“There is no evidence that drinking eight glasses of water daily is the key to good health. You’ll get sick from not wearing a coat on a cold day. Additionally, pregnancy does not last nine months.” Although any diligent Google search will reveal the truth behind these fallacies, health-related myths are often repeated as facts. The following are ten health myths people still believe that are debunked.
Myth #1: Cracking Your Knuckles Might Give You Arthritis
Originating as a myth of caution, cracking your knuckles rarely results in arthritis. The sound from cracking your knuckles is because the synovial fluid bubbles burst. Fortunately, your body replenishes synovial fluid on its own.
Be careful if you do it too hard or bend your fingers incorrectly – You should be fine if you don’t feel any pain. Cracking your knuckles too hard can still hurt you. Additionally, some people might lose their grip strength due to this.
Myth #2: Teas And Special Diets Can Help You ‘Detox’
Originating as a marketing scam, detox teas and diets are extremely popular in the food world. In most cases, detox teas are entirely unreliable. Our bodies can already deal with toxic substances, especially in an environment filled with microplastics.
Tea cannot detoxify your body like your liver and kidneys. Beware of products or diets that claim to eliminate “toxins” from your body. Drinking tea has some health benefits, of course! Herbal teas are most likely to improve hydration. But no tea cures cancer, reduces weight, or eliminates migraines.
Myth #3: Caffeine Stunts Your Growth – 10 Health Myths People Still Believe
Coffee has been studied more than any other food or drink. There is research on coffee’s possible connection to cancer, infertility, heart disease, and other problems. But have you ever heard that coffee might stunt your growth? The belief seems to be widespread.
This is untrue – coffee doesn’t cause osteoporosis, and osteoporosis does not cause shortness. Likewise, avoiding coffee won’t make you taller. Your height is influenced by your parents, diet, and overall health. Eat a balanced diet, take precautions to avoid osteoporosis, and achieve your maximum height.
Myth #4: Handwriting Can Determine Someone’s Personality
This myth says that a person’s handwriting can interpret and predict their personality traits and behaviors. Graphologists use cold-reading techniques like psychics, palm readers, and mediums to deduce information about a subject to seem convincing.
But “graphology,” coined by French archaeologist Jean-Hippolyte Michon, is considered inconsistent at best and useless at worst. A meta-analysis of more than 200 studies showed that analyzing handwriting showed no consistency in predicting personality.
Myth #5: Dogs Don’t See Color
The myth can be traced back to Will Judy, publisher of Dog Week magazine, who claimed in the 1930s that dogs could only see black and white. Research into dog vision proved it to be untrue. Dogs have no problems seeing color. However, they’re missing a few receptors to see red. So red colors may appear yellowish to them, and purple colors may appear bluer.
They compensate for their lack of color vision with more receptors that allow them to see clearly in low light. They may also see colors less vividly than humans, so it may be harder to distinguish one color from another on occasion.
Myth #6: Chewing Gum Stays In Your Stomach For Seven Years – 10 Health Myths People Still Believe
Though chewing gum is designed to be chewed, swallowing it is generally not harmful. Saying swallowed gum is digested after seven years in your stomach is false. Yes, the body cannot digest gum. But gum doesn’t stay in your stomach. You expel it in your stool relatively intact.
However, ingesting large amounts of gum can lead to intestinal blockages in children, so it’s best to avoid swallowing it. It may have also been a lie told by an angry parent to keep their child from swallowing it that the truth evolved into this myth.
Myth #7: We Only Use 10% Of Our Brains
It’s hard to track the origin of this myth. Many self-help programs that aim to “unleash” untapped human potential use it to justify belief in pseudo-scientific psychic powers. Some popular culture references (See: Limitless, Lucy, How to Win Friends and Influence People) reiterate this too.
However, we use our entire brains all the time. It would seem logical that most brain injuries would not cause any problems if only ten percent of our brain mass were used. It has been discovered that large brain areas are used for all kinds of tasks using functional MRI machines in real-time.
Myth #8: Bees Shouldn’t Be Able To Fly ‘Physically’
In 1930, an entomologist proved that bees aren’t supposed to be able to fly. He did this by considering a bee’s body weight, aerodynamics, wing span, etc., and concluded that they shouldn’t be able to fly. When you add this to the meme-worthy Bee Movie intro, you can imagine how far this myth has spread.
However, it is pretty apparent that bees can fly. Nevertheless, unlike airplanes or birds, bees don’t fly straight or flap their wings. Their flight involves twisting and rotating their flexible and not-rigid wings.
Myth #9: You Swallow Eight Spiders Yearly While Asleep – 10 Health Myths People Still Believe
This myth originated from a 1993 magazine article about misinformation. The author made up the spider myth as an example, and it spread. Don’t worry, though. Most people haven’t swallowed a spider in their sleep. Even asleep, spiders fear us. Our size and snoring cause them to avoid us.
But if you sleep in a heavily infested area, you may have a spider crawl on your face. It would take a dumb spider to crawl into a predator’s mouth. The possibility of swallowing a spider in your sleep is statistically unlikely, so rest assured.
Myth #10: The Tongue Has Distinct “Taste Zones.”
It was discovered in the 1930s that the tongue’s edges have more taste receptors than its center. Even though your tongue has taste buds, they are not designated for specific tastes. All of your taste buds will process flavors. The map came up because the tongue has a few areas slightly sensitive to taste. Though the science is accurate, drawing a rigid map of these locations is nearly impossible.
