It used to really annoys me sometimes when Jobina was on this water drinking kick. "I have to get in my 8 glasses of water a day" she would say passionately and I would just shake my head. I tried telling her that that whole 8 glasses thing was just a myth but to no avail. It seems that sometimes these myths get into our heads so deeply that even hard evidence won't dissuade us. It made me smile to read this study (published in the British Medical Journal) that showed that even doctors believe many of these medical myths! In case you don't read the journal, here are the seven myths:
1. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
2. We use only 10% of our brains.
3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.
4. Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster,darker, or coarser.
5. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.
6. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy.
7. Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals.
So how many of these did you believe? Remember: you may say you don't believe it but if you take actions that would confirm the belief, then you believe it. Or, think it about it on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being don't believe and 10 being believe) - if you are at a 5 or more, you believe it! Do the poll below (choose all that apply) and feel free to expound more in the comments section if you wish.
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10 comments:
You don't need to drink 8 glasses of water a day; it's actually 8 cups (the measurement, not the container) of water a day.
Jay
Hmmmm . . . you might be right, but first I'd want to see some research before I would fully agree to it! By the way, today is your special day, right? Happy Birthday!
Maybe people don't HAVE to drink that, but you feel alot better if you do!!
And the hair shaving thing is true too! I have seen it!
And there is a hormone in turkey that makes you sleepy!
The hormone in turkey is called L- tryptophan, it's also found in milk (hence the glass of milk before bed if you can't sleep), and can be prescribed by a Dr. as a sleep aid. It can help you fall asleep, but does not maintain sleep.
As for the water thing...fluid intake is essential to LIVING! Whether water, juice, milk and now they're saying even coffee and tea, if your body dehydrates from not enough of the above, there are and can be dire consequences. I think just making a statement like, "you don't have to drink 8 glasses of water a day," is careless without making further clarifications. In my field we can see women go into preterm labor because they were dehydrated, the uterus is a highly vascular organ, which when low on fluid intake can cause an irritable uterus, which can be detrimental if you are no where near term. If women were told to stay hydrated throughout their pregnancy, and to drink at least 8 glasses of fluid a day, maybe we wouldn't need to stick them with IV's and bolus a litre of saline in over an hour. If you could prevent getting a needle Mark, wouldn't you drink 8 glasses of water a day??? (Mr. pass out with the sight of blood!!!)
As for the other myths...
...the stupid things we do sometimes I'm surprised that we don't use less of our brain than 10%. (This goes especially for a few of my children as well.)
...St. Boniface has lifted the ban on cell phones in hospitals, due something to the analogue vs. digital phone which doesn't interfer. Cell phones however do interfer with patient care, when a patient won't get off of them, or stop texting for that mattr...how ANNOYING!!
...I could care less what happens to my body after I'm dead. I'll be dead.
...shaving, I have no opinion on that either...
...reading in dim light is difficult...that's all I know for sure...
thanks for the fun myths Mark.
Jacquie
To the 8 cups of water thing, while I don't have the research on me I learned about it at a "Food For Thought" workshop I attended last year, which was put on by the Interlake Regional Healthy Authority and the Interlake Municipal Recreation Association. I'll go with what the IRHA says over a wikipedia article any day. :)
Jacquie: Serious dehydration is truly a terrible, life endangering thing and I'm certainly not saying we should be encouraging it! I'm not sure that me saying that the "drinking 8 glasses of water a day is necessary" is a myth (thus untrue) is careless. It is simply the truth; there is no evidence that this number/amount is accurate. On the other hand, perhaps you are reading into what I am saying a little? I'm not saying that people shouldn't drink adequate amounts of fluid every day. I'm not even saying how much that amount is. I'm just saying that the "science" behind this "fact" which has been propagated by medical professionals and educators alike is actually not science or fact at all. I'm all for hydration, especially if it will save people from having to get needles - of any kind!
Jay: I suppose whether the info it is your doctor, wikipedia (the article I linked to by the way was a meta-study from the British Medical Journal), or a nutritional workshop it doesn't really matter. The question is, where did the info come from and has it been tested? The 8 glasses of water thing has been disproved again and again. Most people get enough water in the combination of their food and drink that they get every day. That isn't to say that there isn't a minimum liquid input that most people need and that dehydration is just as bad as drinking too much water. I'm just saying - there are a lot of medical myths out there, ones that aren't based on science at all!
I'm not disagreeing that the 8 glasses of water is false, I'm saying the truth is 8 cups of water should be consumed. It is true that it doesn't necessarily have to be straight water, it can come from other liquids like milk, or even pop or coffee, but water is the best way.
I wasn't taking a shot at your article source by the way; I didn't actually read the thing, I just knew about the 8 glasses/cups discrepancy from the workshop I attended.
No worries Jay. My guess is that 8 cups sounds a lot more reasonable (if that includes water in food content). I suppose that actually finding "true" numbers would a very difficult task. How do you test for that? There are so many variables and you would have to look for long term effects in different people. It would be interesting to look at how different studies come up with their fluid amount number, and how that changes based on the weight, lifestyle, stressors, and physiological differences of each person. . .
I think you're right Mark. To develop a number of "glasses" for each person might depend on their body make up. I think of infants, where the majority of their body is >60-80% water??? And then an elderly person where the amount would be much less. Or fat content on a person, or amount of exercise...I'm wondering if "someone" just made a blanket statement about the 6-8 glasses because it was some type of average?
Did you hear about the lady from the states last year who drank like 5 litres of water to try to win some contest and died because her electrolytes got way out of whack?
Sorry if I sounded so defensive before. I actually like when the "norm" is challenged.
Jacquie
I heard about that story with the woman who died, that's crazy! Such a tragedy. No worries about your comments Jacquie, keep challenging my thinking!
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