It can be hard to find that special someone. Fortunately, history is here to help. Whether you are looking for “the one” or want to become a real Casanova, these dating tips are guaranteed to help you out. (Disclaimer: Not actually a guarantee.)

10 Use A Fan For Subtle Flirting

Fans have been around for thousands of years but became a hot fashion accessory in 18th-century Europe. Ever resourceful, women realized that the fan could be used for more than just appearances, and soon enough, they started using a secret “fan language” to flirt with their male admirers.

While you might think that using a fan to communicate would be rather limited, there were actually over 30 messages that women could convey to the men fortunate enough to learn this “language.” For example, hiding the eyes behind an open fan simply said, “I love you.” Carrying the open fan in the left hand expressed a desire to talk while twirling the fan in the left hand warned the man that they were being watched.

9 Find A Partner At The Marriage Market

In the Histories, Herodotus writes of an ancient custom in Babylonian villages which ensured that everyone found a partner, including the poorest men and the ugliest women. They went to the marriage market, where men would bid for their new wives.

It started off as a regular auction. The best-looking women would go first, as they got the highest bids, meaning that they typically married the wealthiest men. Things switched when the auction got to the women who were considered ugly, crippled, or too old. The auctioneer would pay participants to take them as wives. Each bid got lower, and the winner was the man who accepted the lowest bid. The money was paid from the profits from auctioning off the beautiful girls. This way, every woman found a husband, and the poorer couples also gained a dowry.

The market was open to all, even people from other villages. Fathers weren’t allowed to marry their daughters to the people they wanted, and bidders had to provide a backer who would guarantee their intention to marry. In case things didn’t work out, every sale came with a money-back guarantee.

8 Share A Secret Language

Privacy has always been an issue for new lovers. In the olden days, it was even harder for lovebirds to evade the watchful eyes of their parents, who were always there to make sure no funny business was going on prior to marriage. A clever way to continue saying sweet nothings to each other, even with the parents in the room, was to learn Morse code.

This tip comes courtesy of Thomas Edison, who employed this strategy to woo his second wife, Mina Miller. The couple met soon after the death of Edison’s first wife, Mary. Mina’s father, Lewis Miller, was also a renowned inventor. He developed the first front-mounted combine harvester.

Even though Mina was 20 years old when her relationship with Thomas began, and Edison was 39, the two were still wary of public displays of affection around her parents. That’s why Edison taught her Morse code, and according to him, he also proposed to her using Morse code.

7 Don’t Get Drunk In Front Of The In-Laws

Impressing the parents of your beloved might not be that important nowadays, but it used to be vital, since historically, the bride needed her father’s permission to marry. That being said, a good suggestion might be to not make a drunken fool of yourself in front of your would-be in-laws.

Nobody knew that better than Hippocleides of Attica. Back in the sixth century BC, Cleisthenes, the tyrant of Sicyon, wanted to marry off his daughter, Agariste. Instead of simply accepting a bride price, he organized a competition to find the best suitor. His call was answered by 12 of the most eligible bachelors in the Greek world.

The suitors went through challenges such as chariot racing and wrestling to prove their worth. By the end of the competition, Hippocleides became Cleisthenes’s favorite to win his daughter’s hand in marriage. However, at a banquet in the suitors’ honor, Hippocleides got very drunk and started acting like an idiot. At one point, he did a handstand and started kicking his legs in the air in rhythm with the music. An angered Cleisthenes told Hippocleides that he “danced away his wife.” Agariste married Megacles, instead.

6 Be Practical

Sometimes, you get better results by showing your practical side. That’s a lesson we can learn from the ancient Egyptians, who, as far as we can tell, did away with fancy courtship rituals and complicated ceremonies. If a woman moved her stuff from her parents’ house into a man’s house, that meant they were married. There was typically a prenuptial agreement in place between the husband and the wife’s father, which outlined who got what in the event of a breakup.

Divorces also seemed to be a straightforward affair, particularly for that time period. Couples were expected to stay together for life (and beyond), but in the event of a split, they divided their possessions, and the children went with the mother. This didn’t apply in the case of adultery, which was heavily frowned upon and carried severe punishments (even death).

None of this is to say that a practical marriage had no room for love or romance. Vizier Ptahhotep wrote The Maxims of Ptahhotep, a collection of wisdom to be passed down to newer generations. In it, he advised husbands to “love [their] wife; feed her and clothe her well; make her happy.” Some of the earliest examples of romantic literature came from Egyptian inscriptions in which men praised the beauty of their wives.

