6 Personal health annoyances and how to fix them

When you hiccup, your diaphragm—a dome-shaped wall of muscle and connective tissue between your chest and abdominal cavity that contracts when you breathe in and relaxes when you breathe out—tightens involuntarily.

There are several ways you can change your breathing pattern to trick your lungs and diaphragm to get back to their regular cycle. Try any or all of these tips until your hiccups stop:

Bad breath is generally caused by bacteria growing in the mouth, not the remnants of the lunch you just had. If you notice you have bad breath, swish water around your mouth and then drink up lots more.

A dry mouth is a haven for bacteria. A sugar-free mint or some gum will give your mouth a perky, fresh flavour but does little for the underlying cause. Try a soft drink, seltzer or iced tea to freshen the somewhat unpleasant taste that sometimes develops. They change the alkalinity of your mouth, which helps kill bacteria.

To keep your mouth freer of bacteria, brush your teeth at least twice a day and floss daily. Equally important, try brushing your tongue. The tongue is like a bacteria magnet—brushing it removes bacteria and makes your mouth feel more comfortable.

A wonderful natural deodorant for your mouth is parsley. Try putting parsley, basil, or mint in your salads, because many dressings use garlic and other smelly spices as main ingredients. Also good for bad breath are fennel, dill, cardamom, and anise seeds.

If the problem is severe and won’t go away, see your doctor. Sometimes it’s a sign of other health problems.

There is a medical condition called hyperhidrosis—excessive perspiring—that hits one in 25 people. But for most of us, the sweat only pours out when we are tense, scared, or really hot. If the sweat is beginning to show through your shirt, excuse yourself, go to the bathroom, and towel down.

Then apply an antiperspirant, NOT a deodorant. Antiperspirants contain aluminium chloride, which causes the pores that release perspiration to close up. If you sweat heavily, look for one with at least 12 per cent aluminium chloride, the strongest non-prescription dose available.

Next, if you have access to one, put on a T-shirt. Finally, drink some cold water to help cool your body down, and do what you can to calm yourself.

If sweating is a chronic problem for you, garment shields offer a solution. These oblong, self-adhesive fabric guards are applied to the underarm of your sleeve to create a barrier between your underarm and your dress or your blouse. You can buy garment shields from any fabric store.

Foot odour is caused by sweat. The sweat itself doesn’t smell, but it breeds bacteria that give off foul odours. Charcoal shoe inserts work (they’re available at shoe stores and pharmacies), but they can be expensive and are really only a temporary cure.

If you are in a social situation in which foot odour is an issue, chances are it’s because you have taken your shoes off; the odour is probably coming from them, not your feet. Either put the shoes back on or move them far away. Discreetly dry the insides of the shoes with paper towels; if necessary, stuff them with paper towels and leave them be.

Chances are your socks have absorbed some of the odour, so put on dry, fresh ones, or take them off too and leave them with your shoes. If you have a problem with chronic foot odour, here are some better things you can do:

Fennel seeds, which have a liquorice flavour, have been used for thousands of years to reduce gas and improve digestion—chewing a one-half teaspoon of fennel seeds should do the trick. Caraway seeds have a similar effect.

Of course, there are other quick remedies—pharmacies are full of anti-gas medicines that work. But for other home remedies, consider these:

Earwax filters dust and other harmful particles out of the ear. Old wax is usually expelled by your chewing motions, which push the wax, along with dead skin cells and bacteria, out of the ear.

But as people age and there is less moisture in their wax, it can build up in the ear, hardening and causing blockage and pain. Don’t use a cotton bud to clean it out; the swab can lodge the wax deeper in the ear canal and damaging the eardrum.

Instead, fill an eyedropper with hydrogen peroxide that is body temperature (38°C) or a little warmer. Lie down or tilt your head so the blocked ear is pointing up. Drip the peroxide into the ear until it feels full.

Wait three minutes before tilting your head the other way over a sink or towel to let the peroxide drain out. Then tilt your head again and gently squirt warm water into your ear. Let it settle, and then drain.

Clean away the water and softened wax from your outer ear with a washcloth or cotton balls. A few drops of baby oil or mineral oil can also do the trick. Let the oil work its way down into your ear. You can leave it in for up to one hour. Then squirt in some water to flush the oil out.

In either case, finish up by using a hair dryer to dry your ear. Use the coolest setting and don’t bring it any closer than 12 inches from your ear.