Friday, January 23, 2009

The 7 medical myths that my mom still believes.



This is so 2007, but I still often tell this to my friends and families. These myths are often hard to remove from their beliefs so I guess I have to re post it again for the benefits of many who may have forgotten it... again.

This research was conducted a year and a half ago by Aaron Carrol, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Regenstrief Institue, Indianapolis and Rachel Vreeman, fellow in children's health services reserach at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Despite frequent mentions in the popular press of the need to drink eight glass of water, they found no scientific basis for the claim. The complete lack of evidence has been in a study published the American Journal of Psychology, they said. The other six myths are:

Reading in dim lights ruins your eyesight- The majority of eye experts believe it is unlikely to do any permanent damage, but it make you squint, blink more and have trouble focusing, the researchers said.

Shaving makes hair grow back faster or coarser- It has no effect on the thickness or rate of hair regrowth, studies say. But stubble lacks the finer taper of unshaven hair, giving the impression.

Eating turkey makes you drowsy. It does contain Amino acid called tryptophan that is involved in sleep and mood control. But turkey has no more of the acid than chicken and minced beef. Eating lots of food and drink at Christmas are probably the real cause of sleepiness.

We use only 10 percent of our brains. This myth arose as early 1907 but imaging shows no area of the brain is silent or completely inactive.

Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death(mom, read this)- This idea may stem from ghoulish novels. The researchers said the skin dries out and retracts after death, giving the appearance of longer hair and nails.

Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals- despite widespread concerns, studies have found minimal interference with medical equipment.




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3 comments:

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  2. hello, Aybi :-) reading your post while visiting :-)

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