5 Spend Some Quality Time Together

History has never been shy about making it clear that a woman’s place was at home, taking care of the household while the man went out and did things. However, Teutonic women firmly believed their place was next to their husbands, even during war. They followed the men from skirmish to skirmish. They would perform tasks such as feeding the men and tending to the wounded but would not hesitate to take up arms when the need arose.

Plutarch writes of Roman legionaries invading a Teutonic camp and being pushed back by women wielding swords and axes, who endured wounds and slashes with “undaunted resolution.” This kind of determination led to the rise of the Latin phrase furor Teutonicus, a ferocity in battle shared by both Teutonic men and women.

The chastity and devotion of Teutonic women was another trait evoked by historians. The Teutons were virtually wiped out by Romans at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae in 102 BC. Valerius Maximus wrote that the women pleaded to become sacred servants of Vesta instead of slaves. When their request was refused, they committed mass suicide.

4 Try Love In A Bottle

People who hadn’t managed to snag that special someone could resort to a little chemical assistance in the form of a love potion. Almost every culture in existence has its own food or drink or behavior which is meant to increase libido, make people fall in love, or even cure impotence. There are valid reasons for this: Some of the ingredients used in aphrodisiacs genuinely have positive effects. Even those that don’t work could still cause some improvement thanks to the power of the placebo effect.

In a medieval book on plants and animals, Albertus Magnus informs us that a concoction of periwinkle mixed with leeks and earthworms, pulverized and sprinkled over food, can strengthen the love between a man and his wife. He also warns us that the same mixture thrown into a pond would kill the fish.

Marigolds were a popular ingredient during the Middle Ages and were used in many love potions. Certain Native American tribes preferred wild columbine. Jimsonweed was used throughout parts of India, which was especially dangerous, as it is a toxic plant, part of the nightshade family.

3 Write Your Feelings Down

Some people might have problems expressing themselves and would be better suited to writing their feelings down in a love poem. For inspiration, they could turn to the most romantic civilization in history: the Vikings.

We might think of the Vikings as having been all about the pillaging, but their poems and sagas are filled with stories of true love, particularly love that follows the couple into death. Njal’s Saga is an example. Njal’s wife is offered amnesty, but she chooses to die by his side to keep the promise she made when they got married.

In the Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus records the passionate song of Hagbaror before being hanged and after learning that his wife killed herself so that they could be together in the afterlife: “So let the encircling bonds grip my throat in the midst; the final anguish shall bring with it pleasure only, since the certain hope remains of renewed love.”

While the sagas exalted the love between husband and wife, courting an unmarried girl was downright dangerous. Salacious poems suggesting that the writer had intimate knowledge of a girl would greatly tarnish her honor and diminish her value as a wife. These practices could result in death, as the girl’s father or brothers would feel obligated to defend her name.

2 Exchange Gifts

One of the best ways to grab someone’s attention is with a thoughtful gift. Throughout history, material possessions have almost always been at the heart of marriages. Some cultures had a bride price or bridewealth: The groom had to pay money, land, or wealth to his future wife’s family. Other cultures had a dowry: The bride’s father had to contribute toward the groom’s family.

As marriage customs loosened up a bit, gifts between lovers became more common and more sensual, even without a commitment to marriage. Renaissance Italy was a period where such gift exchanges were common. Woven belts or girdles were given to young women, and they often featured provocative or romantic imagery, as they were associated with fertility. Brooches, pendants, and combs were also frequent choices for gifts.

1 Dissect A Woman To Learn Her Anatomy

This helpful tip comes from 19th-century French novelist Honore de Balzac. One of his lesser-known works was a treatise named The Physiology of Marriage, which uncovered the secrets of a loving, successful marriage. Among the many useful pieces of advice offered in the book, Balzac cautions us that marriage is a science and that a proper man should dissect at least one woman prior to marriage in order to study her anatomy.

Balzac believed that we all have a certain amount of energy. While most men used that energy for their jobs, women didn’t know what to do with theirs. Therefore, the husband would be well-advised to tire out his wife with constant work so that she didn’t fall prey to her passions or caprices. Balzac also warned men against letting women drink plain water, for some reason. He recommended water lightly tinged with Burgundy wine.

Despite his keen insights into marriage, Balzac married late in life, aged 50. This was 20 years after he wrote The Physiology of Marriage. He died five months later.

Developing good health and wellbeing is an important part of living a happy life. If you want to develop these skills, there are several simple tips that you can follow.

One of the best ways to increase your health and wellbeing is to spend time with people who make you feel good. Spending time with your family and friends can help lower stress and improve your mood.

