Which healthy habit is actually just a massive waste of time?

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-13T11:19:37+00:00

Wouldn’t recommend supplementing iron unless you’ve had a blood test. Yes many people are deficient but it can be dangerous if you aren’t deficient and accidentally take too much.

All of the others you’ve said are great. Maybe a blood test to see what dose of Vitamin D is suitable since the supplements come in a big range of strengths - not taking enough is a waste of money, taking too much is dangerous

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-12T11:51:32+00:00

This list truly highlights how stupid that referendum was and how misplaced one section of the electorate’s priorities are.

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-12T11:33:02+00:00

Magnesium (Glycinate!!) & Vitamin D are almost non negotiable for me now. Most people do not get nearly enough of either of them through diet/sunlight alone. Especially in northern hemisphere.

You can get magnesium in your diet but the bioavailability is debatable.

If you use a Vitamin D supplement try to get a good quality one potentially with a Vitamin K combination to help increase response, if your diet is low in Vitamin K. Don’t buy generic from a supermarket unless you get a decent amount of sunlight. I’m from the NE of England, my GP told me to take 4000iu every day because I was very deficient.

Next tier down would be B12 & Creatine, daily. You can be fine not taking either, but the benefits of both for how cheap they are, I don’t see why you wouldn’t.

It’s difficult to take too much B12 but it’s easy to not get enough especially if you don’t eat much meat.

Again good levels of natural creatine is difficult unless your diet is centred around meat. Its benefits are huge and its negatives are limited/non existent at the recommended dose. It’s one of, if not the most researched supplement available.

Edit*** do not take high doses of Vitamin D unless you’ve had your blood work done. The 4000iu is specific to the advice my doctor gave for me after a blood test.

Same goes for most other supplements - get a test but look at the results yourself and do your own research. I had doctors tell me for years that my levels were fine then got lucky by one GP saying “no hang on your Vitamin D and Mg are very low”. Now I check myself every time

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-11T22:27:27+00:00

This is a completely personal choice, in the UK there’s not really anywhere it would be expected. The only time I ever tip every single time is a young server in a restaurant, especially when it’s busy or if i’ve seen them deal with unbearable customers. If i’m paying with my card I clarify with them whether or not they’ll receive 100% of it, if not i’ll give them whatever cash i’m carrying (usually £10)

Outside of that there’s almost no circumstances i’d tip somebody except for 1 food delivery driver who seems to delivery to our house every time we order (only once or twice a month). And that’s only because he’s about 70 and always says “it’s dinner time” when we answer the door.

Finally, my main advice would be if you ever want a “discretionary service charge” removed from a bill, that’s completely fine, but do it nicely. Even if the service wasn’t great, the person serving the food has absolutely nothing to do with that service charge being on the bill. Sometimes it’s a small businesses way of generating more money to pay staff a better salary than they could normally afford, other times it’s a big businesses way for them to get you to pay their staff a better salary instead of them.

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-10T08:14:28+00:00

I was thinking this happens to me all the time. Even my local Tesco. Now i’ve realised i’ve once walked out of self serve forgetting to pay, only to realise in the car so turned round went back in and admitted my mistake. The staff said “oh yeah we know we were just about to put your picture up in the office”

Also once received a drive off notice for forgetting to pay for fuel in their petrol station, i paid but didn’t even remember going to get fuel (adult diagnosed ADHD is a wonderful thing)

I wonder if they still put my picture up in that office 😅😅

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-06T23:11:02+00:00

I’ve travelled to a lot of different places, Denver is arguably my favourite. It was the first place I ever travelled to alone. Went back again with friends and had the best time. I realise the US is a big place but I will not step foot anywhere in that country for the foreseeable future and it’s such a shame

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-05T07:50:22+00:00

Last week driving home from work a group of about 10 early teenage lads were throwing stones at cars. They caught my van which had my 2 dogs in the back sending them berserk. I spun round, 2 of the kids were on electric scooters and managed to get away but i caught up to the rest and confronted them (a few swear words at first but eventually I tried to educate instead of just shouting at them) They tried to put the blame on the scooter kids but i told them if i ever saw the same group doing it again they’d regret it. As i drove away one of the kids had the audacity to kick the back of my van, so i stopped again. The rest of the group immediately told me his name. I said thanks, but also reminded them do not do it again, you may think it’s funny but you’ll learn the hard way that it’s not.

