The Coen brothers' 2010 remake of the 1969 laugher shows Rooster Cogburn trying to suck the venom out of Mattie Ross' snake-bitten limb -- following some minor, unsterilized, pocket knife surgery. Even if Marshal Cogburn would have ignorantly performed such medical malpractice during America's wild west 1800's, to place this scene within a post-modern movie has only helped to spread a blatant medical myth:
1) When encountering a snake bite, cut it, suck it, and/or apply a tourniquet or ice. No, just get the bitten one to a hospital (with an antidote) ASAP! At best, cutting snake-bitten flesh and sucking on the wound will accomplish nothing; at worst it will damage nerves and blood vessels around the wound and contaminate the wound itself.
So, even though "True Grit" was one of my favorite movies this past season, it may deserve its walk of shame for unconsciously promoting archaicly inaccurate first aid propaganda.
Other medical myths that have been busted within the several decades or so (though remember, even the corrections to these myths might become myths to be busted next decade!) include:
2) Eat turkey to make you sleepy, due to its tryptophan content: No, if you're sleepy after eating turkey, it's either because you're allergic to it or because you've eaten a large holiday meal (with alcohol?) that would sedate you with or without foul in the mix. Tryptophan is one of the last amino acids to be absorbed after a meal; plus there's more tryptophan in chicken, egg whites, pork, seaweed, and parmesan cheese anyway. Turkey is ~#159 on the list of tryptophan containing foods per ounce. http://top200foodsources.com/Nutrients/Tryptophan/501/g
Where do these myths come from??
Bottom line: Take high-dose tryptophan (~500mg) in pill form, on an emptyish stomach, if you want to treat insomnia.
3) Drink eight glasses of water a day. This one has nearly turned from myth to mantra. But the original National Academy of Sciences source for our recommended 2.5 liters/day of water intake also stated that we already get this amount from the food we eat. When you do drink, of course choose pure water more often than soda or alcohol. But no need to obsess...
Bottom line: Let your urine color indicate whether you need to alter your water consumption. Clear-colored urine is unnecessary. Light yellow (straw-colored) urine is just fine. Darker urine gives you the general message to drink more water. If that remedy doesn't lighten your urine color, head to a doctor's office in case of altered organ function. Caveat: if you take a multiple vitamin, the B-2 riboflavin will often mask your urine 'natural' color with it's well known neon-yellow hue.
4) Spending time in cold weather or drafts produces a 'cold'. No, anything that depletes one's immune system and/or that introduces a higher than usual exposure to viruses produces a cold, or upper respiratory viral infection. Folks who live in perpetually tropical climates get colds, too; and Arctic dwellers don't have perpetual sniffles. Within temperate climates, such as most of the lower 48 states, 'cold and flu' season occurs in winter because we stay indoors longer and at close quarters, and thus share our viruses more readily (viruses, unlike bacteria, can only survive on living tissue). Exposure to cold may cause short-acting sinus irritation, as can quick changes of temperature. But these symptoms are very different from the usual 7-10 day viral 'cold'.
Bottom line: Cold weather doesn't cause colds any more than hot temps cause fevers. Stay active and outdoors-oriented even in colder months, and keep your immune system strong via daily exercise; excellent whole foods nutrition; meditation and stress reduction; etc.
5) We use only 10% of our brains. Speak for yourself! All indications (via MRI; PET; other scans/imaging) point to the likelihood that the vast majority of us are using 100% of our brains 100% of the time. Brain-damaged folk are obvious exceptions. Of course, all of us can improve our brain function by increasing out neural connections via synaptogenesis (birthing new connections between neurons via skill learning, exercise, meditation, ketamine, etc), but those neurons we have are already functioning 100% of the time.
Bottom line: Our brain potential is near-infinitely greater, but every brain part we have is already fully active. Increase synaptogenesis if you want improved brain function.
Further myths will be busted within future blog entries. Have any of your own to suggest?
