More resilient than a cockroach, these medical myths have stood the test of time. Unfortunately, they're just not true.
10. Reading in Dim Light Damages Your Eyesight
Concept: Reading in the dark or very dim light over time will damage your eyesight.
Reality: There is absolutely no evidence to support this. You may get some wrinkles from squinting due to low‑light focusing issues, but your eyesight itself will not be affected.
9. Giving Kids Sugar-Filled Foods Causes Hyperactivity
Concept: Kids get a sugar buzz from snacks and go wild.
Reality: Despite being widely accepted as fact, this is simply not true. Caffeine can cause hyperactivity — sugar cannot. This is one of the rare “good myths,” though, because sugar is still terrible for your body and can lead to all sorts of health issues down the road. Hyperactivity just isn’t one of them.
8. Some People Just “Carry” a Disease but Don’t Get Sick
Concept: Some people are “carriers” — they don’t get sick themselves but can infect others.
Reality: If you’re “carrying” it, you’re infected; you’re sick. If the infection causes only mild symptoms in you, it will likely be mild in the next person as well, with some variation.
7. Feed a Cold and Starve a Fever
Concept: Depending on who you ask, you should either feed a cold and starve a fever or the reverse — which is confusing enough on its own.
Reality: Starving either is bad. It inhibits your ability to recover. Neither foods nor liquids affect body temperature, and both help you recover from either ailment.
As for chicken soup, it helps — but not for the reasons most people think. The warm liquid keeps nasal passages open, which leads to better rest and sleep. Hot water would work just as well.
6. Cracking Your Knuckles Causes Arthritis
Concept: Every pop and snap is supposedly one step closer to arthritis.
Reality: Studies show no connection between knuckle‑cracking and arthritis. The sound is just gas bubbles collapsing in the joint fluid. Annoying? Yes. Dangerous? No.
5. You Lose Most of Your Body Heat Through Your Head
Concept: If you go outside without a hat, you’ll freeze because 80% of your heat escapes through your head.
Reality: Heat escapes from whatever part of your body is uncovered. The head isn’t special — it’s just usually the only thing not wrapped in a coat.
4. Shaving Makes Hair Grow Back Thicker and Darker
Concept: One shave and suddenly you’re a lumberjack.
Reality: Shaving cuts hair bluntly, so it looks thicker as it grows out, but the hair itself doesn’t change. Same hair, different shape.
3. You Should Drink Eight Glasses of Water a Day
Concept: There’s a universal hydration quota, and if you don’t hit eight glasses, you’re doomed.
Reality: Hydration needs vary wildly. Food contains water, other drinks count, and your body is pretty good at telling you when it’s thirsty. There’s no magic number.
2. You Can “Sweat Out” Toxins
Concept: A good workout or sauna session purges toxins from your body like a biological car wash.
Reality: Sweat cools you down — that’s it. Your liver and kidneys handle toxins. If sweating them out were real, gyms would smell like a chemical plant.
1. Cold Weather Makes You Sick
Concept: Step outside without a jacket and you’ll catch a cold instantly.
Reality: Viruses make you sick, not temperatures. Cold weather may keep people indoors where germs spread more easily, but the temperature itself isn’t the culprit.