Which “extreme” ascetic practices are actually beneficial for laymen?

I'm not referring to self-flagellation or other such things. I'm referring to things such as abstaining from listening to rock/pop/blues music or watching movies because they excite the passions, or fasting 6 to 6 on Weds and Fridays. These - while unusual - seem almost self-evidently beneficial (viz, anyone who says rock music or movies don't excite the passions is lying).

I'm wondering if anyone can think of other observances like these? I saw someone posted something about different levels of fasting based on the desert fathers (ascending from a carnivorous diet to vegetarian, vegan, etc...) but I'm not convinced those would be practical/beneficial for all but an extremely small subset of laypeople.

Happy to hear thoughts. Thx.