Health Myths & Misconceptions

It is astonishing how fiction seems to spread faster than fact. People may hear it from the weirdest of sources, rather than research it themselves. Below i will attempt to point out the differences, along with some tips to the best of my knowledge.

Dim light reading damages your eyesight.

According to research, reading a book with poor lighting or dim lighting wont damage your eyesight. It may cause strain or dryness for a short period, but not hinder your vision. Just like sitting close to the television, this is another false misconception, so if you were one of those kids that read a book under the covers with a torch, you were the good ones letting your imaginations fly instead!.

Preventing a cold with Vitamin C

There are actually some people that take a Vitamin C supplement on a daily basis believing it protects them from getting a cold. There are various factors to attaining the cold & flu, such as high stress or just unhealthy habits. While a vitamin C supplement a day is good, it may only lessen the duration or severity of a cold, it cannot completely prevent you from attaining it!.

Bacteria is bad and unhealthy.

True when you hear the word bacteria, automatically the next word we can relate to is germs. Most people don't realize that there are good bacteria and bad bacteria. While its important to fight off bad bacteria, it is also equally important to balance out the good bacteria. For example, Our skin is actually covered in thousands of different types of good bacteria that helps protect the skin from diseases and other ailments. The inside of your stomach contains another form of bacteria which keeps us healthy. Yes cleanliness is important and so is helping the good bacteria do its job naturally. That means using anti-bacterial lotions & hand sanitizers less often than constantly using it, these actually kill off the good bacteria as well. Read up the worst germ infested areas, for more information on germs and bacteria if you are interested!.

My breasts are saggy because of breastfeeding.

Many new mothers have advice passed down to them from close family members and friends. Many of them come across such ideas that their breast become saggier due to breast feeding. No fear!, According to medical research done by plastic surgeons, this is not the cause. The different stages in pregnancy itself will cause these changes. Even smoking and old age are substantial factors in sagging or droopy breasts.

You are more prone to catching a cold in winter.

This is another myth which is widely believed by today's population. With more people catching cold in winter, obviously every one is going to assume, it is to do with the weather. You can still catch a cold due to weather changes or from somebody else. The flu (cold) virus spreads more easily in winter than it does any other season and especially during this season when everybody likes, or wants to get indoors. Close contact indoors helps spread it even faster in your homes.

Late night meals and snacking helps put on weight.

Almost everyone is familiar with this myth that eating late night makes you fat. Although various studies prove this wrong. You can have a light dinner or skip it, if you're crazy like that, but that doesn't change anything. It is not the time that you consume your food rather than the amount you eat. To each his or her own factors, such as metabolism. As long as you can burn the calories you consume in your day, then what time you eat wont ever affect you.

Making up for sleep over the weekend.

With most people working stressful jobs which require them to be up for long periods of the day, and for those with night shifts, tend to sleep less and stay awake throughout the week which turns into a habit. Not only is this very unhealthy, but it can cause a whole lot of other problems, such as heart disease, lack of concentration, headaches, speech impairment etc. Then we have these very same people who feel they can make up for lack of sleep over the weekend. This is not true. Sleeping over the weekend is not going to make up for routine lack of sleep during the week, when you really need to function at optimum levels. Nothing changes, just your health deteriorates slowly overtime. Get into a proper sleep pattern of at least a minimum of 6-8 hours of sleep. Let yourself recharge on a normal routine.

Better off thin than being fat.

Obviously being overweight is quite hazardous to our health, not to mention the amount of health issues that can occur. Being underweight or extremely thin has far greater health risks, such as you are more prone to pneumonia, heart disease, anemia, osteoporosis. The key is to maintain your weight balance & eat healthy, supplying you with enough natural nutrients throughout your day for your body's energy requirements. Yes eating healthy is very important if you're going to try and live health risk free.

Exercise enough and you can eat anything.

Most people especially the fitness clowns, gym campers and yes you do find 2 in 5 of these type of people that actually believe, that you can eat whatever you want, all that you have to do is workout to burn the fat and tone the body. This is very misleading. Overweight people still find it hard to lose weight since they can easily store fat (endomorph). As for a very thin person (ectomorph), all they do is consume junk foods that can cause various factors of health issues. Obviously exercising is important to staying healthy and lowering factors such as heart disease etc. Find out what type of somatotype you are, get into a program of workout that helps you stay in shape. The key is to eating healthy to maintain a healthy balance for your body, and not just stuffing yourself and dogging it out in the gym. Eating healthy is half the battle done.

Drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

This is a misconception. Drinking water is of course much healthier than soda's and is the ultimate thirst quencher. Drinking water in your day purely depends on your body's requirement. This may include various factors, such as digestion, temperature, exercising etc. a portion of our water requirements, come from the foods that are naturally rich in fluids. Drinking too much water can be quite dangerous and can lead to death. Too much water consumption within a short period of time to an hour can cause your total blood volume to increase. Even your kidneys work overtime and can cause the capillary beds (glomeruli) to go through a sort of wear and tear, damaging them and being less effective as a filtration system overall. Moderation is key. Drink enough to keep your body hydrated. Your body has a wonderful way of keeping things in balance.

With these few misconceptions about health, It is important to note that although everyone may be on the right track of good intentions, it may not necessarily be true or right for everyone. Help spread the word to your family and friends and slowly negate these rumors. It is important to research and know for yourself the difference between fact and fiction. I hope you enjoyed this hub, thank you for reading!!.

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