You know you’re not supposed to believe everything you hear, but sometimes we all get a little gullible. Myths and old wives tales about our bodies have been around for ages telling us things that seem to make sense, but are totally false. And new myths pop up every day. Take a look at some of these before telling someone the not-so-gospel truth.
1. Despite what your mom told you, crossing your eyes won’t get your face stuck that way.
2. Reading in the dark won’t ruin your eyesight. In the dark your eyes will switch from using their cones to their rods making it more difficult.
3. Chomping down on carrots like Bugs Bunny won’t make your eyes any stronger.
4. We use more than ten percent of our brains. We use all we have, just not all at once.
5. Swallowing gum doesn’t take 7 years to digest. It passes through just like the pennies or toy soldiers you gobbled up as a tot.
6. You can’t determine the gender of a pregnant woman’s baby based on how high or low its carried. The 50/50 chance makes it easy odds to believe, but it just isn’t true.
7. Getting the plaque professionally scraped from your teeth won’t loosen your teeth. In fact, it’s the opposite!
8. A cold shower won’t actually dampen your libido. The shock might distract you for a bit, but that’s all.
9. Women aren’t the only ones with ticking biological clocks. While men remain fertile their whole life, the quality decreases with age.
10. Cutting your hair won’t make it grow faster. It may seem like it, but hair grows at the same rate regardless.
11. Cracking your knuckles won’t cause arthritis. Just annoy your friends.
12. Eating after 8:00 pm doesn’t make a difference in weight gain. You metabolize things exactly the same, so cutting down on night time snacking just saves you the calories.
13. There are a million theories to get rid of the hiccups, but you really can’t scare them out of someone.
14. There is no such thing as a safe tan. UVA rays in tanning beds are just as harmful as UVB.
H/T: MSN Healthy Living. Definitely changes things for me! Pass along the enlightenment and share with your friends below.
