True or False:
Reading In Dim Light Is Bad For Your Eyes. False. It won’t damage your eyes, it’s just uncomfortable. If you read in low light, the extra effort your eye muscles make to pull your vision into sharper focus can cause a headache. You can read more comfortably, faster and longer with good lighting.
This low-light nonsense was started many years ago by Herman Vostick a part-time inventor and entrepreneur. He was working on a high intensity lamp for a persons forehead thus enabling nighttime or dark reading. Herman also designed duel folding headlamps for eyeglasses. He was not successful with either design. Years later his basic idea, a small portable light to enhance nighttime reading would become wildly successful when sold under the brand name, Kindle.
You'll Get Arthritis From Cracking Your Knuckles. False. A lot people crack their knuckles to loosen up stiffness in the fingers, but it doesn't cause arthritis. If you already have it, though, cracking your knuckles can place a minor stress on the joints.
There's also no truth that your knuckles will get larger if you crack them. Or for every crack you'll have twenty-four days of rotten luck. If you do suffer from tight fingers you're much better off exercising with a squeeze ball, Silly Putty, or a large mass of overcooked mashed potatoes. And always remember, do not overuse "pull my finger." Once or twice it's funny, but if you are camping and sleeping in a tent, it's hilarious. Every man (and woman) for themselves.
If You Drop It On The Floor, You Can Eat It If You Grab It In 5 Seconds (or less). It depends on the floor says noted gastroenterologist Dr. Seymour Butts. “In general, our gastrointestinal tracts can tolerate many of the germs in the environment and kill them, he says. But if your floor is contaminated with Salmonella, it would be a bad idea!”
Researchers at Clemson University did a series of experiments in which they dropped traces of Salmonella on wood, tile and carpeted floors. They found that the bacteria can survive in high enough concentrations for up to four weeks and be easily transferred onto food that was dropped on the floor. So the five-second rule should probably be broken — a few seconds is enough time to attract some nasty bacteria to your food. Really, it’s enough to make you sick.
I wish I had a dollar for all the worthless experiments researchers have done over the last fifty years. Everyone knows if you drop something smooth like an M&M and blow on it, you can eat it. If it's gooey like a buttered cracker and it lands butter side down, you can't. A piece of cake, for example, that lands on its icing can be scraped off and eaten. It also depends on whose floor it is. You can do whatever you please in your own home, no one will see you. However, if you're in a public venue like a a restaurant, don't. Just because they picked it off the floor in the kitchen doesn't make the second time a charm.
Old joke: Guy is in a restaurant and orders dinner. When the waiter brings his appetizer he has his thumb in the soup. The same thing when he brings the main course and dessert. When presented with the bill the customer is so worked up he says, "Waiter, with each dish you brought me I noticed your thumb was in my food" and the waiter says, "Well I have a bad sprain and my doctor told me to keep it warm." With that the customer says, "You know what? I think you should take your thumb and shove it up your ass" and the waiter says, "Well I do, but only in the kitchen."
Sugar Isn't Any Better For You Than High-Fructose Corn Syrup. True. Your body basically can’t tell the difference so it processes both sweeteners the same way. The problem is that high fructose corn syrup is so ubiquitous that you may be eating and drinking it all the time without even noticing. It’s used in a lot of foods because it is cheap and blends well so it’s easy to ingest vast quantities of it from sodas, fruit drinks, candies and other processed foods.
Your best bet is to read the package label: If you see high fructose corn syrup high up on the ingredients list, put the item back on the shelf. I thought we weren't supposed to eat sugar? Isn't that what they say? Don't eat white refined sugar? No wonder people are so confused. By the way, it's a good idea to pass on the soda, fruit drinks, candy and processed food anyway.
Ringing In Your Ears Means You're Losing Your Hearing. True. “The lion’s share (this is a scientific term meaning slightly more than the North American Ruffled Grouse) of people who have tinnitus [ringing in the ears] have some hearing loss,” according to Dwight Dinkel, M.D., professor and chairman of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Milan Medical Center. The hair cells in in the inner ear amplify low-level sound, so if they die off, it usually results in hearing loss and tinnitus.
Unfortunately, there isn't an effective way to treat tinnitus although you can use a fan or white-noise machine to mask the ringing in your ears while you’re sleeping or trying to concentrate. Ringing in the ears can also be a sign that wax is impacted in the outer ear canal, but that’s a much less common cause.
Rather odd you would hear something better (the ringing) while losing the hair cells. Then again, there's ringing, and there's ringing. You can probably live with a little tinkle like the sound of a distant ice-cream truck. It may be a problem if you hear bells like Quasimodo. Actually Q was quite deaf so he didn't hear the bells at all. Come to think of it, the bells probably caused his hearing loss. Shit, if you hear constant ringing in your ears you're doomed.
In the 1946 film "It's A Wonderful Life" George Bailey said, "The three most exciting sounds in the world are anchor chains, plane motors, and train whistles. Years later Irving the Barber would add cash registers.
Green Mucus Indicates A Sinus Infection. False. Ear, nose, and throat doctors don’t put a lot of stock in the color of the mucus because it doesn't always mean anything. You can get green nasal discharge from mucus that’s been sitting in the nasal cavities or from adenoids in the back of your nose. Better indications of a sinus infection are facial pain and pressure, a fever, headache or streaks of blood in the mucus.
A five year mucus study recently completed at the American Academy of Otolaryngology revealed mucus color and disease were not synonymous. A second study determined the practice of Otolaryngology should be changed to Olargy. Dr. E.D. Wills, department head of mucus said, "We should be concerned less with color and more with consistency. Color really doesn't matter, green, yellow, or red. Whatever color or viscosity it's pretty disgusting stuff."
Brushing Your Teeth After Drinking Coffee Or Red Wine Prevents Stains. Maybe…but at a price. Both drinks are fairly acidic, which means that brushing right after drinking can scratch the enamel of your teeth. Abrading the protective enamel of the tooth can make it thin out and become more susceptible to decay. Your teeth may become more sensitive to temperature and sometimes sweets.
A better approach: Rinse your mouth with water after drinking one of these beverages and wait at least 30 minutes before you brush. Even better, rinse with water, gargle (making as much noise as possible....it's fun isn't it) and chew sugarless gum.
You Should Use Hydrogen Peroxide To Clean Cuts and Wounds. True. Hydrogen peroxide helps remove dead tissue from a wound so the body’s immune system can heal what’s left. To treat a cut or scrape, wash the wound with soap and water, dab it with a cotton swab dipped in hydrogen peroxide, then apply an antibacterial ointment, followed by a bandage, to help the wound stay clean as it heals. Repeat once or twice a day.
Another way to treat a cut or scrape is dinner and a movie.
Crunches Give You Six-Pack Abs. False. "Crunches work mostly your upper abdominal muscles,” explains Susanna Shoenstein fitness expert in Los Angeles and author of "Your Body and You: A Guide To Finding Fitness Fun." To tone and strengthen your entire core it’s more effective to do planks and side planks. You’ll also need to burn body fat through aerobic exercise and by improving your eating habits, she adds.
Ronald Reinstar a life coach in the Twin Cities and author of "Your Body, You Only Have One: Unless You're Really Rich (or hit the lottery)" agrees and adds "Crunches? Ain't nothing better than Friday night crunchy fried chicken down at the diner. Forget the six-pack abs and go for a six pack of "Night Hawk" the micro-beer that put the Mini in Minnesota. To tone and strengthen your entire core it's most effective to work the body and mind. Hunting, fishing and winter sports make for a well rounded person.
Hope some some of these health tips help: Back on Monday.
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