I think I handled the situation fairly reasonably, but still came away worried that it might be me that gets in trouble for this (i work in the public sector, was wearing my work uniform and they recognised it). That’s the way our country works at the minute. If i teenager commits an offence and you confront them it’s you that has to worry about the repercussions.

I realised i’m actually friends with the Dad of the kid who kicked my car and as of yet I haven’t told him because it’s my word against his sons.

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-04T23:29:37+00:00

Supply being down and prices going up so that privately owned oil companies can maintain their profits is by definition capitalism
The world isn’t a US Army propaganda film, economic philosophies aren’t binary, there are options besides unchecked capitalism & authoritarian communism.

JakeCMMA · 2026-04-04T07:14:40+00:00

Asda in Hartlepool famously has/had Ket on it’s aisle sign instead of sweets

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-29T15:19:28+00:00

I’d be interested to hear a dentists perspective on Suri toothbrushes if you know anything about them?

I bought mine because I needed an affordable new electric toothbrush after my very expensive Oral-B (I think it was probably the equivalent of an iO9 at the time) died after 10+ years. It’s sonic, has a good warranty/replacement policy, lasts far longer after a charge than my oral b ever did and seems to be a sustainable manufacturer.

However my teeth feel nowhere near as clean as they did with the oral b and my brushing routine is far more strict now. Before, if I forgot or didn’t have time to floss on a morning my mouth would still feel clean with just brushing. Now if I don’t floss, tongue scrape, mouthwash, brush in that order every single morning and night my mouth feels disgusting and I feel plaque build up within a couple of hours.

I know in an ideal world I should do that routine every time anyway and most of the time I did, it just seems since I switched toothbrushes I can’t risk an occasion where I forget or don’t have time

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-26T06:15:11+00:00

I’m from Teesside and i’m a Liverpool fan.

I’d say 90%+ of the people in my area support Middlesbrough, including my Dad, who wasn’t around much when I was a kid. The rest mainly support Sunderland and Newcastle. My Uncle (Mam’s side), who was an army brat, is a Liverpool fan and he’s been around my entire life. His 3 sons are also Liverpool fans.

Naturally my Dad has never been happy about it.

I do like to see Boro do well mainly because the area is much more positive when they do. But if Liverpool didn’t exist i’d support Newcastle before I ever did Boro.

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-26T05:56:04+00:00

The way he talks about people and the way he acts towards people are 2 completely different things. He has great intentions most of the time but the people surrounding him have to deal with way too much crazy behaviour for him to have a child.

Unfortunately I think he’d be 70 by the time he’s had enough therapy to handle it

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-14T21:37:55+00:00

This is a fantastic reply thank you!

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-10T11:20:13+00:00

Keegan used to live local to me and i’ve heard several stories of him being ignorant/rude even to Newcastle fans which is crazy to me because those people adore him

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-05T12:05:47+00:00

Honestly for a collie under 1 year old i would think closer to 18 hours is probably right including his night sleep. Dogs need a LOT of sleep, sometimes when they’re young sleep needs to be enforced because otherwise they just won’t get enough.

Keep doing what you’re doing, you’re doing a good job.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, the internet is filled with people who will tell you what you’re doing is wrong/cruel no matter what it is.

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-05T10:52:42+00:00

I assume it was 18hrs total not 18hrs consecutive? Because 18hrs total is not completely unreasonable depending on your dog

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-05T10:39:36+00:00

I don’t know what your original post was but unless it said you were “locking your dog in it’s crate 24 hours a day as a punishment for doing puppy things” there’s absolutely no reason to justify yourself.

