If you’ve noticed your handwriting is starting to slip or your partner is losing their hair, it might be worth paying attention — it could be a sign of something more serious.
In fact, there are a number of seemingly harmless health indicators, most of which you wouldn’t think twice about, that could be an important early warning.
Snoring, the noisy breathing through the mouth or nose that seems to disrupt everyone but the person doing it, is one such quirk, as well as changes in handwriting, hair loss, long index finger and weak teeth.
According to Better Health Victoria, it’s estimated that 20 per cent of the population snores at night. It also says it’s a quirk more common in men. Largely it’s harmless, however the throat obstructions that cause a person to snore are linked to a thickening of arteries in the neck, which in turn can lower the amount of oxygen in the blood leading to breathing interruptions, and if left untreated heart attacks or strokes.
By the time you get to 60 you’ve likely developed a pretty fluid style of writing, but if you notice your letters becoming smaller or more crowded, there are chances it could be a sign of the development of Parkinson’s disease.
Many people with Parkinson’s disease say they noticed a change in their handwriting. If your hands are feeling a bit stiff, it might be worth consulting your doctor. Same goes for if you start to struggle (provided you weren’t struggling before) with mathematics — it’s considered an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease.
Male pattern baldness has been linked to an increase risk of prostate cancer. A study of 4,000 men in the United States aged between 25 and 74 years found that men with a degree of balding were 56 per cent more likely to die from prostate cancer. This increased if the hair loss was more moderate.
You wouldn’t think a long index finger would be anything to worry about, and it certainly helps with pointing, but males with index fingers longer than their ring finger on their right hand is likely to develop schizophrenia.
What about those weak teeth? It’s not just sugar. There are actually a range of diseases that can be picked up during your regular visit with the dentist including diabetes and digestive problems.