Unexpected benefits from 4 annoying habits

The habit of biting nails is considered unhygienic and unhealthy, but a recent study found that children who have this habit are 30% less likely to develop allergies than other children.

Along with our daily routines like jogging or drinking coffee in the morning, we also have some habits that annoy people around us. Most of us suspect that they are bad for our health, such as biting our nails. While these habits may be very unsightly to others, some of them have surprising health benefits.

Singing in the shower

We’ve all heard a family member or friend humming a song in the shower. While it may be annoying if it’s a terrible singer, humming can actually boost your immune system and protect you from depression and stroke. Our left brain, which handles logic and analysis, is at rest 85% of the time when we sing, and our right brain is at work creatively and emotionally.

According to the Huffington Post, singing is an activity we can easily do to improve our health.

Bite nails

We all get annoyed when we hear the person sitting next to us biting their nails, right? This habit, which is considered unhygienic and unhealthy, is actually not that bad: a recent study found that children who do this are 30% less likely to develop allergies than other children.

Illustration photo.

In the study, researchers recruited 1,000 New Zealand children aged 5 to 11 to analyze their thumb-sucking and biting habits. A skin test was also conducted on participants aged 13 to 32. Those who bit their nails or sucked their thumbs (about 31% of the participants) were less sensitive to allergens than the rest.

“While these habits are not encouraged to be maintained, they do have their positive side,” said Malcolm Sears, a professor of medicine at McMaster University in Canada, in his presentation.

A recent study found that children who bite their nails are less likely to develop allergies.

Restless

Whether at home or at work, sitting all day is bad for your health. We tend to tap our feet or tap our fingers on the desk when we’re nervous or impatient, or otherwise fidgety. This can be distracting and annoying to those around us, but a study suggests that this habit can counteract the negative effects of sitting.

From 1999-2002, data on the daily habits of more than 12,000 office women, including leg shaking and tapping habits, were included in the study.

Over the next 12 years, the mortality rates of a similar group of women were measured. Those who moved their bodies while sitting at work, such as shaking their legs or tapping their fingers, had lower mortality rates than women who sat for more than seven hours a day without fidgeting.

“Our results support the advice to avoid sitting for too long each day, and show that even small movements of the body can provide enough rest and make a difference,” said Dr. Garether Hagger-Johnson of the University of Leeds, UK, who co-led the study, in a press release.

Chirping like a bird

A study at the Nepal Medical College found that making such a small noise can help lower blood pressure. Fifty participants were asked to breathe slowly for 5 seconds, and then exhale for at least 15 seconds, while exhaling with a buzzing sound like the flapping of hummingbird wings.

After following this exercise for 5 minutes, the blood pressure and heart rate of the participants in the experiment showed a slight decrease.

According to VOV