We love to search our symptoms on the Internet. That’s what makes Web MD and other symptom sites so popular. However, after a thorough search on the web, we usually end up reading that we have some life-threatening disease. Cue panic and even a specific form of internet-search-related anxiety! Either that, or we find some miracle potion that will heal all of our ails. The Internet is chock-full of unreasonable health myths. For example, have you ever heard that it takes seven years to digest gum? Or there’s perhaps the classic myth: you can eat food off the ground as long as you pick up within 5 seconds. It’s time that these health myths were debunked!
Myth: You need to wait an hour after eating to swim or you can cramp and drown
Surprise! There has been no evidence that links eating to muscle cramps while you swim. Nor have we ever found a situation where someone has eaten, gone swimming, and then had cramps and drowned. It simply isn’t true. Now I bet you are feeling bad about all of those missed opportunities to swim when you were a kid.
Myth: Microwaves give you cancer.
Microwaves don’t cause cancer. Yes, we know that it produces radiation, but only a few types of radiation cause cancer. Microwaves aren’t one of them. The radiation that do cause cancer is called ionizing radiation. It includes but is not limited to UV rays, x-rays, and gamma rays. This myth has led to a lot of false ideas about microwaves, including the fact that it disrupts your pace maker and kills all of the nutrients in your food. Both of these are false, so you can go back to heating things up in your microwave without feeling guilty.
Myth: Brown sugar is healthier than white sugar.
Sugar is sugar. The color doesn’t really change much. In fact, in terms of nutritional value, most sweeteners rank the same. Just because you switch out high fructose corn syrup with honey doesn’t mean you are making a substantial difference to nutrition value.
Myth: Cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis
The results are pretty consistent through multiple studies: people that crack their knuckles are no more likely to develop arthritis than those who do. So feel free to annoy your neighbor, it won’t actually affect your health.
These are just a few of the health myths floating around on the Internet. We know it can be hard to know sometimes to distinguish between what is true and what isn’t. If you have any questions, schedule a visit with our industry-leading doctors. They will listen to your concerns and help resolve them.
Call us at 801-724-9840.