Mr. Christopher here. I’ve always rolled my eyes any time I hear someone say, “if you go out in that cold with a wet head, you’ll get pneumonia.” That old wives tale has been disproved so many times and you STILL hear Mom’s say it to this day. but just because I say it isn’t true, you have no right to believe me. So maybe you’ll believe me if you read it here or here or here.
But WebMD has just released 7 other common myths that I’ll assist in debunking with my own twist. You can read the original article here at WebMD, but these are essentially the myths.
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You’ll be healthy drinking 8 glasses of water a day.
The Doctors say: There is no medical evidence that this is true and they say drinking too much water is unhealthy.Mr. Chris says: let’s face it, water is good for everyone. It’s the healthiest thing you can drink, it keeps you hydrated and your body needs it. While there may be no proof that 8 glasses is th magic number, water is the best thing to drink and no doctor will argue with that. -
We only use 10% of our brains The Doctors say: The entire brain is functioning doing this that or the other, so there really isn’t some lethargic 90% just sitting dormant.Mr. Chris says: I think there’s a lot we don’t know. Have you ever been driving down the road and a song comes on the radio that you haven’t heard in over 20 years and yet you still know the words to the song. Your brain took that information and stored it away where you paid no mind to it at all for years and then all of a sudden, there it was. While most of our brain may be non-active at some point, there’s the dark scary places of your noggin that actually do function albeit at very strange and bizarre times. - Hair and Fingernails continue to grow when you die. The Doctors say: They don’t. The skin gets dehydrated and shrinks back, so it looks that way. But it isn’t.Mr. Chris says: I have to agree. When they dig up people after years and years, they don’t have those wickedly long fingernails or hair.
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You can damage your eyes reading in dim light. The Doctors say: It doesn’t do any damage to your eyes. It just makes it more difficult to focus.Mr. Chris says: If I had a quarter for every time my mother said this to me when I was a kid. I’d have about $2. - Shaving causes your hair to grow back quicker and thick. The Doctors say: The hair grows back at the exact same rate and isn’t affected by shaving at all. It seems coarser because the hair’s end is cut and not tapered like unshaven hair.Mr. Chris says: Nothing to say. I thought this was true and I just learned something.
- Using a cell phone in a hospital is dangerous. The Doctors say: This myth came about because there is a possibility that the phone could interfere or send signals to certain medical care equipment, but it’s not dangerous.Mr. Chris says: Haven’t heard this “dangerous” myth before and always thought it was because of interference. Those that actually believed it was dangerous are just stress bunnies.
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Eating turkey makes you sleepy. The Doctors say: The chemical in turkey that takes the blame for this is called Tryptophan. There is a very minute amount of Tryptophan in turkey. It’s mostly because of the mass amounts of food that normally accompanies turkey during the holidays.Mr. Chris says: No idea. I do know that turkey causes a strong desire to drink beer and watch football though. That’s the truth.
