Right from treating a zit to getting over a hangover, you’ve been given a lot of health tips. Maybe you heard them from your mom while growing up. Or your friend told you about them. But more often than not, some of these aren’t what they claim to be and it’s about time we scrapped the untrue ones. This is what we are talking about.
1. An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away
Apples are a great source of vitamin C and fiber and are good for health without a doubt. But they aren’t a cure if you’re down with a bug. If you are to catch an infection, you will need to pay a visit to your doctor, even if you eat apples regularly. It’s a good idea to get your flu shot, along with your apple.
2. Vaccines Can Cause Autism
This myth has stemmed and spread widely after the flawed study that was claimed to have been conducted in 1998 on 12 kids and made an appearance in The Lancet. It claimed (a claim that has now been retracted) that there is a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Numerous studies have since then disproved this study and proven that there’s absolutely no connection between vaccination and autism. But, unfortunately, myths about this connection still persist. And it has led to diseases like measles that have made a comeback.
3. Antibacterial Soaps and Sanitizers Are Better
If you’ve been insisting that your family use only antibacterial soaps and sanitizers, think again. It has been proven that antibacterial soaps and sanitizers are no better than your good old-fashioned bar of soap. A regular bar of soap gives you the same protection against germs, without the fancy label. Many studies have confirmed that there’s hardly any difference in the efficacy of the two.
4. You Should Empty Your Bowels Every Day
There is no one good number to stick to when it comes to the number of times you empty your bowels. It’s very dependent on your lifestyle and food choices. While most people use the pot once a day, there are others who go thrice a day or go once in 2-3 days. What’s considered regular and normal happens to fall somewhere between thrice a day to thrice a week. The only time you need to be worried about this is if your bowel movements are painful, bloody or if the consistency is a lot looser or harder than the usual.
5. We Need Eight Hours of Sleep Every Night
Experts reveal an individual needs to sleep for 7-9 hours a day on an average to be able to function well the next day. But this is a very loose definition and leaves plenty of room for variation, based on people’s need for sleep. Some of us can perform at the top of our game with barely six hours of sleep and then there are others who cannot do without their 9 hours of shut-eye.
6. We Need Eight Glasses Of Water A Day
Drinking plenty of water is important for good health. The body needs water not just to function well, but also to keep invading microbes at bay. The blanket rule that says everyone needs to drink 8 glasses of water has no scientific basis. Water intake varies from person to person and is dependent on a lot of factors like environmental conditions and level of physical activity. Many of us forget that a lot of food that we eat has plenty of water in it already.
7. Your Body Needs Regular Detox
Your body does need a regular detox. But not through products marketed for ‘detoxing’. Your body has a built-in mechanism for detoxing and uses the liver for it. The products and juices marketed to help with this may not be harmful but aren’t needed at all and may actually deprive your body of the regular food it needs to function well. The way you can support your body’s detoxing mechanism is to eat the right amount of healthy food, avoid smoking, as well as low consumption of alcohol, red meat, sugar and saturated fats.
