Do The Fun Stuff of Our Childhood for Life!

The sure way to better health comes right out of our childhood and these very things that we loved as children not only make us healthier but these things will also make us happier! As children, we enjoyed loud, noisy, physical and wet activities—from jumping rope, banging on something for the sounds it made, playing jacks, playing in mud to you name it as long as it was fun. As we get older and all caught up in our everyday routine of providing a living for ourselves and our family, we move away from the fun things we use to do. Here are some ideas and good reasons to get back into those fun activities. If you are worried about osteoporosis, you can jump rope to strengthen your bones. Jumping rope adds bone mass and cause you to be more alert. After a few months of just jumping rope for one minute each day you will receive these benefits and it speeds up your heart rate which improves endurance to perform your everyday tasks. Doing this regularly will protect you from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease per a British group study. To circumvent Alzheimer’s and dementia, The New England Journal of Medicine suggested that we need to challenge our brain with mentally stimulating games like dominoes, board games and cards. The more challenging the game the better—Chess, Pinochle and Bridge. In pain, paint the pain away! The American Journal of Pain and Symptom Management’s study concluded that patients felt less pain after painting a picture. So you feel like you can’t paint, purchase a paint-by-number kit and before you know it you will be an artist. Ward off being sick by making noise pounding on drums, table top, tin or a stack of books. Making this kind of noise will boost your immune system per blood tests of research results of volunteers before and after beating on drums. They showed an increase in natural killer cells that destroy cancer cells by reducing the stress hormones that interfere with the immune system. Do you worry too much? Try blowing bubble gum to curb anxiety. This works because when blowing bubbles it reinforces your breathing patterns slowing down your heart rate, blood pressure and your diaphragm takes in more oxygen giving you a sense of well-being making your worrying dissipate. If you pull that Hula-Hoop out of the garage and use it vigorously for 10 minutes daily, you will live longer because you will develop longer telomeres which are protective coverings on the ends of chromosomes. A University of California, San Francisco study reveals that telomeres naturally shorten as we age causing health problems such as depression and cancer. Hula-Hooping as well as dancing, roller skating and biking allow you to live longer and also reduce abdominal fat which is the hardest to lose which will decrease the risk of heart disease and stroke. Since we revert back to childhood as we age anyway, why not do so by picking up the fun habits of our childhood!