Be Healthy and Fit at the Forest: Health Myths REVEALED!

When I was little, I was told that if I went outside with wet hair I would get sick.
 
I love apples, but will eating one every day really keep the doctor away?
 
There is a Purell bottle in my purse, in my glove compartment and on my desk in my room. Excessive?

 
How do we know what is truth and what is myth? Magazines, websites and TV commercials all claim to have the “scoop” about health topics like preventing disease, losing weight and achieving the perfect liquid line. But do they really?
 
Well, sometimes. A lot of the household remedies that our parents taught us aren’t accurate. You can’t actually get sick from having wet hair when it’s cold outside. Having wet hair does not make you more susceptible to illness. Sorry Mom and Dad.

 
But a lot of other things are true. For example, the old adage, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” is actually based on fact. Granted, eating an apple every day is a little out there. You’d get sick of them after a couple of months. But eating a lot of fruit every day will keep you healthy and happy. Sound obvious? It is, but there are those cynics out there who doubt the validity of this particular health truth.
 
Another one: a little bacteria can actually be helpful. Crazy, right? No. What’s crazy is spending money on bottles and bottles of antibacterial hand gel and obsessing over germs all the time. If we kill every itty bitty bacterium we can, we risk weakening our immune system. Getting a little exposure to bacteria will build up our immune system, making it stronger so that when more serious strains of bacteria come along, it can fight them. Plus, if we keep killing bacteria, it will keep morphing and creating new, potentially more dangerous cousins. That’s crazy.

 
Want more? Here ya go:

• Sugar makes kids hyper → (surprise!) False
• You lose most of your body heat through your head → False
• Five-second rule  → (Gross) False
• If you keeping making that face it will stay that way →  False
• Gum stays in your stomach for seven years  → False
• You shouldn’t swim for an hour after eating → False
• Warm milk will help you fall asleep → False
• You should drink eight glasses of water a day → False (you can drink other things like juice, tea, and milk to meet your daily hydration needs!) 

*Photography courtesy of Flickr