Seven Medical Myths Even The Doctor Believe

As I were reading this section in a medical website, I was surprised after reading a column where they are some statements which I would like to classify as 'interesting'.
As my curiosity rises, I began to read it and decided to post it here. Remember, the reason I pin point this matter is even doctors out there still practice and believe all these myths. I am not against doctors here. I do have some respect for them personaly. but trust me this not to insult anyone here.So this time I will try to explain one by one about all these interesting facts or as some of the experts classified as 'myths'. If you feel bored, just go through the facts, but if your own curiosity urges you to read further, why not? (especially to those going-to-be-doctors)




Seven medical myths even the doctor believe:

1. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
2. We use only 10% of our brains
3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
4. Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser
5. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
6. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
7. Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals

If I leave this post till here, I mean if I stop writing here, this post are most probably will look like a "mastercopy" of another site. So, I decided to run some surveys and researches on how far all these facts are true.I am not a scientist, but as I told you earlier, it's my curiosity,got it..?

First of all,;

8 glasses of water a day?


In an invited review published online by the American Journal of Physiology August 8, Valtin, professor emeritus of physiology at Dartmouth Medical School, reports no supporting evidence to back this popular counsel, commonly known as "8 x 8" (for eight, eight-ounce glasses).There is another scientist group, who are sought to find the origin of this to examine the scientific evidences.

How did the obssesion starts?

1) Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council recommended approximately "1 milimeter of water for each calory of food"

2) Two to two-and-a-half quarts per day (64-80 ounces)

3) In it's next sentence, the Board stated 'most of this contained in prepared foods'

4) this last sentence of the statement might be missed, so that the recommendation was erronously interpreted as how much water one should drink a day.

Why this is a myth?

1) no scientific studies in support of 8x8

2) large amount of fluid intake is not needed for everyone (healthy adults)

3) caffeinated drinks (coffee,tea,and soft drinks) may indeed be counted towards the daily total

4) the capability of human body for maintaining proper water balance

5) But still scientists and even Valtin himself emphasizes that, this conclusion is limited to healthy adults in a temperate climate leading a largely sedentary existence

At the same time , he stresses that large intake of fluid, equal to and greater than 8x8 are advisable for;

1) treatment and prevention of kidney stones

2) under special circumstances, such as strenous physical activity

3) long air plane flights

4) hot weather



But barring these exceptions, he concludes that we are currently drinking enough and possibly even more than enough.

Dailyscience








10% Of Our Brain?






Alright, does this one sounds familiar. You see, we do have this common understanding about humans use 10% of their brain . Maybe any of our friends discussed it in front of us or maybe anyone might asked you this question, "Do we really use only 10% of our brain"?. Recently I asked my girlfriend(medical student) about this and she also answered 10%, but to sound better than that, few seconds later she said "less than 10% I think", so the answer she gave me, still it doesn't proves anything rite? Like I said it is a common understanding among us and for those who don't know, it became a fact!! If we want to clarify this over, try to reverse the question, what will happen if 90% of our brain is not used or not functioning?





Why people believe in this myth?

1) Among the believers, if we used more than of our brain, then we could perform super memory feats and have their fantastic mental abilities

2) So obsessed with "moving an object by just putting a single thought on it"

Again, there is no scientific data to support this.

Ok, back to the question I asked earlier. What will happen if 90% of our brain was removed? Does this mean that we would be just fine?


Why this is a myth?

Observe this simple calculation

Average Human Brain--1,400g (3lb), and if 90% of our brain removed, that would leave 140g (0.3lb) of brain tissue. Well, that is a sheep's brain size.

The message here is:

1) Its well known that damage to the brain caused by stroke, may cause devastating disabilities

2) Certain neurological disorders, such as Parkinson Disease, also affect specific area of the brain.

3) So, the damage done by these conditions is far less than damage to 90% of the brain

Still. functional brain imaging, shows that all parts of the brain function. Even during sleep the brain is active.

-- the brain is still being 'used', it is just in a different active state

Finally, talking about nervous system, many new synapses are formed during the development process of the system.



Many studies have shown that:

1- if the input to a particular neural system is eliminated, then neurons in this system will not function properly.

2- visual system proves the fact which is stated above ( complete loss of vision will occur)

3- this will happen because visual information is prevented from simulating the eyes (if we only use 10% of our brain)

So it's seem reasonable to suggest if 90% of our brain is not used, then many neural pathways would degenerate.They are incredible examples of succesful brain recovery in young childrens, who have had large portions of their brain removed to control seizure.

The next time you hear someone say that they only use 10% of their brain, set them straight, tell them...

"NOT TRUE,WE USE 100% OF OUR BRAINS"

Ultimately, its not that we use 10% of our brains, merely that we only understand about 10% of how it functions.

SCIAM







Hair And Fingernail Continue After Death



I really think that I should try to keep it short when I write after this. Nothing much can be discussed about this..



