The Truth About Eight Common Medical Myths, Part I
When you get right down to it, your health's your most important possession -- so don't endanger it by falling for these medical myths.
The human body and its functioning can be a mysterious thing, even after several hundred years of diligent study -- so it's no wonder that medical myths are common in our society. Heck, there are a few even doctors fall for, so the rest of us can be excused for being uncertain about some things.
In this two-part article, we'll take a look at eight common myths about medicine and human health, and give you the straight skinny on each one. Let's start with the ever-popular subject of reproduction, shall we?
Myth 1: Home pregnancy tests are highly accurate.
Well, this medical myth might be true if the folks using the tests were medically trained, but very few are. As it is, it's rare for the accuracy of home pregnancy tests to exceed more than 75% (rather than the claimed 95%), and it may drop as low as about 50%.
In other words, on average, one in every four women who tests herself will get a negative result when she really is pregnant. The same proportion will get a positive result when not pregnant. The moral? Test yourself more than once, and have a physician confirm the results.
Myth 2: Cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis.
There's no evidence that this particular medical myth is true. Though repeated knuckle-cracking may weaken your fingers a little, it doesn't cause inflammation or arthritis. By the way, that cracking sound is caused when bones pull apart, breaking their natural adhesive seal and forming a gas bubble. Weird, huh?
Myth 3: Eating chocolate can give you acne.
Heaven forbid. Whoever started this pernicious rumor deserves a thorough spanking with a licorice whip. There's no link at all between acne and that heavenly ambrosia known as chocolate, which by the way you can find out all about at our sister site, Extreme Chocolate.
Acne occurs when the oil glands in the skin overproduce a waxy substance called sebum that blocks the pores, causing infections. In fact, stress has been known to cause breakouts, so the stress of not eating chocolate is more likely, really, to cause the acne of this unfortunate medical myth.
Myth 4: You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
This one seems firmly entrenched in our culture, but it's hard to say why. Think about it -- do you usually drink that much water every day? Many of us don't, even counting sodas, coffee, and tea (which really shouldn't count, since they have a diuretic effect). Yet by and large, most of us stay pretty healthy.
While water is the ideal beverage (it's a better hydrator than any artificially concocted drink, no matter what the advertisements say), overindulging in water can have negative health effects. Therefore, your best bet is to ignore this particular medical myth and just drink when you're thirsty.
