Can fidgeting and belly laughing keep your heart ticking? New research says, Yes.

Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death across the US. As per the American Heart Association (AHA), 61% of American adults are likely to develop some kind of CVD in the next 30 years. Beyond the US, data suggests that around 17.9 million lives each year are lost to heart diseases alone.

While everyone knows that sticking to a healthy diet and exercising is the key to countering it, there are lesser-known ways to boost your health and some of them are even fun. But before we explore that, it must be noted that improved breathing can have profound benefits on long-term cardiovascular function. Since the heart and lungs work hand in hand to deliver oxygen to the body, daily habits that improve lung function — like deep breathing exercises, staying active and avoiding pollutants — are key to preventing heart disease and supporting long-term cardiovascular health.

Here Are Simple Yet Fun Ways To Boost Your Lung & Heart Health

Wiggle Your Toes: A simple habit like wiggling your toes for 30 seconds every hour can help maintain healthy circulation. This small movement stimulates blood flow, preventing pooling and supporting overall circulation. Improved circulation ensures better oxygen flow throughout the body, benefiting both lung and heart health.

Maintain Proper Posture: Posture plays a crucial role in respiratory and cardiovascular health. Poor posture compresses the chest cavity, restricting lung capacity and limiting airflow. Over time, this can reduce oxygen levels in the bloodstream, forcing the heart to work harder. Maintaining proper spinal alignment opens up the chest cavity, allowing the lungs to expand fully. This leads to enhanced oxygen intake, improved breathing, and reduced stress on the heart.

Laugh More for a Healthier Heart: Laughter isn’t just good for the soul—it’s great for your heart too! Studies have shown that laughter therapy can improve cardiovascular health and ease symptoms of heart disease. When you laugh, your diaphragm and abdominal muscles contract, promoting deep breathing and enhancing oxygen exchange. This process helps lower blood pressure, improve circulation, and reduce stress, all of which contribute to a healthier heart and lungs.

Practice Gratitude Daily: Cultivating gratitude can have significant health benefits. Chronic stress triggers the release of cortisol, a hormone linked to inflammation in the body, including the respiratory system. By practising gratitude—such as keeping a journal or reflecting on positive moments—you can lower stress and anxiety, leading to more relaxed breathing and improved lung function. Studies suggest that those who engage in gratitude practices experience greater well-being and emotional resilience.

Try Pursed Lip Breathing: Regulating your breathing can be a game-changer for lung efficiency. Pursed lip breathing, a simple technique where you inhale deeply and exhale slowly as if blowing out birthday candles, can improve airflow and prevent airway collapse. This technique is particularly helpful during periods of stress or physical activity. By prolonging exhalation, pursed lip breathing enhances oxygen exchange, reduces the heart’s workload, and supports better respiratory function.

Diet may seem like a secondary issue for many of us, but for athletes, it plays a very important role. The food they eat today could change the course of their game the next day. Athletes like tennis superstar Novak Djokovic have special diets that help them perform their best. Sharing the juices he drinks every morning in an interview; we get a glimpse of what goes into being a professional player.

Why Does A Diet Play An Important Role

Different sports require different types of diet, for example John Hopkins Medicine explains that a runner athlete must go for a carbohydrate rich diet as they must expend a lot of energy in an extended period of time, meaning they must sustain a uniform strain of energy to make sure they complete their run. On the other hand, judo or wrestler athletes must focus on a protein-based diet that will help them build muscles and strength.

For elite athletes, every little detail matters – from what they eat to how they train and recover. It can all make the difference between winning and losing. When it comes to fueling the body for success, Novak Djokovic stands out. With an astonishing 24 Grand Slam titles, he's the most successful male player in history, surpassing even legends like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, and he's still competing at the highest level.

What Does Novak Djokovic Eat?

Recently, in a TikTok clip with sports journalist Graham Bensinger, Djokovic revealed a surprising part of his daily morning routine. When asked about a typical day, he shared: "When I rise from bed, I start with warm water and lemon so I can help my body to detoxify and then I would have celery juice on an empty stomach." While this might sound a bit unusual to most people, Djokovic's drink choices are actually supported by some interesting science.

Science Behind the Sips

Warm lemon water is a fantastic natural source of Vitamin C. This vitamin is crucial for many bodily functions and significantly boosts your immune system. It's also a powerful antioxidant, helping to fight off harmful molecules called free radicals and keeping your cells healthy.

Drinking this first thing in the morning, as Djokovic does, can also be great for your digestive system. The Cleveland Clinic explains that it also helps us stay hydrated and is a great remedy for kidney stones, weight loss friendly, as well as filled with antioxidants like vitamin C, protecting your body from diseases.

Adding celery juice to the mix offers similar benefits. It's also rich in Vitamin C, along with Vitamins A and K, and essential nutrients like potassium, folate, and magnesium. For a tennis player like Djokovic, Vitamin K is especially important for strong bones, while the other nutrients help with muscle recovery and healthy blood flow.

Beyond the scientific benefits, Djokovic himself says these drinks give him mental clarity and a general feeling of energy, setting him up for a positive start to his day.

Even if you're not planning to follow the exact routine of a world-class athlete, staying hydrated is always a good idea. The NHS recommends drinking six to eight cups or glasses of fluid throughout the day.

Do We Need Detoxifying Juices?

As an addition to your diet, these can be helpful, however many people go on juice cleanses, relying solely on the juice for sustenance, which is not healthy for your body. A big selling point for juice cleansers is their supposed ability to "detoxify" your system. It's true that drinking more fluids can help your kidneys work better, and some nutrients can assist your body in getting rid of waste.

