15 Useful Body Hacks You Can Apply in Your Daily Life

#8. Press a Burn to Reduce the Pain

Minor burns can hurt like the very devil. To diminish the pain until you can get some first aid, put pressure on the injury with your finger. It may sound counterproductive, but it works. Next, run water on the burn immediately.

#9. Blow on Your Thumb to Counter Nervousness

Nerves got the best of you? Try blowing on your thumb. It slows down your thumb’s pulse rate (yes, fun fact: your thumb has a pulse of its own!), which in turn regulates your cardiac rhythm, slowing down your heartbeat. Plus, blowing out air necessitates deeper inhales, which also helps to calm you down.

#10. Use Your Tongue to Get Rid of Brain Freeze

If you love your icy drinks or desserts a little too much, getting brain freeze may be a normal occurrence. To deal with this, simply press your whole tongue against the roof of your mouth to avoid the headache that follows brain freeze.

#11. Do Neck Stretches to Liven Numb Hands

Hands fall asleep on you? The numb feeling stems from tight nerves. Do some neck stretches to loosen the bundle of nerves running through it that transmit signals from your hands to your brain, and vice versa.

#12. Fall Asleep Faster by Jumping Out of Bed in the Mornings

You don’t have to count sheep to be out like a light once you hit your bed at night. One trick to falling asleep faster is to leave your bed the moment you wake up in the morning, and don’t come near it again until its time to sleep at night. This move will help your subconscious associate your bed only with sleep, and with time, your body will fall into snooze mode as soon as your head hits the pillow. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be such a good idea if you also plan to use the same bed to be intimate with your partner.

#13. Do Your Memory Work Just Before Bedtime

If you’ve got a big test or presentation to do the next day, review serious memory work just before you sleep. While you sleep, your brain will be working overtime to store this information in your long-term memory, and you should be able to know a piece or passage by heart when you get up in the morning.

#14. Exhale to Prevent That Stitch on Your Side

If you’re a runner or jogger, you’re likely familiar with that ache in your side in the middle of a long run. To keep this from happening, exhale just as your left foot hits the ground to keep the pressure from your liver.

#15. Hyperventilate to Hold Your Breath Longer

Divers and swimmers know this little trick. In order to last longer underwater by as much as 10 seconds more, do several short and quick breathes before going underwater. This fools your brain into thinking you have sufficient oxygen in your body to help you stay submerged longer.