1. Using a standing¹ desk. 

 

A recent long-term study looking at data on nearly 4,000 US adults found no benefit in terms of overall risk of dying from standing as opposed to sitting. 

 

In the short-term, however, standing does burn more calories per minute; so if losing weight is all you're worried about, stand on!

 

2. Using toilet seat liners.

 

Viruses like HIV and herpes are fragile, meaning they don't survive very well outside of a nice, warm human body. By the time you sit down on a public toilet seat - even if it was recently shared by someone else -- most harmful pathogens likely wouldn't be able to infect you. 

 

Plus, your skin is an effective block against any microbes. (Unless, of course, you have a cut or open wound there, which could allow the bacteria to get in.) 

 

3. Applying hand sanitizer. 

 

If you wash your hands regularly throughout the day, hand sanitizer is almost entirely² unnecessary. Plus, it can't kill all the germs that plain old soap and water can. 

 

Norovirus and C. difficile, for example, are immune to sanitizing gels. 

 

4. Ear candling. 

 

The practice of ear candling - yes, ear candling - involves putting a lit, cone-shaped candle inside your ear. People who do it say it's helpful for relieving earwax and treating some infections. According to the Mayo Clinic, not so much. 

 

"Research shows," they write, "that ear candling is ineffective at removing earwax and is also not an effective treatment for any other conditions." Plus, the practice can end up pushing earwax deeper into your ear. Even worse, you can burn your face, hair, scalp, or ear. So don't. 

 

5. Avoiding gluten. 

 

Unless you're one of the 1% of Americans who suffer from celiac disease, gluten probably won't have a negative effect on you. In fact, studies show that most people suffer from slight bloating and gas when they eat, whether they consume wheat or not. So go ahead and eat that bagel. 

 

6. Juicing. 

 

When you juice fresh fruits and veggies, you remove all of their fiber³, the key ingredient that keeps you feeling full and satisfied until your next meal. 

 

What you keep is the sugar. In the short term, a high-sugar, low-protein diet means constant hunger pangs⁴, mood swings, and low energy. In the long term, you can lose muscle mass since muscles rely on protein. 

 

7. Avoiding MSG. 

 

Monosodium glutamate is an ingredient added to many foods to enhance their flavor. It's completely safe to ingest. 

 

MSG is often associated with a series of symptoms, from numbness⁵ at the base of the neck to a general sense of fatigue⁶, that are commonly lumped together and called "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome⁷." Eating too much is the more likely culprit here, not eating MSG.

 

8. Going on a "detox" diet. 

 

No one needs to detox. Unless you've been poisoned, you already have a superefficient system for filtering out most of the harmful substances you eat. It's made up of two toxin-bashing organs: the liver and the kidneys.

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