They can also help you deal with difficult situations. You should also make sure you get plenty of sleep. The right amount of sleep can help you avoid illness and improve your overall quality of life.

If you’re not able to sleep well, you should get some help. This can include limiting your screen time, taking some time to relax, or seeking counseling. If you have a stressful job, find a way to de-stress.
A healthy diet and exercise are other important parts of health and wellbeing. You can fit exercise into your everyday life. You can consult a dietician to get a balanced diet plan.

In this article, we are going to discuss some tips to improve your health and wellbeing.

What is Health And Wellness?

The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. Wellness, on the other hand, means living a healthy lifestyle. The primary determinants of health and wellness include the individual’s characteristics, behaviors, and environment.

Understanding the differences between health and wellness can help you to set goals, create sustainable plans and build a healthier, happier life. For example, articles on health and wellness can provide you with tips on improving your nutrition, physical activity, and emotional intelligence.

Health and wellness tips help you to improve the overall quality of health care. They can also help individuals prevent illness. It covers a wide range of topics, including preventive care, nutrition, and health psychology.

One way to promote wellness is to improve your sleep. Experts recommend 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Another way is to drink enough water and eat a balanced diet.

Top 10 Tips to Improve Your Health and Wellbeing

Having a healthy mind, body and spirit can be an important part of a happy life. Here are some tips to improve your health and wellbeing.

1. Take Proper Sleep

Getting enough sleep is critical to maintaining good health. It has been shown that adequate sleep has positive effects on health and mood. Not getting enough sleep is linked to a host of health problems, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Sleep is the body’s natural way of relaxing and rejuvenating. It also gives the body the rest it needs to repair the damage caused by the day. It also helps the brain process and recognizes emotions. Getting enough sleep is also linked to better immune function and memory.

2. Eat a Balanced Diet

Having a balanced diet is important to maintaining a healthy weight, keeping blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check, and reducing your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other conditions. It also helps to boost your mood and energy level. Some of the foods considered healthy are fish, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

They also help to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and other conditions. You should also limit your sodium and sugar intake.

3. Deal with Stress

Managing stress is an important part of maintaining health and wellbeing. When we face stressors, the body reacts in a way that affects our emotions, behaviors, and physical health. Stress can be short-term or long-term. If you are experiencing stress that is affecting your physical and mental health, you should seek help.

There are some effective ways to manage stress. The best way to deal with stress is to learn how to identify the sources of stress and learn coping skills.

4. Exercise Daily

Getting into a regular workout routine is not only good for your body but can also help you deal with mental health issues. Exercise releases neurotransmitters that help you feel better. These include endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin.

Physical activity can improve your mood, increase your energy, boost your immune system, and improve your sleep. It also helps reduce the risk of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. In fact, it can prevent heart disease.

5. Stay Away from Smoking and Alcohol

Staying away from smoking and alcohol is essential to your health and wellbeing. They are both harmful habits that can increase your risk of death. Alcohol and cigarettes are also associated with lung cancer and other health issues. These habits can increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.

6. Be Social

Having a social lifestyle is important for overall health. It can increase your chances of living longer and enjoying better health. It can also give you an opportunity to meet and develop friendships with other people. To develop social health, you need to nurture positive relationships with others. A strong social support network can help you deal with stress and anxiety.

7. Find and Practice New Hobbies

Practicing new hobbies can be a great way to boost your physical and mental health. Not only do you get to enjoy doing something fun, but you also get to meet new people. While your work life may be stressful, it is important to take time out of your day for fun. Try a new sport or join a recreational league.

8. Drink More Water

Keeping yourself hydrated is a great way to enhance your health and wellbeing. It helps prevent dehydration, which can make you feel tired and grumpy. It also helps keep your joints and skin supple and healthy.

Moreover, it also improves circulation, which improves mental performance. Water is the perfect beverage to hydrate your body. It contains no sugar and no artificial ingredients. Drinking water helps to flush out toxins from your body and carries nutrients to your cells.

9. Stretch

Increasing your range of motion through stretching can be beneficial to your overall health. This will reduce aches and pains and increase your energy level. This will also help you avoid injuries. The benefits of stretching include increased blood flow, which leads to more energy and a clearer mind.

10. Walk It Out

Taking a walk is a good way to reduce stress, increase your physical health and boost your mood. Not only does walking diet help your heart and blood vessels, but it also reduces your risk of several diseases. Walking is one of the easiest ways to break out of a sedentary routine.

