7 Health Myths Debunked

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The medical world: a place where truth reigns supreme and questions are definitively answered. The one place shielded from wive’s tales and urban legends.

Not.

In reality, the medical world is fraught with all kinds of “We used to believe what?”-type theories and a whole bunch of other BS. Here, dear readers, are just a few of the health myths held on to, but now exposed. Seven, to be exact, debunked by two docs from the Indiana University School of Medicine: Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a research fellow, and Dr. Aaron Carroll, the director of the Center for Health Policy and Professionalism.

1. Myth #1 – Eating turkey makes you sleepy. Believed to be true for ages, research has found that the suspected tryptophan overload from turkey actually pales in comparison to the tryptophan found in Swiss cheese and pork. In fact, chicken and ground beef each contain about the same amount per ounce as our favorite Thanksgiving Day bird. In reality, it’s just the effects of eating a large meal that slows down blood flow and oxygenation to the brain, and that, m’friends, is the cause of your Turkey Day drowsiness.
2. Myth #2 – You should drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. Water-haters, you’re off the hook. Your recommended fluid intake is usually met just fine by your consumption of juice, milk and even caffeinated beverages. Heck, even those stray fruits and vegetables count, so drink water for the joy of it, not because you have to.
3. Myth #3 – We use only 10% of our brains. While it’s so tempting to use this as an excuse for the asinine behavior your partner pulls, this is another myth that is not true. In actuality, brain imaging studies show that no area of the brain is completely silent or unused.
4. Myth #4 – Hair and fingernails grow after death. This is one that freaked me right out as a kid, and kind of still does. Ahem. It’s not true though. Dehydration after death causes the skin around hair and nails to retract, making it seem as though there was an increase in length.
5. Myth #5 – Shaving makes hair grow back darker and thicker. Lie! Stubble only appears thicker until it grows out a little, then tapers a bit. As for the color, it’s the sun and chemicals that lighten hair up, so your little sprouts are just your natural color, nothing darker.
6. Myth #6 – Reading in dim lights ruins your eyesight. This one had me sweating, seeing as how I can hardly see my keyboard right now as I’m squinting and typing away (I love to work in the dark). Instead, this kind of work environment may cause temporary eye strain, but nothing over the long term. Phew.
7. Myth #7 – Cell phones interfere with hospital monitors and equipment. I remember smuggling my cell (then the size of a modern-day cordless phone) into a hospital in 1998 after a relative’s surgery, waiting to receive “The Call” on a job offer. Sure enough, the darn thing rang, eliciting a fine ass-chewing by the nurse and a squad of various other health professionals. Turns out their concerns were unfounded. A study published by the March 2007 journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, found no interference of any kind between cell phones and hospital equipment. So there, Nurse Ratched.

Well, what do you think? Feeling a little relief? A little surprised? How ’bout a little foolish?

Yeah, I know. Me too.