Our body is a complicated system. No wonder however carefully one looks after, minor problems keep surfacing every now and then. Medical science has witnessed an astounding number of things that can go wrong with the human body; and many of them are not even known to us yet. But we will not be discussing those complicated and unheard of cases here. Instead, we’ll be talking about the most common health issues that we come across in our everyday life, that by their very nature, are ‘anti-etiquette’ and embarrassing to the core.
10. Bad Breath
Remember that foul smell emanating from the mouth of the friend the other day you were talking to? What if your mouth too smelled the same way? You’d find it so embarrassing that you’d altogether avoid talking to people, isn’t it? Even people would start preferring to stay away from you… Yes, this ridiculously minor looking issue can come in the way of your social life as a big hindrance.
There are a lot of things that can cause bad breath, or the mouth odor, to be more generic. Teeth or gum problems, mouth ulcers, acidity, irregular bowels, unhealthy sleeping habits, smoking, staying hungry for too long, etc. are the factors that contribute most to this problem. Eating certain foods like onion, garlic, radish, etc. also causes mouth odor but bad breath is something more than that. People often try to cover up the odor with mouthwash, mint, chewing gum, etc. but that’s not the permanent solution. Maintaining proper oral hygiene combined with diagnosing and treating the real cause of bad breath is the right way to go.
9. Hiccups and Belching
Whether you are in the middle of a meeting or an important conversation, hiccups do not ever give a damn. And once they get hold of you, you know they are not going to leave you anytime soon. That involuntary sound repeatedly coming out of your mouth, no matter how hard you try to suppress it, can be a cause of embarrassment, especially if you are at your work place.
Belching too causes similar embarrassment, or perhaps even bigger since it usually sounds louder and is accompanied by expulsion of gas from the mouth. Thankfully, unlike hiccups, it does not happen to be repetitive in nature.
Though the exact cause may vary and the problems are not significant enough to be medically diagnosed, both of these problems have got something to do with the digestive system of the body. The best you can do to reduce their chances is to avoid overeating, and drink sufficient amount of water.
8. Yawning
Yawning throws out the signal that you are either bored or feeling sleepy. And either of them can be troublesome, if not fatal, for your career rather than your health. Can you even imagine in the wildest of your dreams that your boss saw you yawning in the office? Or if you are a student, that your teacher saw you yawning in the classroom? Well, things may not go that extreme but to say the least, it is not considered polite to yawn in public even while you are not doing anything important. So, how do you avoid yawning, which again is an involuntary action of your body that does not ask for your permission? Having your dose of sound sleep and taking out time for relaxation should solve most part of it. The idea is to keep yourself active and avoid overworking so that your body does not get too tired.
7. Dandruff and Lice Infestation
The nursery rhyme – row row row your boat, gently down the stream – will no longer hold any meaning for you. Instead it’d be time for you to sing – scratch scratch scratch your head roughly up the skin… Yes, be it just dandruff or to go a step ahead, lice infestation, either one will make you do just that. Though people may be civilized enough not to shout “monkey, monkey” at you, but still, scratching your head all the way to office will obviously make you look stupid and silly. Remedy however should not be that difficult though. Taking head bath regularly and keeping your scalp moisturized should work as a good preventive measure. And if you are already a victim, your dermatologist should be able to help you out with some simple medication.
6. Chipping Lips
Dehydrated, dry lips usually keep giving a prickly sensation to the ‘patients’ making them derive insatiable pleasure from chipping their lips. This pleasure is often comparable to the one derived from scratching, and hence the patient never knows when to apply the ‘brakes’. Chipping one’s lips not just looks dirty and unhygienic but it also leads to bleeding and pain, thus further aggravating your problem. The right way to deal with dry lips is to drink sufficient amount of water and use lip balm rather than chipping and to keep wetting them with your tongue all day long.
5. Scaly Skin
I’m sure you don’t need any description for this; the mention itself is enough to give that pungent, creepy feeling you get when you see the ‘scales of dirt’ on someone’s hands, legs or somewhere else on the body. But as you might be aware, the dirty looking thing is not actually a layer of dirt; it’s in fact a layer of skin itself. Now, how does it feel to move around with the filthy skin, bringing an expression of disgust on the face of everybody you come across? Well, keep the answer to yourself but be advised that the problem is often more severe than you think. Make sure to make an appointment with your dermatologist if you happen to suffer from such condition.
4. Body Odor
You might not be at fault here since the bad smell emanating from your body is often a free gift you received with your birth, and there is actually not much you can do about it… not yet at least. Yes, we are talking about those whose sweat bears an extra dose of foul smell, and as if that was not enough, such people usually also tend to sweat more than normal. If you happen to be the unlucky one, remember, it’s often the armpit that makes your presence unbearable, and if you happen to be wearing shoes, then the socks too add up to it. Though medically you may not be able to completely eliminate the odor, the good thing is that you can suppress it with deodorants and perfumes. Also take enough water and try to keep your body cool so as not to sweat much.
3. Nose Picking
Some do it with nails, some do it with fingers and some go full fledged with both hands. We really don’t know what pleasure people derive from picking their nose. Neither are we sure whether they do this to clear up the passage through their nostrils to make breathing easy. But for whatever reason they do this, we have enough reason to detest them. To extend a sincere piece of advice to all the ‘picky’ people out there, we’d say blow your nose to your heart’s content in the morning, or scoop it up the way you want when you take bath but avoid picking your nose in public at your convenience.
2. Itchy Crotch
Now this is getting little touchy. Though there is no denying the fact that private area of your body is 100 percent yours, scratching it in public is definitely not the right way to proclaim it. Do it openly or try the age old ‘hands in pocket’ trick, nothing will go unnoticed. You should rather keep the area clean and free from fungus (probably with a topical fungicide ointment); and if required, go, see your doctor! This will help you maintain the decency of your privacy as well as that of the public place. And your colleagues too will hold no qualms in shaking hands with you.
1. Breaking wind
Whether you make it with a thundering sound, in mute mode or in any other variation in between, expelling gas this way is just not done. Remember, each time you ‘break the silence’, you are destroying the peace of others. So, our sincere advice is to keep your digestion system strong and empty your bowels in the morning each day, so that you don’t have to keep whistling under pressure all day long!