Weird Shit I Own – Part 3

July 30, 2019

In the third part of this series, I continue with more of the weird stuff I own. I never realised quite how many weird things I have, until I have visitors around. So here go another six things.

Neck Massager: https://amzn.to/2Yw4EJn

This was the best thing I bought in 2017 for less than £30. I first saw it at an event but they were selling it for £130! I then found it on Amazon for £100 less! It’s a massager which I wear whilst watching TV. For many years I had neck issues, and although I can’t attribute it totally to this (as I did some other new exercises), but it seems to have helped with it. I’ve had many people round my place who have tried it out and then bought one for themselves. You can use it round the neck and back and legs. All while watching TV if I like!

Massage Ball: https://amzn.to/2xnogDq

Staying on the thought of massage, I love using a massage ball. This one I leave underneath my wash basin and roll under my feet as I brush my teeth. I do this to release tension in the feet and up the legs for a couple of minutes twice a day. Just as I brush my teeth. It’s also great on the neck (use a wall to support) and also on the side of the legs to release tension. It’s also small enough to take on holiday as well.

Grounding Strap: https://amzn.to/2xjnnM5

I’ve spoken about grounding here, so won’t go into it now. Suffice it to say that being in touch with the ground can be helpful for our health. This strap, mimics this process by connecting to the ‘earth’ port of your house/flat. Provided it’s properly earthed, it will connect to the negative ions on earth and help with healing. In my experience (placebo possibly, although there are studies that have controlled for this), using the strap on injury sites seems to help.

Oura Ring: http://ouraring.com/

The Oura Ring is an advanced sleep tracker. It measures all sorts of things including heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, movement and more. All of this enables it to tell what stage of sleep you are in (deep, light, awake or REM – dream), and then gives you a readiness score. A readiness score is essentially your ability to take on the day.

It’s pretty pricy so not a quick purchase decision (for me anyway), but it’s useful if it leads to behaviour change. For me, I really notice my sleep quality goes down the later I eat dinner. Even if it’s after 6pm it makes a difference. It also matches up closely with how I intuitively feel. Obviously staying out late, drinking, watching TV late – all negatively affect my score. What’s interesting is that it has led to behaviour change for me – most notably eating earlier when I can, and also sleeping in later (as my REM doesn’t normally peak until 6am).

What I like about this tracker over others, is it’s form factor. It’s non obtrusive and I’ve been using it for 6 months now. And also that I can put it in Airplane mode so that it’s not constantly transmitting signals from the Bluetooth.

That said, if you haven’t gotten the basics of sleep right, it might not be the right thing for you right now. Cheaper – and what will improve your sleep more – is to check out the course I developed on improving sleep: http://thethoughtgym.com/sleepsoundly.

Water Distiller: https://amzn.to/2IZbvpe

There are many different types of water out there (and I write about in my third book – on it’s way). And distilled water is the purest form. Pure H2O. This isn’t natural water of course, as natural water has mineral in it. This device boils and condenses the water, so it becomes pure H2O. Why do this? Well, to experiment with it really. I’ve researched and some people seem to think it helps with injuries and calcification of joints. This is because pure H2O is hungry water and will bind to the deposits there. That said, some people seem to think that pure H2O will also scoop up other things in the body that are meant to be there.

I don’t drink 100% of my water like this, but about 30%. Mainly just at home when I store in a glass bottle. I am interested to do a water only fast for 24-36 hours with just distilled water to see what that will do, but as yet, I’ve not done that.

Anyway, this is the distiller I have and use currently.

Blackout Sheet: http://easyblindsonline.co.uk/

Again on the topic of sleep, one of the most important things for a good deep nights sleep (once a decent bed is sorted, and along with temperature) is darkness. Our skin (as well as our eyes) are sensitive to all aspects (no matter how small) of light.

For years I’ve had a blackout blind, but it always let in light around the edges. In the summer this really bothers me as I wake up the moment first light comes in. The blackout sheet is something that attaches (via Velcro) to the window frame and blocks out 100% of the light. It’s amazing.

I really recommend sleeping in total darkness. That’s also important for children too I think – there was one study from the University of Pennsylvania, I read about myopia (short sightedness). Out of 479 children looked at, they identified that if a child slept (from ages 0-2 years old) with lights on, then the likelihood of needing glasses by 16 years old was 55%, and then if they had a night light it was 34% and total darkness then 10%. In other words, you were 3x or 5x more likely to need glasses dependent on your light exposure as an infant. Crazy!

So, basically it’s good for us to sleep in darkness.

What weird things do you own? Let me know below.