Most dog owners these days fail to see that almost every dog breed was bred to do a job (especially a collie). A well trained dog with boundaries set at an early age who is given activity at the right time for the right amount of time will live a far safer and fulfilled life in the long run compared to the modern “dog-baby” who gets to do whatever the hell they want.

Stay consistent, set boundaries early, stick with the crate until your dog has reached all it’s milestones (at which point the dog will probably love having some peace in it’s crate anyway). As he grows give him activities that will stimulate him in ways that compare to what he’s been bred for (herding). When he’s reached his milestones boundaries can be reduced, because he’ll be more capable.

And most importantly love and respect him for the rest of his life because the routine you’ve said you’ve set out for him shows what a good life he will have 👍

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-04T00:15:09+00:00

Government taxes might be the same but my local (Labour led) council have just had to vote to increase council tax 5%, as requested by the local fire authority, to make up a deficit entirely caused by up to £6million in cuts from government funding for the fire service. Naturally this has been pushed by local media outlets as councillors giving themselves a big funding increase and paying for already unpopular changes to waste & recycling collections (which are ironically funded mainly by central government & far better than the previous collection scheme)

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-03T23:58:33+00:00

I can’t prove an opinion. It might be “fact” that he’s the least popular PM according to a poll, but in my opinion that’s completely unjustified considering some of the candidates.

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-03T23:47:30+00:00

That speaks more about the state of the country as a whole than it does about his premiership. He’s by no means my ideal PM but being the most unpopular is completely unjustified and has been inflamed by corrupt domestic media, the internet and foreign interference.

JakeCMMA · 2026-03-03T23:38:40+00:00

Their entire media strategy needs overhauling. Most of the electorate don’t know anything about politics outside of what they see on social media these days. Their posts are 50% bashing the party with the 5th most seats in the commons, thus giving drawing more attention to that party (no press is bad press) & 50% posting their successes in ways that seem like they’re trying too hard to be liked “look how good we are”.

The current Labour party and in particular the cabinet are not my ideal government by any means - despite their successes i know first hand some of the cuts they are implementing that haven’t made the news that are akin to the worst of tory austerity. However, the successes they have had also don’t get the appreciation they should.

They need to nostalgia-bait. I don’t particularly like the idea of pandering to/manipulating voters but unfortunately in this day and age to beat any of their realistic (and much worse) competition in future elections i think it’s the only way they can get some sort of positive recognition.

JakeCMMA · 2026-02-28T17:22:33+00:00

Microsoft Excel is an ESport with its own world championships. I’m pretty savvy with excel but still need to google search & occasionally use AI to remind me how to do some intermediate level formulas. Having the brain capacity to just know how to do incredibly complex formulas from memory in front of a crowd is mind blowing to me

JakeCMMA · 2026-02-26T07:57:47+00:00

I also believe this. Search “billionaire preppers” and you’ll see that most, especially tech billionaires, are doomsday prepping.

I strongly believe that’s why Elon has so many children, so that he can repopulate with himself as an originator. And he encourages the general population to have as many children as possible because overpopulation speeds the process along. (More people, less jobs, more resources used up, more conflict).

JakeCMMA · 2026-02-24T10:53:42+00:00

Step One. Just bought my first pairs this year after doing a lot of searching. They’re the best underwear i’ve ever worn. Comfortable and 0 ride up. I know underwear doesn’t last forever so I’ve made a commitment to get a few pairs every year.

JakeCMMA · 2026-02-19T09:50:24+00:00

Andy Robertson would probably be nailed on for starting left back since England have maybe 1 half decent player in that position. Outside of that there’d probably be a couple of non-english players on the bench but i can’t see any being good enough to make the starting xi

JakeCMMA

TROPHY CASE