Moms sometimes say the most ridiculous things without any rationale. From my childhood to adulthood, there have been countless moments where my mom asserts that doing or eating certain things is bad for me without any explanation or evidence. I don’t question my mom because, number one, she is my mom and, number two, “mom is always right.” Even when I did ask my mom why, she would threateningly respond back, “Just do it and listen to me.” After that, you just don’t attempt to talk back. As a Chinese American, you can imagine the number of ridiculous myths I grew up hearing from my immigrant mom. Often times, these myths stem from cultural beliefs or gossip heard from aunties, but this made me wonder: how many of these myths are actually true and how many are false?Â
If you keep on reading, you will find the answers to fill your curiosity!Â
- Going to sleep with wet hair causes chronic headaches later in life.
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Answer: Maybe
I am a night showerer, so naturally I like to shower and wash my hair before I head to bed. However, my mom absolutely detests it when I sleep with soaked hair. When she sees me with wet hair, my mom hastily brings a blow dryer to my room and forcefully blow dries my hair to prevent getting “bad headaches/migraines later in life.” Well, according to NCBI, there is a possibility that wet hair may cause sinus headaches due to a certain mechanism that protects the brain from hyperthermia that controls body temperature. However, the one flaw of this study is that it states there is a possible cause and there is no definite answer yet; therefore, more research needs to be done. - Showering after eating slows down digestion and may cause dizziness.
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Answer: False
In an attempt to satisfy my mom’s beliefs, I would try to shower after eating instead of showering before bedtime but my mom prohibits showering after eating and would make me wait thirty minutes. Many of the articles I explored concurred with my mom’s belief. Many of these articles stated that showering after eating increases your body temperature but did not reference any published scientific articles. Bazar and colleagues (2004) debunk this myth by stating that the redistribution of blood flow contradicts the well-known neurophysiologic principle of maintaining cerebral blood flow under a wide range of physiological states, such as exercising. Evidence suggests that there is no measurable blood flow change after digestion that causes indigestion. - Watching television too close damages your eyes.
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Answer: FalseÂ
As a child, my mom always yelled at me whenever I was too close to the television (although she didn’t like me watching TV in the first place) because she assumed it would damage my eyesight more. American Academy of Ophthalmology states watching TV closely does not permanently damage the eyes but causes eye strain which may lead to headaches and eye soreness. Children are able to focus more on objects with their eyes than adults─leading them to sit closer to the TV. Little did my mom know that the reason for my poor eyesight is due to genetics she gave me (my mom also wears glasses!). - Watching television or playing on your computer/game consoles in the dark or in dim lighting damages your eyes more.
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Answer: False
I would often do work on my laptop or play on my old Gameboy as a child in the dark for comfort but my mom always thought that reading in dark or dim light settings worsened my vision. Harvard Health Publishing explained that dim and dark lighting tires your eyes more quickly due to your eyes constantly adjusting to the inconsistent lighting (similar to watching TV too closely). Therefore, you can still watch YouTube videos or play video games in the dark to your heart’s content! - Eating junk food causes sore throats.
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Answer: True
Any sight of junk food (mostly deep-fried foods) prompts my mom to give me the ultimate death glare. She then warns me in Cantonese saying, “Yeet hay”─meaning heaty foods (foods that have lots of fat, sodium, and sweet). Yeet hay means that you are going to get a sore throat later and an “I told you so” from your mom. The medical condition behind yeet hay, called laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR), causes the acid refluxes to travel to the larynx (the voice box) and symptoms of sore throat or itchy throat may occur. If you frequently eat oily foods then you are more likely to get a sore throat because the larynx is more sensitive to acid.
Now your curiosity has been filled and the questions you had your entire life have been answered! It has definitely given me much needed answers that I always wondered when I was a child. And if you dare, you can now prove to your mom that she was wrong and has been telling lies since you were a child or tell your mom she was right and get a typical “I told you so” from her.