5 Bad Habits That Women Should Ditch
1) Wearing High Heel Shoes Everyday
We all know that wearing stilettos or those strappy 4-inch heels look great with our outfits. They give our height a boost and make us look ultra-sexy and feminine. The thing is, if you are going to wear just that every day, you are highly likely to develop chronic health issues someday.
High heels not only affect your walking posture, it can also place unnecessary stress on your knee joints and cause arthritis to develop. Long term wearing of high heels can also cause chronic back pain because your body will lean forward automatically when you are wearing heels. The poor body alignment is what causes back pain. Pointed high heel pumps can easily cause bunions to grow on your feet which are painful and difficult to heal.
The higher your heels are, the higher your risks of tripping (think models who trip on runways!). If you are not walking correctly or maintaining the right posture while strutting in those killer heels, it is very easy to trip and sprain your ankles, especially when you are walking down the stairs. If you must wear heels daily, try not to go above 3 inches. The best is to alternate your killer heels with other types of shoes like 3 inchers, ballet flats and wedges in between to give your lovely feet a well-deserved break.
2) Carrying Heavy Bags
Do you fancy big tote bags because you simply like to dump all your stuff and necessities inside and not having to worry about leaving anything out? Chances are, your bag is always heavy and you have way too many ‘necessities’. Many women are guilty of this, including myself. We can’t leave home without our comfort items like makeup pouch, perfume, medication box, credits cards, loyalty cards and blah blah. We think they are necessities but how many times have we actually use them?
If your bag is anything more than 2kg (some women carry 5kg bags!), it’s likely that you will experience pain and tension in your upper body someday. Carrying a heavy bag is like carrying weights on your shoulder. It will stress your shoulders, arms, neck and back. The weight of the bag disrupts the blood circulation in your upper body, which is why you will feel sore, pain or numbness on your shoulders and arms.
To avoid this, plan your bag inventory in advance each day and bring only what you need for the following day. You can try short-listing your makeup kit and use a smaller pouch, transferring some lotion to a mini bottle, or leaving out some items completely (do you really need your phone charger?).
Plan for a few ‘mini bags’ days in a week, so you will be trained to think creatively and pack only what you need. So what if you really need to use a comfort item that you happen to leave it out that day? Well, such things do happen, but not all the time. Take it in good stride and see you can borrow from someone else, or simply make do without it that day.
3) Wearing The Wrong Bra
According to a research done, about 70% of women are wearing the wrong bra. Of these, they are either wearing a bra that is not the right size or one that does not give them the right support. An ill fitting bra will cause spillage, giving your boobies a weird shape, or form dreaded fat rolls to spill out from the sides of your bra around the upper back area. This is awful looking. The lumps of fats will be visible especially when you are wearing a tight fitting top. The wrong bra might also cause pain on your neck and back, or cause discomfort in the chest that can hinder your breathing and blood circulation. It can also result in bad posture and skin irritation. If you are unsure of what bra to go for, it’s always wise to consult the sales staff before you buy anything. They are usually trained in helping customers to identify the right type of bra and the right bra size that fits.
4) Not Removing Your Makeup
Makeup is probably one of the most important things that women cannot live without. It makes us look pretty and give us the confidence boost. However, it can also be a double edged sword if we don’t make it a good habit to remove it before going to bed. Most women might have some experience of reaching home late and going straight to bed because they are too dead tired to even take a shower, let alone remove their makeup. If this becomes a habit, it will damage your skin. The makeup debris will clog your pores, making your skin hard to breathe, which in turn makes it dry. This can easily cause a nasty acne breakout that may be hard to treat or cause crow lines to develop over-time. There’s also a risk of getting blood-shot eyes or other forms of eye infection if the mascara or eye-shadow debris get into your eyes. So ladies, learn to love your skin better by making it a habit to remove your makeup before you sleep (more important than taking a shower!).
5) Not Getting Enough Sleep
This one is probably one of the most common problems that women face. Due to busy lifestyles, work/family commitments and other distractions, women tend to sleep less than the required 8 hours. Many are even going to bed only after midnight, thereby missing the said optimal time for beauty sleep, which is from 10pm to 2am where our skin will be able to detoxify and rejuvenate most effectively. Most of us know that a lack of sleep will give us bad skin, dark eye-rings and awful eye bags. However, you probably might not be aware that not getting enough sleep can also result in several health conditions in the long run, such as fatigue, poor digestion, heart conditions, high blood pressure, bad mood swings or even depression. Women also tend to have a higher chance of experiencing sleep difficulty more than men. Hence, it is crucial to take good care of our bodies by sleeping at the right time and ensuring that we get a quality sleep each night.
