Get It Together! Bad Habits to Quit Before You Turn 40

We all pick up bad habits, but what you could handle in your 20s, like staying out too late drinking too much and eating too many ramen noodles, catches up to you as you approach 40.

  • Crash Dieting - It’s tempting to drop a few pounds in a hurry when you’ve got a cruise coming up, but the Obesity Action Coalition warns some risks of crash dieting include poor nutrition, gallstones, dehydration, hair loss, and it’s terrible for your metabolism too.
  • Sitting All Day - The Mayo Clinic reports that sitting all day can be as bad for your health as smoking, so make time to get up, stretch, and walk every so often.
  • Never Reading Books - We love Netflix too, but reading books keeps your brain sharp, wards off dementia, and there are a lot of great books out there you don’t want to miss.
  • Eating a Low-Fat Diet - Eating healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, and avocados has been linked to better cognitive function and can fight off brain degeneration.
  • Using on Artificial Sweeteners - Fake sugars can raise your risk for Type 2 diabetes, so don’t go there.
  • Staying Up Too Late - Your body needs plenty of sleep, so unless you get to sleep until afternoon, get to bed early enough for all the rest you need.
  • Avoiding Dairy - Unless you’re allergic or intolerant, don’t skip dairy because it’s an important source of calcium and you need plenty of it to avoid fractures or osteoporosis.
  • Never Flossing - Gum disease starts appearing when people are in their 30s and 40s, so protect your smile and floss every day.
  • Eating Canned Foods - It’s the BPA in the can linings and the sodium in the canned foods that cause health problems, so limit your intake.
  • Drinking Lots of Soda - There’s nothing nutritional here, just a lot of sugar and sodium, and it puts you at risk for diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Going for the diet version has other negative health effects, so you’re better off without it.
  • Forgetting Sunscreen - It’s not just wrinkles you should be worried about, skipping sunscreen means getting sunburned and that significantly raises the risk of skin cancer.

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