In the last part, you saw solutions of painful and uncomfortable scenarios related to our bodies, here you’ll see some quite interesting tricks to teach your body so it works for you instead of you working for it. Stay put for another series of 5 coming up.

1. Get Those Pins and Needles Out of Your Limb 

If you thought that the pins and needles you sometimes get in your limbs are because of bad sitting position, you aren’t far from the truth. It’s not the position of the limb that causes this feeling to occur, but rather the position of neck. The tingly and prickly feeling you get comes as a result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck and when that compression gets loosened, the feeling goes away by itself. So next time just rock your head gently, make a circular movement with it from shoulder to shoulder and relax your neck. 

2. Run and Jog Free of Pain 

Have you ever got a side stich while running? It can just kill all the fun in your favorite activity, can’t it? This happens because of breathing in combination with running. If you exhale as your right foot hits the ground, your liver gets downward pressure because of which it tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stich. So next time you decide to go running or jogging, exhale with your left foot hitting the ground. 

3. Stop That Dizzy Carrousel 

Feeling a bit tipsy and dizzy? As alcohol dilutes blood, it does the same to the fluid in the part of the ear responsible for balance. This fluid, in which the cupula floats, has the same density as blood when diluted the cupula rises higher. This confuses the brain and it gives you that sense of dizziness. In that case, give your brain a second option. Put your hand on something stable. The nerves in the hands are very sensitive and they will send a proper signal of balance and stability to the brain. 

4. Flex Your Vision 

If you have poor distance vision, know that it’s not always the genes to blame for it. Near-sightedness is usually the result of tension in the eye muscle and this can be caused by staring at something at a close distance for too long, say the computer screen or the smartphone you are staring at right now. You can flex your vision with a simple trick. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, tense your body – every muscle of it – and after a few seconds release as you breathe out. Tightening and releasing muscles you can control can trick those you don’t have control over to relax as well – like the eye muscles. Do this every few hours during the day and start seeing the world with a clearer picture. 

5. Improve Your Long-Term Memory 

How many new things did you learn by now? If you want to remember information better, read it before you go to sleep. This is the most natural way of long-term memory encoding as the brain processes all the information gathered from the day during sleep. This is just one of the reasons why you need a good night’s sleep. So next time you need to remember something for tomorrow’s test, speech, exam, or just to remember it because it’s useful, read it before you go to bed and get a good sleep.

This is just one way to flex your memory. There are many more and we will post an article specially dedicated to long-term memory encoding.

Until then, we hope these tricks have been useful for you and we encourage you to use them every day and take full control over your body.

In Part II, we learned some really useful tricks, but that’s not where the list ends. Here we come with 5 more which will definitely make your body work to your advantage:

1. Overcome Your Urge to Pee 

When you just have to go to the toilet, but there is no toilet near, the best way to overcome the urge is to think of whatever turns you on. You can preoccupy your brain by thinking about sex and sexual fantasies and that way you won’t feel so much discomfort. Do you remember ever having to pee during a passionate sexual intercourse? 

2. Fight Acid Reflux so You Can Go to Bed Easily 

Have you ever had such a bad acid reflux that you couldn’t go to bed because of it? You can use gravity and your body to your advantage – just sleep on your left side. The stomach and esophagus are connected at a certain angle that when you sleep on your right side the stomach is higher than the esophagus and this allows food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. This means that when you lie down on your left side, gravity and organ positioning won’t allow any acid to crawl back to your throat. 

3. Don’t Let the Burns Turn Into Blisters 

If you get burnt on the stove, don’t panic since you’ve had the remedy against blisters with you all along. Just clean the skin (do not use alcohol!) and apply gentle pressure on the burnt spot with the fingers of your other hand. This way you bring the burned skin to a natural temperature and because of that it is less likely to blister. If you are impatient or the pain is just unbearable to do this, try apple cider vinegar and see the wonders for yourself. 

