Health "facts" that you believe to be myths and why. See if you can change my mind.

[TattyDevine]

Anyone got any? I've got a couple.

First one is this bullshit that you have to drink a certain amount of water a day that isn't dictated by your body's thirst or cues, but by some arbitrary amount.

Why the hell would your body not tell you if it needed water? How have we evolved this far not realising we needed to be drinking double or triple the amount of water we feel we need to? Thirsty, have a drink. Not thirsty, don't. Like food. Hungry, eat. Not hungry? Shouldn't eat. What terrible fate will befall us if we don't drink 2 litres of water a day? And how did we evolve for thousands and thousands of years before this bit of knowledge was bestowed upon us?

2nd one - don't eat at night because you won't burn it and it will be stored as fat, but if you eat the same amount but during the day you will burn it.

Well, surely if you have done the same level of activity in a day and had the same amount of food within that day it will even out? Over a 24 hour period, I've taken in x amount of energy and burned y amount. If I took most of it in at night it makes up for the deficit in the morning. If I take it evenly over the day there was no deficit to make up for but I've still taken in the same amount and burned up the same amount.

3rd one - coffee and tea dehydrates you because it is a mild diuretic. Okay so its a mild diuretic but you are still more hydrated drinking it because it doesn't make you piss out more than what you took in in terms of extra fluid by drinking it in the first place. So it still counts as a drink. (In fact my GP surgery has a poster saying about taking plenty of fluids if you have a cold, and that it doesn't have to be water but a cup of tea or coffee is just as good). When I read that, I was so revived by the no nonsense common sense approach I had to restrain myself from licking the poster with delight.

Yours please, and try and convince me otherwise with non bullshitty science if you think I'm wrong (which I'm happy to be with a proper science-boffiny cut-down)

"I had to restrain myself from licking the poster with delight"

Going outside with wet hair will not induce a cold. A cold is caused by a virus. Coincidence does not equal cause though I accept that people like to assign patterns blah de blah.

You can eat all around you after you have been to the gym. No you can't. End of.

I think I've read that a lot of people mistake thirst for hunger, which goes some way towards obesity rates, although I may be completely misremembering/making that up.

I do know that when I drink lots of water throughout the day my skin feels softer and I feel more alert. Presumably it has beneficial affect on your organs too, your kidneys have a much lighter workload for example which can be very important for some people.

Don't know about the eating at night thing, the only reason I can think of is because going to bed shortly after a heavy meal means that your digestive system is working against gravity. Can't see how it affect weight.

Yes yes yes to the wet hair one. Ditto getting cold. Just because being cold and having a cold shares a word. Its not sciencey!

Wickedlazy

The water one has annoyed me for years, ever since I tried it and discovered it made me all shaky and shivery, as well as constantly going to the toilet of course. My body was telling me quite clearly it didn't want me to drink gallons of water and the stupid magazines were going on and on about how I should.

Sugar does not give kids a "sugar rush"
www.webmd.com/parenting/features/busting-sugar-hyperactivity-myth

The water one is stupid as you are suppose to consume 2 litres but there is water in food so you don't technically have to drink it although no-one tells you that

I agree with all 3 of your points OP.

There's just one thing about eating at night though, it's not great for the body as it repairs at night so it can't do essential maintenance if it's processing food. I think it still tries to so its possible it doesn't process food as quickly as its doing other shit.

Not sure that's enough to affect retention of calories.

It makes sense that for optimum hydration levels, drinking extra water would achieve this. Just like eating extra food would help with optimum fat levels!

But we don't NEED it. Surely our kidneys won't wither into 2 sad little bean shaped piles of dust if we only drink to satisfy thirst.

If you have a glass of water, but adds tiny bit of flavour to it with some squash or juice, does it still count as one of your (apparently necessary) eight glasses a day? Or is it then an entirely different drink that doesn't count? I've heard people say before that if it's not plain water, it's not water.
Because you could have a whole glass of undiluted Ribena, followed by a glass of water which would the mix into squash inside you but only half of it would count. Or does the one cancel out the other? Makes no bloody sense to me.

The rule of 3 units for driving... Wrong! Depends completely on person physiology..

We only use 10%of our brains... Wrong!

That all schools can be above (or indeed below) average... Its statistical nonsense!

Eating 5 a day... A number plucked out of the ether!

Cold viruses prefer cold noses, cold noses are more likely if you have wet hair in cold weather (or indeed if you're simply out in the cold weather) www.pnas.org/content/112/3/827.abstract Are you sure it's a myth, or not simply the whole truth?

VotePedroPony YES YES YES YES YEEEEES!

The amount of times I hear about sugar highs. HELLLOOOOOO? Has anybody heard of insulin and what it does?

I swear to god you could starve the children on slivers of raw veggies and they'd still come home from a child's party high as a kite. Because of all the fecking balloons and barstarding Elsa costumes.

A relative once said something about cutting her daughter's long hair because it was drawing all her strength I was, and muttered something about Samson and Delilah. This has to be complete nonsense surely?

On the eating at night/calorie thing - yes and no...all calories aren't equal in this respect. Our metabolisms correspond with daylight/nighttime, highest in the first half of the day (when we are naturally most active) and then dropping off through the afternoon and evening, lowest whilst sleeping. Consume carbohydrates/sugar when your body doesn't need them as an energy source (3-4 hrs before exercise or immediately afterwards) and our bodies, having no other use for them, will store them as fat. Excess calories in the form of fat or protein will also be stored as fat of course, but our bodies have much more use for these macronutrients, so the proportion of 'excess' compared to carbs/sugar is likely to be lower.

There is some truth behind the myth of colds causing colds - this explains some of them.

The cold air in nose thing is proper science backed up by research. But can only be rectified by wearing a scarf over your nose, rather than simply not having wet hair probably. Unless you mean wet nose-hair

My mum used to not want me to go to bed with wet hair as I'd wake up with a cold.

In Australia. No mum, its 28 degrees in here with the aircon on, you daft moo.

the water one!!! oh how I agree!

I'm marathon training and I don't need loads of water every mile! honestly,when I tell people that up to ten miles I don't carry water with me they come over all concerned!! seriously,listen to your body

BUT ....is it true that once you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated?

and I've also heard your body often mistakes hunger for thirst,as a pp said?

Yes we use a lot more of our brain we just don't have conscious access to a vast amount lol

I think the issue with water is people don't respond to their bodies signals for fluids. People don't drink when they feel thirsty, hence the guideline amounts given. However equally you don't need to be downing gallons of water when you don't have any thirst. Checking your piss colour is a good indicator of hydration levels!!

YES to the 'no such thing as a sugar high!' Also dairy doesn't make you produce more mucus, so 'dont' drink milk if you have a cold' is nonsense.

One I found out the other day that probably everyone already knows - it's a bit gross though :) Coughing up green phlegm does NOT mean that you have a chest infection. I always thought it did!

Not swimming on a full stomach is rubbish too but not sure if that counts as a health thing or not.