myths -- medical myths

Have you ever been told that reading in dim light will ruin your vision? How about shaving will make your hair grow back faster, thicker, and darker? Well, Rachel C Vreeman, of the Indiana School of Medicine, and Aaron E Carroll, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Regenstrief Institute in Indiana, are out to tell fact from fiction on these well known medical myths.

Let's start with reading in dim lighting. It has been found that it doesn't ruin your vision. Your eyes may experience some strain in the short term but there are no long term effects of reading in dim light.

Hair growth? Doesn't it grow back any faster, coarser, or darker. Visually we think it does, but actually when you shave it just removes the dead part of the hair, the living part in under the surface or your skin. Hair also only looks thicker because the tips or unshaven hair taper off. And finally in the respect of hair the only reason that your hair appears to be darker is that the sun hasn't had the time to lighten it up. Unshaven hair has been exposed too sunlight for years and has essentially been bleached by the sun.

Some other myths look at by Vreeman and Carroll are "we only use 10% of our brains" and "eating turkey makes people especially drowsy." To read more about these and other myths log on to http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/335/7633/1288