4. Relieve a Migraine in an Instant 

Who needs pills for that when you have yourself and your fabulous body to do the trick? To get rid of a headache, just pinch down on the muscle on the web of your hand between the thumb and index finger (place your thumb on the back of your hand and the forefinger under), hold the pressure for 2 minutes and repeat. Most headaches and migraines ease after 4 minutes. 

5. Relieve a Toothache 

The exact same spot where we cure out headaches is responsible for toothaches as well. You see this spot has nerve endings that stimulate apart of the brain that blocks pain in the head area. So how to relieve the toothache? Apply ice on the V shaped area between your thumb and index finger at the back of your hand. This trick can reduce pain up to as much as 50 percent.

And this is not the end of our list! Our bodies have so many secrets to tell us and the next 5 are coming in Part IV. See you there!

In the previous series we went from tickling throat, enhanced hearing and running or bleeding noses,to a better way to swallow pills. In this series we’ll dive even further in the secrets of our bodies.

1. Calm Yourself With Water 

Don’t let the nerves get the best of you. In situations where you feel like hitting a wall, hit the water. A big splash of cold water on your face will trick your body into thinking that you are making a dive, which will in terms make it use oxygen more efficiently. And we all know: more oxygen means better function of the nerves. This is called the mammalian dive reflex and it is genetically present in all mammals including humans. 

2. Breathe Underwater 

When we dive, the urge for air is not because of absence of oxygen, but rather because of large presence of carbon dioxide which makes your blood acidic. So before you dive, clean your blood from the carbon dioxide buildup by taking several short breaths in order to hyperventilate. This will allow your body to endure 10 seconds more under water as it tricks your body into thinking that it has more oxygen. 

3. Calm Your Heart Down

Feeling nervous before your big interview or before you meet that girl or guy you have a huge crush on? Calm your heartbeat by blowing on your thumb. This will get your heart rate back to normal, as the nerve which is responsible for the heart rate can be controlled through breathing. Also take a moment to calm your mind down too – just focus on blowing your thumb.

4. Feel No Pain From Needle Pricks

Whether it’s taking an injection or giving blood, as much as we might think we’re doing a good job to our body or to others, the pain from the needle is not so enjoyable. You can lessen the pain by coughing during the needle stick. Coughing creates a rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, which will in terms inhibit the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.

5. Relieve Brain Freeze

We can end this series with a nice cold ice-cream. Don’t worry – after reading this you won’t be concerned of brain freeze anymore. The reason for brain freeze is that when the roof of your mouth gets chilled by the ice-cream, your body thinks that your brain is freezing too, so it overheats to prevent this from happening. What you can do is press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth and cover as much as you can. This will heat back the roof and the headache will disappear. The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster the headache will go away.

Stick around for part III, where you will learn even more interesting tricks and facts about your body.

Our bodies are a universe for themselves. There are so many useful things and tricks we still don’t know about, but thanks to the scientists who work tirelessly on exploring and analyzing the functions of our bodies, we can say for sure that the functions that our bodies have been hiding for us are now available at our disposal to make our lives easier.

Here’s a list of tricks that your body has been hiding from you.

1. Don’t Let That Throat Tickle

The throat is connected with the ears and the nose through channels and nerves and they function together and are dependent on each other. If your throat starts tickling, you most likely start coughing to scratch that itch, but there’s no need to do that since there is a much easier way to cure that nuisance. Scratch your ear, and see for yourself. The ear has nerve endings which when stimulated can cause a muscle spasm in the throat which will in terms relieve the tickle.

2. Enhance Your Hearing Sense

If you go to loud parties and want to hear every word being told to you, you already have the ability to do so! Lean your right ear towards the speaker and it will do the job. The right ear is connected to the left hemisphere which is responsible for speech recognition, which means the information you’re trying to receive will go directly to the right place. On the other hand, if you are trying to hear a soft tune playing, you just turn your left ear to the direction of the sound. Your ear will recognize that information more easily since it is connected to your right hemisphere responsible for music, melodies and rhythm.