However, there isn't enough scientific evidence to show that juice cleanses or other "detox" diets actually improve your body's natural ability to remove toxins. Your liver and kidneys are incredibly efficient at detoxifying your body on their own, without the need for special juice regimens.

Back in 2023, a 64-year-old man experienced something weird. He had green hair growing on his tongue. Initially he was prescribed antifungal medicine, however, the treatment did not work on him. What he had was called a hairy tongue.

A Visit To Doc

The patient's tongue turned green about two weeks before he paid a visit to the doctor. This was shortly after he had completed a course of antibiotics from a gum infection.

What initially happened was a discoloration and doctors thought that it was a case of oral thrush, which is a fungal infection. As a result, he was prescribed antifungal treatment, however, this did not do anything. Rather, there was moss-like growths.

When doctors had a closer look, they realized that the man's filiform papillae, which are the tiny, cone-shaped bumps that cover the surface of the tongue and give its rough texture were longer than from a healthy tongue. Though there were no signs of injury or change in taste reported from the patient.

What The Case Report Said?

The case report was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, where physicians wrote, "A diagnosis of hairy tongue was made."

What is hairy tongue? Hairy tongue or lingua villosa is a benign condition that causes hair-like growths of various colors to sprout on top of the tongue, said the report.

These growths are filiform papillae that haven’t shed as they normally do through regular friction — such as from brushing with a toothbrush, using a tongue scraper, or eating solid, textured foods. Under typical conditions, these tiny projections grow to about 1 millimeter before falling off naturally, in a process called desquamation, similar to how skin sheds, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

When this natural shedding doesn’t occur, the papillae can continue growing—reaching lengths of up to 0.7 inches (18 millimeters)—which can result in a condition known as hairy tongue. According to the American Academy of Oral Medicine, it affects roughly 13% of people at some point in their lives, most commonly in men and individuals over the age of 65.

As these bumps elongate into hair-like strands, they begin to trap food particles, bacteria, dead skin cells, and other debris—leading to the discolored, furry appearance of a hairy tongue. According to the American Academy of Oral Medicine, the tongue may appear brown, white, green, or even pink, depending on the underlying cause and factors like mouthwash use or certain candies.

What Causes Hairy Tongue—And Why It Sometimes Turns Black or Green

In many cases, hairy tongue takes on a jet-black appearance, a condition medically known as lingua villosa nigra, or black hairy tongue, according to a recent case report.

Several factors can increase the risk of developing a hairy tongue—regardless of its color. These include consuming a soft-food diet, drinking excessive amounts of coffee, tea, or alcohol, smoking, dehydration, poor oral hygiene, and taking certain oral medications that alter the mouth’s microbial balance. Regularly brushing the tongue is one of the most effective ways to prevent the papillae from becoming elongated and discolored.

In the case report, doctors treated a patient who presented with a green-colored tongue. They advised him to gently scrub his tongue with a toothbrush four times a day and to stop smoking. At a six-month follow-up, the patient’s tongue had returned to a normal appearance—even though he continued to smoke, the report noted.

Aging is not a linear process as many people think it is. While your chronological age may say a certain number, the way you live could cause you to be biologically older. Our chronological age is based on the number of years we have lived; however, our biological age could be higher or lower, based on how healthy our lifestyle choices are.

As we know, till a certain age, our body keeps growing and then comes to a halt. Studies like the 2013 study published in the Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment journal explain that our brain’s development is not complete until the age of 25, especially the prefrontal cortex. Like every living being, if we are developing, we will eventually deteriorate as well. However, at what age does this deterioration begin?

A groundbreaking study published in Nature Medicine found that a simple blood test can reliably estimate a person's age by analyzing the levels of hundreds of proteins. This "proteomic clock" offers a fascinating insight: biological aging isn't a smooth, linear process. Instead, it appears to accelerate in distinct phases.

Key Ages of Accelerated Aging

The study identified three significant periods when aging seems to speed up, on average: around ages 34, 60, and 78. Notably, the research suggests that the average person begins to show signs of physical deterioration as early as 34 years old. Based on these findings, "adulthood" was categorized as 34 to 60 years, "late maturity" from 60 to 78 years, and "old age" from 78 years onward.

To build this "proteomic clock," the scientists collected blood plasma (the liquid part of blood) from over 4,200 healthy people, ranging in age from 18 to 95. They used the information from more than half of these people to create their "clock." This clock was then able to correctly guess the age of the remaining people in the study. What's even more impressive is that they could make accurate age guesses using just 373 of the almost 3,000 proteins they first looked at. They even found that they could get a decent guess with as few as nine key proteins!

The study also showed that people whose blood proteins made them seem biologically younger than their actual age also did better on tests that measured how well their brain and body worked.

What This Means for Our Future

These findings have significant implications. This research suggests the potential for a blood test that could identify individuals who are biologically aging faster than their chronological age. Such individuals might be at a higher risk for age-related health issues like cardiovascular problems, Alzheimer's disease, and osteoarthritis earlier in life.

Furthermore, this research offers hope for developing interventions that could potentially slow down this "proteomic clock," keeping people biologically younger for longer. While it may sound like science fiction, the same research team has previously shown that it's possible to rejuvenate an older mouse by infusing it with blood from a younger mouse, hinting at future anti-aging treatments.

The discovery that the first burst of accelerated aging occurs in early mid-life, around age 34, is particularly intriguing, as it's well before the typical onset of noticeable aging signs and related health problems.