Hair and fingernails aren't actually growing. Dead is dead. The only things growing after you're dead are worms, bacteria, and flowers. What is happening, however, is that the skin around the hair and fingernails will desiccate (i.e., lose water) and thereby shrink. When the skin shrinks, it retracts, making hair and fingernails look longer, as if they'd grown


snopes.com






Shaving Hair Causes It To Grow Back Faster?





In reality, shaved hair is little more than a waste material formed from excess protein and keratin, the same substance found in fingernails. It has no nerve endings, and no other way to signal a faster growth rate to the glands that excreted it.
Hair grows at a specific and steady rate for each person, although there may be a slight increase during the summer season.





The act of shaving only removes the ends of the hairs at or slightly below skin level. The actual roots of the hair remain in the follicles or pores deeper in the skin. When shaved hair begins to grow back at its normal rate, the first part of the hair to emerge is the former root, not a tapered shaft. Because the hair root is thicker than the shaved hair, it appears thicker to the human eye. What makes it appear to grow faster is its darker appearance against bare skin.

Soon after adolescent males begin to develop facial hair, many of them will shave it off quickly, believing the shaved hair will grow back thicker and faster. In some cases, there is actually some measurable growth in facial hair, but shaving is not the root cause. As more and more adult hormones are released into the adolescent's body, there is an increase in the number of active hair follicles. More facial hair appears, but it is not growing at a faster rate than any previous beard or moustache.
The same theory holds true for other body hair growth as well. Some people may have faster hair growth rates than others because of their diets or an inherited genetic factor, but the shaved hair itself has no control over that rate.

Women who shave their legs often may experience a stubbly feeling as the coarse root hairs grow out, but they are not forcing more hairs to appear or causing them to grow back faster. Shaving armpit hairs, chest hairs or pubic hairs also does not affect the actual rate of regrowth, but the skin irritation and itching as the hairs emerge may cause some people to notice those shaved areas a little more than usual.






online search







Reading In Dim Light Ruins Your Eyesight?







The majority of eye experts believed it was unlikely to do any permanent damage, but it might make you squint, blink more and have trouble focusing, the researchers said.







Our eyes simply can't focus as accurately in dim light as they can in bright light.Why? The retina is the part of the eye that detects light, it's covered with cells called cones which see colour, but only when the light is bright. As we move from bright to dim light, the pupil enlarges to maximise the amount of light coming in. Our cones are still working, but not as well as in bright light. Smaller letters are now more difficult to read so we compensate by bringing the text closer to our eyes. Therefore, you get into a cycle where it's getting closer and closer and it's getting harder and harder so you get more and more tired and eventually you'll get headache, tired eyes and give up.








Reading in dim light is not in itself going to ruin your eyes. But if you bring the book closer to focus better, then this is the thing that's going to cause problems, with the possibility of exacerbating short-sightedness.

MSN






Eating Turkey Makes people Feel Drowsy?




Turkey does contain trytophan, an amino acid which is a natural sedative. But trytophan doesnnnnnnnnnrain unless it is taken on an empty stomach with no protein present, and the amount gobbled even during a holiday feast is generally too small to have an appreciable effect. That lazy , lethargic feeling so many are overcome by at the conclusion of a festive season meal is most likely due to the combination of drinking alcohol and overeating a carbohydrate-rich repast.

snopes.com







Mobile Phones Create Considerable Electromagnetic Inteference In Hospitals



Again, Vreeman and Carroll found scant evidence to substantiate the myth that mobile phones cause substantial interference with hospital equipment. They tracked down one journal article that listed 100 reports of suspected electromagnetic interference in medical equipment from mobile phones before 1993, which the Wall Street Journal made into front page news, after which hospitals banned the use of mobile phones.





But there is little evidence to support this policy said the researchers. In the UK early studies showed mobile phones interfered with as few as 4 per cent of the equipment and only when within one metre, while less than 0.1 per cent showed serious effects. Rigourous testing at a number of other laboratories and medical centres have also come up with very small percentages and again only when within 1 metre of the equipment.

A more recent study carried out this year found no interference in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms, and in contrast the authors give an account of a survey of medical staff where use of mobile phones to stay in touch with each other was linked to reductions in risk of medical errors and injury resulting from delays in communication.




Vreeman and Carroll concluded that:

"Despite their popularity, all of these medical beliefs range from unproved to untrue."

Conceding that their review was not systematic of all the possible myths around, or of all the evidence relating to them, they did find a large number of references to show that some of the myths had no supporting evidence and others even had evidence to disprove them.





"Physicians would do well to understand the evidence supporting their medical decision making," suggested Vreeman and Carroll.

"They should at least recognise when their practice is based on tradition, anecdote, or art," they said, and:

"Speaking from a position of authority, as physicians do, requires constant evaluation of the validity of our knowledge."

snopes.com

Conclusion


Finally, there is one thing we can realise now, there is no scientific data to prove or support all these facts. So just one word, FALSE!

Good Day.