Bogus Advice
The BBC looks at a study of Conventional Medical Wisdom:
THE SEVEN MEDICAL BELIEFS
- Drink at least eight glasses of water a day
- We use only 10% of our brains
- Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
- Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
- Shaving causes hair to grow back faster or coarser
- Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals
- Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
There is no evidence that any of these beliefs is valid, and a good deal of evidence that they are total garbage. The water drinking, depending on your weight, could potentially be harmful because there is water in almost everything you eat as well as what you drink.
6 comments
* Myth: There are only seven commonly believed medical myths.
People were once advised by their doctors to smoke menthol cigarettes if they had asthma. Hysterectomies were once the “approved” treatment for “hysteria” in women. Lead, mercury, and other heavy metals were once commonly used in “medical” prescriptions. And the list goes on…
Conventional medicine is about as good as conventional wisdom. Sometimes it’s right, but never presume it to be.
Presently they are prescribing a number of very questionable things, which seem to have no benefit to health for most people who take them. Statins, bisphosphonates, the list goes on.
I protest …..Many of those formulations do indeed provide great benefit – to Big Pharma.
I remember the effect of Thalidomide when it used for morning sickness. This is another of the “benefits” of capitalism when applied to necessities. Patients don’t make medical choices, they do what doctors tell them.