- You should drink at least eight glasses of water each day. This advice has been floating around since at least 1945, but there's no scientific evidence to support the recommendation. In fact, excessive water drinking can be fatal.
- We use only 10 percent of our brains. Modern medical imaging shows that there's no region of the brain that is completely inactive.
- Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death. They don't, but dehydration of the body and retracting skin can make it appear so.
- Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight. It can strain the eyes and reduce blinking (which may cause uncomfortable dryness), but the effects are temporary. There's no permanent effect on eye function or structure.
- Shaving causes hair to grow back faster or coarser. Numerous studies have shown this to be false. Shaving does remove the finer, tapered ends of hair, which can make the remaining stubble seem coarser. And new hair emerging from the skin can appear darker because it has not yet been lightened by sun or chemical exposure. But shaving itself doesn't affect the hair at all.
- Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals. There's little real evidence to support the idea that cell phones can interfere with critical medical equipment. All of the evidence cited is anecdotal and pretty dubious.
- Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy. Tryptophan, an amino acid, is involved in sleep and a form of it is marketed as a sleep aid. Turkey contains tryptophan, but so too does chicken and beef. Pork and cheese contain even more tryptophan than turkey. Sleepiness after a big turkey meal is more likely due to diverted blood and oxygen flow from the brain to the digesting stomach.
MEDTRONICA
kidshealth.org
The Web site touts itself as the largest and most-visited Web site of its kind, with separate sections for kids, teens and parents. Reportedly, the health and lifestyle information is physician-reviewed and regularly updated.
You'll drink 20,000 gallons of water in your lifetime.
GET ME THAT. STAT!
Very obese people are 44 percent less likely to get a needed kidney transplant than normal weight patients, according to a Johns Hopkins University study. The reasons are economic and medical. Very obese people are at greater risk of complications, forcing transplant centers to cover additional costs.
NEVER SAY DIET
The world's speed-eating record for grapes is eight pounds, 15 ounces in 10 minutes, held by Cookie Jarvis.
BEST MEDICINE
A man goes to a psychiatrist.
"Doctor, I think I'm a dog."
"Hmmm," replies the psychiatrist. "Lie down on the couch and I'll examine you."
"I can't," said the man. "I'm not allowed on furniture."
PHOBIA OF THE WEEK
Ereuthrophobia - fear of blushing
CURTAIN CALLS
The practice of "warming up" cars in enclosed garages on cold mornings kills an average of 207 Americans annually, due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