3. Swallow Horse-Sized Pills

If you have the honors of taking enormous pills (and that is more than one), you can save yourself from taking them one at a time with the help of this trick. Take the pills and then take the water, but before going to the next step of leaning your head backwards to swallow them, do this: Lean your head forward and let the pills float to the back of your mouth cavity. This will help you swallow them more easily since they will be the first ones to go down your throat.

4. Clear A Stuffed Nose

We all know how annoying a stuffed nose can be, but you don’t need a run to the pharmacy to help with that problem anymore. You already have the mechanism in your body waiting to be used. Thrust your tongue alternately against the roof of your mouth and then press between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the bone that runs through the nasal passage to your mouth to rock back and forth and loosen the congestion. After 20 seconds, your sinuses will start to drain.

5. Stop a Nose from Bleeding

Don’t tilt your head back. The swallowed blood that may run to the back of your throat can irritate the stomach and make you vomit, which will worsen the nosebleed even further. On the contrary, lean your head forward and pinch the soft part of your nose where nosebleeds usually occur. Holding your nose like this for 10 minutes can stop a nosebleed since most nosebleeds stop after 10 minutes of direct pressure. Some cold can help too, you can apply a pack of ice on your nose and cheeks while pinching your nose as cold will constrict the veins. Don’t forget to hold your nose for at least 10 minutes without releasing. If the bleeding doesn’t stop, repeat for another 10 minutes. Afterwards, don’t blow your nose and rest for some time.

These, and so many more tricks to help you use your body to the fullest. Stay put for another series of 5 on our list of tricks that your body has been hiding from you.

Meat-lovers may not be aware that the chemicals HCAs or heterocyclic amines are created when meat is cooked at high temperatures. Recent research linked exactly these chemicals with the most ominous disease of our era, which is cancer, of course. Fortunately, there is a “counter-strike” for these very harmful substances: Some past research also indicated that extracts from apples and other organic fruits may reduce HCAs formation, thus making the meat much safer for consumption.

Researchers from the University of Hong Kong and Rutgers University have tested the effects of different extracts from apples, elderberries, grape seeds and pineapples on the formation of HCAs. The results that emerged from all the testing done are these: Apple and grape seed extracts can reduce the formation of HCAs by up to 70 percent. Actually, apple and other fruit extracts are able to inhibit several different HCAs! The researchers indicated that, in the case of apple extract, the HCAs formation was reduced from 59 to 72 percent, depending on the type of HCAs.

The Cancer Institute carried out testing on animals exposed to HCAs which, later, became cancer “patients”. Although the scholars have not proven unmistakably that HCAs cause cancer in humans too, the formation of these admittedly-carcinogenic compounds could be linked to the increased risk of certain types of cancers in those who mostly have meaty diet.

The HCAs formation in meat is dependent on several factors:  First and foremost, this bad formation depends on the type of meat cooked. The second contributing factor is the temperature at which it is cooked. And the third one is the duration of the cooking itself.

Researchers stated that this is the first report showing the inhibitory activities of apple phenolics on the formation of HCAs. They are also positive that: “The findings provide valuable information for the development of effective strategies to minimize the HCAs content in cooked meats and to identify several new natural products that may have new applications in the food industry.”

These researchers didn’t announce whether we will derive exactly the same benefits if we simply eat unprocessed apples or combine them with meat dishes. Anyhow, that should not stop you from searching for other evidence on raw apple effects. If nothing else, you will find out that compounds in apples (known as oligosaccharides) could kill up to 46 percent of human colon cancer cells.

One important thing was added by The Cancer Institute for all meat –lovers to remember and implement: You can reduce the amount of HCAs formed in the course of cooking by not exposing meat to an open flame or a hot metal surface! As for the cooking time, it is best to reduce it whenever possible.

Get enough supplies of organic apple extract and grape seed extract because they certainly reduce cancer-spurring chemicals from cooked meaty meals.  And, when your health is seriously undermined by developing cancer, they superiorly outperform common chemo drugs!

Source: The Cancer Institute