Count down your walk, “anchor” your habits, and eat with a loved one to lower your blood sugar — plus 5 other health tips to help you have a great week

Hello Yahoo readers! My name is Rachel Grumman Bender and I have your weekly dose of wellness inspiration to start your week off strong.

If you start your morning with a steaming cup of coffee or tea, you may want to lower the temperature a bit. Regularly drinking your drinks lukewarm rather than piping hot may help reduce your risk of esophageal cancer. The disease is quite rare, but a new observational study found that people who had their drinks “piggy hot” were three times more likely to develop esophageal cancer than those who opted for drinks at a lower temperature, reports Eat well.

Tea, coffee and hot chocolate are often served 160-185 degrees Fahrenheitbut consume anything above 149 degrees may be carcinogenic to humans. The good news: You don’t have to give up hot drinks completely. Experts advise simply letting your coffee cool for a few minutes before taking a sip.

Are you going to your favorite cafe? Check your local forecast first, and if you are interested, also look up your horoscope. Then choose one small thing you can do for a healthier, happier week.

🍽️ Eat with a loved one to lower blood sugar

Eating a meal with someone you care about offers more than good company: it also benefits your health. In a new study, people who ate a high-carb meal with a loved one saw a smaller rise in their blood sugar levels compared to those who ate alone. The Independent. Shir Atzil, the lead author of the study, explains why: “Being close to someone you love reduces the physical energy your body spends regulating itself,” including stabilizing blood sugar levels. This is not the only study to show this. But previous research found that adults aged 50 and older who lived with someone had lower glucose levels on average than those who lived alone.

🚶‍♀️ Try this walking and talking test

Wondering how old you are? Challenge your brain to do more than one task at a time while walking – known as the double walk test – and see how well you can maintain your usual pace. Try counting down, naming an item (an animal or musical artist) for each letter of the alphabet, or even just chatting with a friend. Longevity expert Bill Hanks says the way your brain and body work together is a key sign of healthy aging. “If your gait slows significantly when you count down or name animals, this may be a sign of early cognitive or motor decline,” he explains. Very simple. “Those who continue to challenge their bodies consistently will maintain more precise balance and movements as they age.”

🧽 Keep your humidifier clean

If you break the humidifier once temperatures drop, pulmonologist Dr. Kevin Kim warns: keep it clean to avoid “humidifier fever,” a non-medical term for a respiratory illness caused by inhaling bacteria or fungus from the device’s dirty reservoir, reports Parade. Stagnant water is a breeding ground for bacteria and mold, so Kim recommends emptying your humidifier’s tank daily, wiping it out completely, then refilling it again, while also thoroughly cleaning it once a week.

⚓ Anchor your habits

Do you want to start a healthy habit to keep? Pair it with something you already do – an anchoring habit that serves as a cue for the new behavior until it becomes part of your routine. Very simple shares some inspirational examples, such as: After waking up, practice a 5-minute meditation. Or when you sip your coffee, text or call a friend to make plans. Do you have a daily meeting in the morning? Take a walk right after it’s over. “Once you put them into practice, it starts to feel like a positive domino effect and you create new neural pathways that work towards your goals rather than against them,” says therapist Chloë Bean. Start by adding a good habit to an existing part of your routine, then gradually build up to three: one in the morning, another during your workday, and one in the evening.

🥗 Get 5 grams of fiber with this two-ingredient salad

Fiber is good for you so many ways – it helps reduce the risk of heart disease and colorectal cancer, stabilize blood sugar levels, and maintain regular bowel movements – but many Americans don’t get enough of it. The good news is that getting more fiber doesn’t have to be complicated. Even a super simple side salad that you can prepare in minutes helps increase your intake. Dietitian Emily Lachtrupp shares Eat well That chopping a medium tomato and half an avocado, drizzling them with a little olive oil then sprinkling them with salt and pepper provides about 5 grams of fiber.

🦵 Try a brace for knee pain

Joint pain, stiffness, and swelling caused by knee osteoarthritis are common problems that affect approximately 14 million Americans. Research shows that treatments don’t have to be complicated or expensive to help: knee braces, which help improve positioning and stability, were the most effective, according to reports. Prevention. Aquatic therapy, or exercising in warm water, can also relieve pain, while strengthening your quadriceps can help take pressure off your knee during movement. On the other hand, ultrasound therapy, which can be expensive up to $100 per sessionconsistently ranked as the least effective treatment.

🎶 Listen to music to beat stress

The sound of ocean waves or the rustling of trees can help you relax, but music can be even more effective in calming you down after a stressful situation. A new study shows that relaxing tunes improved participants’ moods and helped calm their heart rates and nervous systems faster than nature would suggest, reports MindBodyGreen. But music can do more than just distract you from stress: Research suggests that the way it creates and releases melodic tension can change the way the parts of your brain that process sound and respond to stress work together.

🧠 Take a detour from your routine

While familiarity is comforting — your usual walk, your usual lunch order — there’s something to be said for mixing things up every once in a while, like visiting a new restaurant or taking a different route to work. Newness forces you to pay attention rather than doing things on autopilot. New experiences also increase dopamine, which not only improves your mood but can also promote learning and memory, reports The healthy. “A weekend that breaks up your usual routine with something new sticks in your memory, because dopamine helps lock the experience into your mind,” says psychologist Karyn Hall.