The 9 worst places for your health
Researchers in a wide variety of fields know that how you organize
your environment — from where you stand in fitness class to the place
you choose to store your meds — has a surprising effect on everything
from your weight to your chances of staying well. In other words, when
it comes to how you feel, it’s not just what you do, it’s where you do
it. Here, surprisingly bad locales for your health — and the best places
to optimize it.
1. To keep your toothbrush
The worst place: Bathroom sink
There’s nothing wrong with the sink itself, but it’s awfully close to
the toilet! There are 3.2 million microbes per square inch in the
average toilet bowl, and all of those germs are propelled as far at 6
feet every time you flush. Those germs then settle on the floor, the
sink, and yes — your toothbrush.
Best place: Unless you like rinsing with toilet water, keep your
toothbrush behind closed doors in the medicine cabinet or a nearby
cupboard.
2. To stash sneakers and flip-flops
The worst place: Bedroom closet
Walking through your house in shoes you wear outside tracks in allergens
and contaminants. One study found that lawn chemicals were tracked
inside the house for a full week after application, with most chemicals
concentrated around the entryway. Shoes also carry in pollen and other
allergens.
Best place: Reduce exposure by leaving shoes like sneakers and
flip-flops by the door in a basket or under an entryway bench. If your
work shoes and pumps stay off the lawn, you can bring them to the
bedroom — but it’s probably best to carry them there to be safe.
3. To fall asleep
The worst place: Under piles of blankets
A natural nighttime drop in your core temperature triggers your body to
get drowsy, so experts believe that being overheated can keep you from
nodding off at night. To ease your way to sleep, help your body radiate
heat from your hands and feet.
Best place: Don socks to dilate the blood vessels in the extremities —
then take the socks off and let a foot stick out from under the
blankets.
4. To cool leftovers
The worst place: In the refrigerator
This may shock a lot of viewers! Placing a big pot of hot leftovers
directly into the fridge is a recipe for uneven cooling and possibly
food poisoning. The reason is simple: It can take a long time for the
temperature in the middle of a big container to drop, creating an
environment ripe for bacteria.
Best place: You can safely leave food to cool on the counter for up to
an hour after cooking, or try placing large servings into smaller
containers and then refrigerating, which allows the food to cool faster.
5. To sit on an airplane
The worst place: The rear
If you’re prone to airsickness, avoid the back of the plane. Think of
the plane like a seesaw —the farther from the center you are, the more
up-and-down movement you experience. Since the tail of the plane is
usually longer than the front, that’s where you’ll often get the
bumpiest ride.
Best place: The smoothest option is sitting as close to the wing as you
can.
6. To set your handbag
The worst place: The kitchen counter
You may be carrying more than your daily essentials in your fancy
handbag! In tests, swabs showed up to 10,000 bacteria per square inch on
purse bottoms — and a third of the bags tested positive for fecal
bacteria. Purses often get parked in some nasty spots, including the
floor of the bus, beneath the restaurant table, and even on the floor of
a public bathroom.
Best place: Put your bag in a drawer or on a chair — anywhere except
where food is prepared or eaten.
7. To use a public bathroom
The worst place: The stall in the middle
The center stall has more bacteria than those on either end. Touch a
germy toilet handle and then forget to wash your hands thoroughly and
you can contract a host of diseases.
Best place: Pick a stall all the way left or right to minimize your germ
exposure.
8. To keep medicine
The worst place: The medicine cabinet
It’s not uncommon for the temp in a steamy bathroom to reach 100°F —
well above the recommended storage temperatures for many common drugs.
The cutoff for the popular cholesterol drug Lipitor, for instance, is
around 77°F.
Best place: Somewhere cool and dry, such as the pantry.
9. To use headphones
The worst place: On an airplane, train, or subway
Many of us listen to music when we travel to drown out noisy neighbors
or surrounding chit-chat, but studies show that you’re probably cranking
the volume too high if you’re listening to headphones in a noisy
environment. Harvard researchers found that in reasonably quiet
surroundings, volunteers tended to keep the volume at an ear-friendly
level. But when the researchers added background noise — the loud rumble
of an airplane cabin — 80 percent boosted the volume as high as 89
decibels, a level that risks long-term hearing damage.
Best place: Wherever you don’t have to blast your music to enjoy it. If
you do, consider noise-canceling headphones — only 20 percent of
listeners in the study who used a set got close to the danger zone.
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