! Now let me tell you that these "good habits" may harm your health!

Photo by Kou Xiaowen

1. Drinking yogurt after a meal can promote digestion

Nutritionist Li Yuanyuan wrote in Health Times in 2015 that many people think that drinking yogurt or lactic acid bacteria drinks after a meal can help digestion and strengthen the stomach, but in fact, drinking them after a full meal does not help digestion much. Moreover, yogurt itself is a food with a strong sense of fullness, and drinking it after a meal will make you feel fuller and add extra calories. ①

2. Eat well at every meal to stay healthy

Jiang Xinghua, chief physician of the Department of Cardiology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, published an article in Health Times in 2019 to remind people that eating too much food, especially high-protein and high-fat food, is difficult to digest, causing abdominal distension and discomfort, and raising the diaphragm, which limits the normal contraction and relaxation of the heart and increases the burden on the heart. When digesting food, more blood in the body is concentrated in the gastrointestinal tract, making the coronary artery blood supply even more insufficient, which can easily induce angina pectoris, arrhythmia, and even acute myocardial infarction, which is life-threatening.

3. Thick soup is nutritious and can be very beneficial

Guan Yang from the Department of Nutrition at the Southern Hospital of Southern Medical University published an article in Health Times in 2017, saying that the nutrition of soup has nothing to do with the cooking time. The soup will taste delicious as long as it is cooked for a while. In addition, studies have found that the longer the soup is cooked, the tastier it tastes, and the higher the nucleotide content in it. The purine that causes gout is the final product of nucleotide metabolism, which means that the longer the soup is cooked, the higher the risk of inducing gout. ③

4. Drinking white porridge regularly can nourish your stomach

Liu Min, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, published an article in Health Times in 2019, pointing out that drinking porridge does not necessarily nourish the stomach! For people with normal stomach function, if porridge is the staple food all year round, the stomach function will degenerate and deteriorate. For patients with ulcers, whether drinking porridge or eating porridge, it will cause the stomach to secrete more gastric acid. A large amount of gastric acid will seriously irritate the gastric ulcer surface or gastric mucosa, hinder the healing of the ulcer wound, and even aggravate the ulcer. Drinking porridge will greatly increase the secretion of gastric acid in patients with reflux esophagitis, and porridge is a fluid. Eating too much will make the stomach more prone to reflux. ④

5. Walk 10,000 steps a day to stay fit

Walking is indeed a good exercise. However, walking too much will cause damage to the knees. Zhu Yuqi, chief physician of the Department of Orthopedics at the Eye Hospital of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, pointed out in an article published in Health Times in 2016 that the meniscus of middle-aged and elderly people is most damaged by long-term walking. First, the continuous friction of cartilage can easily cause inflammation and edema; second, bones and joints also have a service life. No matter how good the physical condition is, bones and joints will have problems of aging and functional degeneration. As the saying goes, "Life lies in frequent exercise, and joints lie in economical use." ⑤

6. Use mouthwash frequently to maintain oral health

Wei Shigang, director of the Department of Stomatology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, published an article in Health Times in 2016 stating that the main ingredients of mouthwash sold on the market are oral fresheners and should not be used every day. Because there are some normal bacteria in the mouths of healthy people, long-term use of mouthwash with bactericidal effects will lead to excessive suppression of certain bacteria, thus causing an imbalance of oral flora, which is not conducive to oral health. ⑥

7. Sleeping on a hard bed is better for your lumbar spine

Wu Shaopeng, director of the Third Department of Orthopedics at the Second Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Guangdong Province, said in an interview with Lao Ren Newspaper in 2016 that sleeping on a bed with a certain hardness can eliminate the pressure of weight and body weight on the intervertebral disc, which is conducive to relieving low back pain symptoms. However, if you sleep directly on a hardwood board, it cannot match the normal curve of the human spine, and the waist cannot be supported, which will cause symptoms such as low back pain. A 3 cm to 5 cm cushion should be placed on the bed board. ⑦

8. Disinfect your underwear to make it cleaner

Many female friends use disinfectant to clean their underwear, but the actual effect is not so. Soaking underwear in disinfectant not only fails to completely and effectively kill harmful bacteria, such as fungi, but also may cause chemical residues due to inadequate cleaning, thus causing various problems and diseases in the private parts.⑧

9. Drinking intestinal cleansing tea can improve constipation

Li Xiaolin, chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, published an article in Health Times in 2017, pointing out that the intestinal cleansing teas on the market basically contain irritating laxatives such as senna leaves and rhubarb. Drinking it can indeed speed up intestinal peristalsis and promote defecation, but most of these drugs contain anthraquinone compounds, which can stimulate the intestinal mucosal nerves. If used for a long time, it will become increasingly difficult to defecate on your own, and you can only use more and stronger drugs, which will lead to drug dependence. ⑨

10. Eat and drink while hot, it is good for your health

In life, many people like to "eat while hot, drink while hot". However, every bite of hot food or hot drink will cause damage to the esophagus and stomach. Yang Zuli, chief physician of gastrointestinal surgery at the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, published an article in Health Times in 2018 to remind that under normal circumstances, the temperature of the human mouth and esophagus is 36.5℃~37.2℃, and the high temperature that can be tolerated is 50℃~60℃. In the process of high-temperature food entering the stomach from the mouth, all three parts are very damaged. ⑩

This article is compiled from:

①2015-05-18 Health Times "Drinking yogurt after a meal does not help digestion"

②2019-08-20 Health Times "Eating until you are 80% full will improve your heart health"

③2017-08-29 Health Times "Attention: Don't make three mistakes when drinking soup"

④2019-12-03Health Times "Drinking porridge does not necessarily nourish the stomach"

⑤2016-10-11 Health Times "Four Fears of Fitness in Middle Ages"

⑥2016-03-29 Health Times "Being too clean is not good"

⑦2016-11-01 Elderly Newspaper "Sleeping on a hard bed is not sleeping on a bed board"

⑧2016-02-23 Health Times "Don't use disinfectant to wash your underwear"

⑨2017-09-19 Health Times "This is the correct bowel cleansing recipe"

⑩2018-12-28 Health Times "Eating food while it's hot can cause three harms"