What small experiments or diagnostic tests have had big impacts for you?

Some people find huge benefits from mouth-taping while sleeping; others from taking magnesium at night or using an eye mask; and still others report life-changing results from trying an elimination diet. Some recommend getting diagnostic blood tests while others recommend just taking things like vit d or b12 to see if they have an impact for you. Our bodies are incredibly complex, and we often lack a clear understanding of when something isn’t operating as optimally as it could.

Here are a couple of examples from my own experience:

For most of my life, as soon as I finished a meal, I’d instinctively go grab a snack, usually something sweet. I didn’t think much about it, and if someone had asked if I was “addicted to sugar,” the question would have seemed confusing. Then one day, I noticed I’d go for these snacks even when I was very full, which made me wonder why. On a whim, I decided to try refraining from snacks, especially sugary foods, for two weeks. The first few days were tough—I was shocked by the intensity of my cravings—but after that, they disappeared entirely. Clearly, I had been addicted to sugar without realizing it, and given how many snacks I was consuming, the effect of continuing on that path would have been significant. Now, over ten years later, I can honestly say that what began as a random, small-scale experiment became a life-changing shift.

I also run and bike a lot and thought of myself as fit, with strong legs. So I was shocked to discover, during a physical therapy assessment for an unrelated reason, that I had serious, interconnected imbalances. My glutes were almost non-functional, my hip flexors were weak and tight, and I was using an incorrect breathing form. These issues explained a range of physical challenges I hadn’t realized were connected (or even fixable) and were the root cause of some sexual health issues that had been particularly frustrating.

In short, I think quick, inexpensive diagnostic tests and personal experiments are highly underrated. So many things in our bodies can be slightly off or suboptimal without us realizing it. Often, these small, low-cost tests have the potential to make a huge impact on our lives. I’m curious—what diagnostic tests or simple experiments have you found helpful or believe are worthwhile yet overlooked by others?