They say the human brain has a storage capacity that is in the range of 2.5 million gigabytes. That said, our memory can be rather selective. Fresh things are easily accessible. Over time, those memories, especially less significant ones, fade away. For instance, you can probably remember any of the conversations you had yesterday fairly well, even if not word for word. Now try to remember a conversation you had 10 years ago on this day. For most people, that’s an impossible task. If something was significant to you in an emotional way, it will probably be gone forever. But there are some things you can do if you want to improve your memory, and some of them are quite unexpected. Make sure to bookmark this one in case you forget about it.

10. Apple Juice Stimulates Neurotransmitters

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but no one specified if you needed to eat the thing. Some research suggests you can juice it if you want and still get some remarkable benefits. In specific, apple juice has been shown in animal studies to help increase production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This is a key component in brain function and, in particular, memory. Patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s have shown that, when acetylcholine levels are increased, it lowers the rate of mental decline. 

The working theory based on the observations is that, if a person regularly drinks apple juice, they’ll be able to maintain proper functioning of their brain and memory, as well as potentially delay Alzheimer’s. Apples also contain antioxidants which are believed to help memory and cognition as well. 

A 2006 study involving a small group of patients aged 72 to 93 who had Alzheimer’s showed that drinking 4 oz of apple juice three times a week could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s by as much as 75%.

9. Doodling Can Boost Memory By as Much as 30%

Good news if you’re one of those people who can’t resist doodling on paper when you have a pen and an idle moment to spare. The simple act of doodling can apparently help focus your mind and improve memory and even understand new concepts and ideas better. 

To test the potential usefulness of a doodle, participants in one experiment were forced to sit and be bored. They were given a boring test then moved to another room with nothing in it to hold their attention. They had to listen to a pre-recorded, monotone phone message about people being invited to a party and write down the names of people who were coming while ignoring those who were not coming.

One group had to only focus on the long, boring message. The other was allowed to use a pencil to fill in little holes and boxes on the paper, a very basic kind of doodling. The doodlers were better able to remember the necessary names and, in a surprise memory test after the fact, their results were 30% better than the non-doodlers. 

8. Weight Loss, Including Surgical Weight Loss, Can Improve Memory

Weight issues are something of a modern plague among humans. In 2021, about 45% of people polled across 30 countries said they were actively trying to lose weight. There are a lot of reasons people may want to do so ranging from wanting to look better, to feel better, and to help deal with serious medical issues like heart disease or diabetes which can be exacerbated by weight problems. And if you’re in the same boat as so many others, here’s another reason to consider shedding a few pounds. Losing weight has been shown to help improve memory.

Kent State University conducted a study of 150 overweight people. It’s known that being overweight is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s so the study wanted to see if reversing the condition would have any effects on memory. Of the study participants, some underwent gastric bypass surgery while others did not. Within 12 weeks, those who had undergone the surgery actually showed significant improvement.

Researchers at Harvard have also researched into the links between the kinds of bad cholesterol from saturated fats and trans fats. They’ve concluded it’s not just your heart but your brain that suffers when bad cholesterol builds up. Diets high in fat and cholesterol seem to contribute to the creation of beta-amyloid plaques, which are found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. 

Women in the study who ate diets high in saturated fats and butter scored worse on memory tests than those who ate very little. Plaque from these diets seems to build up in brain tissue and deprive your brain of oxygen, thus causing poor performance on things like memory tests. 

7. Laughing Releases Hormones That Improve Short Term Memory

There’s an old saying that laughter is the best medicine which has probably been of little to no help to most people suffering from fatal illnesses. That said, there is evidence that laughter does have some benefits to your mental health, including improving your short-term memory.

Humor, and in particular laughter, has been shown to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. In one small study, participants had to sit still and do nothing for 20 minutes, or watch a self-selected comedy video. After 20 minutes, a test was administered to both groups to assess short-term memory including delayed recall, learning ability and visual recognition. Cortisol levels in saliva were measured throughout.

Members in the human group showed improved results in all three areas. Salivary cortisol was considerably less, as well. The conclusion was that laughter, and humor, have a noticeable effect, at least in the short term, on memory and recall.

6. Taking Naps Can Boost Cognitive Function

If you ever find yourself feeling a little draggy in the afternoon and think maybe a quick nap will get you back on track, science has your back. There’s evidence that nap time isn’t just a nice way to get refreshed, it can also improve your memory and other cognitive functions. All it takes is 30 to 90 minutes per day, or even less in some cases.

A 2009 study showed that people who memorized a list of words and then took a nap, even just a six-minute nap, were better at recalling the words later than those who didn’t nap. Those who take longer 30 to 90 minute naps don’t just have better word recall, they’re also better at figure drawing. 

