The hour before sleep is the golden time of day for health maintenance and illness prevention. Nevertheless, many people are unaware of it, and they miss the best opportunity to do preventive measures.
Health maintenance before bedtime
Soaking your feet in warm water
Circulation is enhanced to detoxify the blood. The feet are the furthest away from the heart than other parts of the body. Hence, your feet receive the least amount of nutrients and blood. By soaking your feet in warm water before going to bed, both blood circulation and your metabolic rate can be enhanced. Particularly, in the cold days of winter, the habit of soaking your feet in warm water, together with massaging your feet and toes, can enhance blood flow and soothe your body. According to physicians, the best time for soaking your feet in warm water is between 9 and 11 p.m.
Brushing your teeth
For health maintenance to help prevent heart disease, brushing your teeth before going to bed is more important than brushing them in the morning. Brushing in the evening not only removes food particles accumulated in the mouth, but it also preserves the teeth and brings freshness to the mouth, soothing the body and assisting with sleep. Most importantly, cleaning your teeth before retiring can effectively prevent heart diseases. Doctors say that there is a direct correlation between heart diseases and the state of one’s teeth. Bacteria that cause periodontal disease can also lead to heart problems.
Combing your hair
For composure leading to longevity, there are many crucial acupuncture points on your head, such as the baihui acupoint. Nevertheless, many people have trouble in accurately locating that point. An easy alternative is to massage the head using the fingers of both hands to stimulate the acupoint. Combing the hair produces a similar effect as finger massage and can lead to composure, awareness, and comfort for your body. Prior to going to bed, combing your hair using your fingers until your scalp is warm causes smooth blood flow in vessels under the scalp. As a result, the logic and memory capacity of the brain is enhanced, and the hair roots receive more nutrients, preventing hair loss, relaxing the brain, and assisting with sleep. Massaging your head may also alleviate illnesses, including migraines; however, the message should be done for no longer than five minutes every evening.
Drink a cup of warm water
To lower blood viscosity during sleep, people may sweat slightly. The water content of your blood is reduced, resulting in an increase in blood viscosity. For patients of cardiovascular disease, a higher blood viscosity may be dangerous to them. Drinking warm water before bed means the blood viscosity can be reduced. For the sake of preventing emergent conditions, such as myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, and stroke, it is better to drink warm water before bedtime even if one is not thirsty. It is recommended that patients with cardiovascular disease should prepare warm water near their beds within reach, which allows them to sip the water as they wake up in the night. For diabetic patients, the maintenance of the body’s water content is beneficial to the control of blood sugar.
Rubbing your legs
To improve blood flow in the body while lying on the bed, there is an exercise for health maintenance that can be practiced before falling asleep. For example, you can rub your calves. There are veins in the calf and massaging your calf muscles toward the heart can improve blood flow in the veins. The patients of hyperlipidemia and hypertension can gain therapeutic synergy, helping to prevent heart disease.
Translated by Jean Chen
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