9 mistakes women make with their health

Attention, ladies: even if you think you have a healthy lifestyle guru and personal fitness instructor, we guarantee you’re making some of these health mistakes without even realizing it. If you give up these bad habits, you will be healthier.

1. Unhealthy Friends

Some of your friends can be bad for your health without you even knowing it. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine looked into obesity. Scientists are finding that when your friends gain weight, you’re more likely to gain weight too.

That doesn’t mean you should ditch your friends as soon as they put on a few pounds, says study author Dr. Nicholas Christakis. He simply recommends surrounding yourself with people who care about healthy living.

2. You only rely on cardio

“I don’t want to do weight training because I don’t want to strain!”, you tell yourself for the thousandth time while doing cardio on the treadmill at the gym. But your fears of looking like a bodybuilder are unfounded – because of lower testosterone levels, women can’t build as much muscle mass as men.

3. Excessive use of social media

We all enjoy checking Facebook every now and then, but if we do it too often, we can become depressed. This shows a study by researchers in Germany.

They found that excessive use of Facebook can pose a serious risk to our mental health. The main culprit is viewing other users’ vacation photos. One in three survey participants admitted it made them feel depressed or lonely.

Things aren’t any better with Twitter. Scientists at the University of Vermont have found that the more users use it, the more unhappy and stressed they become.

4. Relying too much on diet products

When for your better weight or dental status you decide to turn to sugar-free foods, it can be , that they are not as innocent as you think. Instead of sugar, manufacturers often use artificial sweeteners.

Aspartame, commonly found in diet drinks, increases the risk of obesity by 41 percent, according to a study by the Health Science Center at the University of Texas.

Cornell University psychologists have found in another study that phrases like “sugar free” can subconsciously trigger overeating. In some cases, this means that people are consuming twice as many calories as if they had consumed sugary foods.

5. Focusing on Abs

Too often we fixate our attention on shaping our abdominal wall tiles. We do it at the cost of endless abdominal presses, not knowing that we are actually wasting our time.

They turn out to be completely useless, a study shows, as it takes 22,000 sit-ups to burn one kilogram of abdominal fat. The trick is to focus on high intensity interval training. Thus metabolism increases and fat burning becomes faster.

6. You wear high heels too often

Who can resist a pair of killer heels topped off with a pair of pretty legs? However, if you wear them too often, your feet won’t be happy enough.

Wearing heels higher than 4 centimeters increases the pressure on the feet by about 30 percent, which damages tendons, reduces blood circulation, damages bones and nerves.

7. You’re not getting enough calcium

A recent study conducted by Creighton University Medical Center found that 85% of women don’t get enough calcium, increasing the risk from osteoporosis.

Women aged 19-50 need 1,000 mg of calcium daily. It is fueled by milk and milk products, fish such as salmon, sardines and leafy greens.

8. Using electronics before bed

Computer games before bed can disrupt your sleep, according to Swedish researchers. They note that people who use cell phones or tablets right before bed have difficulty falling asleep and have lasting health problems.

Also, technology addicts suffer from headaches throughout the day.

9. Eat what your partner eats

The next time you are on a date, pay enough attention not only to your partner, but also to what is on your plate, psychologists advise. Scientists from the University of Birmingham have found a link between new relationships and weight gain, especially in women.

According to their findings, when you dine with a new partner, you subconsciously eat the same amounts of food as them, leading to weight gain.