One thing worth remembering is that longer naps actually become detrimental to your cognitive function rather than beneficial. At some point you’ll start experiencing the opposite results if you nap for too long, so keep them brief and to the point. 

5. Riding a Motorcycle Improves Cognition

Many of the grandmothers of the world will assure you that there’s no good reason to ride a motorcycle, and it’s terribly dangerous and irresponsible. But if you are a fan of the open road and the wind in your hair (under your helmet), then good news. Riding a motorcycle actually seems to have a beneficial effect on various aspects of cognition. 

Research into men who had stopped riding motorcycles for over a decade. Half the group started riding again every day while the other half kept driving cars or bicycles. After two months, the motorcycle group showed higher marks in cognitive function and their results on simple memory tests increased by 50% over their pre-riding results. Those who weren’t riding were actually a little worse after the two months.

The speculation is that the heightened alertness required for riding a motorcycle engages more of your brain and thus has an improved effect overall. 

4. Chewing Gum

It used to be an insult back in the day to tell someone they’d have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time. You don’t hear that so often anymore and maybe that’s a good thing because apparently chewing gum is actually doing you some good. Chewing gum has been linked with information retention and improved memory.

In one study, students cramming for a test were split into groups where one chewed gum during their study session and the other did not. Those who chewed gum performed better and also reported feeling more alert for the exam. This may be due in part to the act of chewing gum increasing overall blood flow as, mild though it may be, it’s still physical activity. It increases blood flow to the brain and can make you feel more alert. That alertness from gum chewing has been shown in more than one study. It’s also been shown to reduce stress which can help with focus. The exact reasons are still speculative.

Another test on adults split participants into three groups. One chewed gum, one mimicked chewing gum and one did nothing. They were given memory and attention tests and the gum chewers scored 24% higher on immediate word recall and 36% higher on delayed word recall. Whatever the scientific reason, the results seem to keep indicating that gum will help improve your memory.

3. Pink Noise During Sleep Helps Improve Waking Memory

Many people like to have some white noise playing in the background when they sleep. A machine that plays nature sounds, or just a fan running. But some research suggests you want to do away with the white noise and get yourself some pink noise.

Pink noise, like white noise, is still relatively random. However, it has equal energy at every octave which means it includes high frequency and low frequency sounds that makes it more natural and soothing than white noise. Listening to pink noise can help improve your sleep and your waking memory as well.

In a test to determine if participants would have better recall of a memory test they took before sleep. Pink noise, which essentially sounds like rushing water, was played at regular intervals during the night on one night and not on another. After a night of pink noise enhanced sleep, participants performed three times better on memory tests than on nights without it. 

2. Sex Can Improve Memory

It’s always good when something you like turns out to be good for you, so raise a glass to the research that suggests having sex can actually improve your memory, at least if you’re old enough. 

Research has shown that sexual activity in adults aged 50 to 89 has noticeable benefits for their memory and cognitive abilities. Interestingly enough, there was actually an observed difference between how this affects both men and women as well. Men and women of the right age who were sexually active were tested on both word recall and number sequencing. Men showed increases in both areas while women seemed to receive no benefit to number sequencing. 

In animal studies, rats that were allowed to have sex every day for two weeks showed more neuron growth than those that had only had sex once in that time. 

A later study of women aged 18-29 showed that those who had more regular sexual intercourse had improved their ability to recall abstract words. However, there was no improvement in other areas such as the ability to recall faces.

1. Controlling Fire May Have Improved Memory in Our Ancient Ancestors

Think of how cool it must have been when one of our ancient ancestors first realized they could make fire. Not just by accident but by performing the same task again and again to ensure they could always have fire when they wanted it. No doubt that guy was super popular until everyone else figured it out.

Fire was mastered even before homo sapiens were strutting around, and homo erectus was likely using it not just to cook but to scare away predators and make inhospitable locations more tolerable so they could expand their territory. 

Cooking food, both meat and vegetables, would allow for changes such as smaller jaw size, smaller gut, and other digestive differences between us and our distant ancestors. Also, the nutrition received altered us as well which improved social and intellectual abilities. 

Fire offered artificial light so that our day didn’t have to end with the sun. Instead of sleeping for 12 or more hours a day, our ancestors could stay awake in their caves and spend more time doing literally anything. Thus began a progression of cognitive growth including problem solving skills and long-term memory. It’s also believed fire would have allowed for more consistent REM sleep because these ancient ancestors wouldn’t have to fear predators nearly as much with fire as a protector. In REM sleep, the brain is able to process memories, develop, build, and retain skills and essentially learn from what we’ve done. All of that can potentially be linked to fire. Arguably, fire allowed us to have memory period.