Common Health Myths and Facts: 10 Medical Myths You Should Stop Believing

🌐INTRODUCTION

In this contemporary world, the health information reaches the people very fast, and yes, we can consider it as a good thing, but unfortunately, at the same speed, the health myths and misconceptions are also spreading all over the world.

The health myths usually come from the advice of family members or elderly people, the information people trust without any research and currently a lot from social media.

But my readers must understand that the health-related myths can really make bad situations in your life. This can include a delay in receiving proper treatment at the right time, feeling fear without any valid reason, and damaging the health.

However, in today's article, we together explore the 10 most important and common medical or health-related myths and the actual facts or truth, and also I will help you to take proper health decisions.

🚩Why Are These Health Myths Spreading So Fast In This World?

Guys, we know that the negative news and misconceptions are easy to spread and reach the people faster. Anyway, considering the health myths, I can give you 4 reasons for this faster spread.

⭐ People remember this easily - that means you might note that usually the health myths are very simple, and this can easily stick in everybody's mind.

⭐ Health myths convince you emotionally - This means the health myths can mainly give you two types of emotions, and it can be fear or it can be hope, and that particular emotion makes you believe and trust them.

⭐ You repeatedly hear the health myths from the people around you or from the society you live in - Here the simple logic is, if you hear something repeatedly, then there is a higher chance that you think it is true.

⭐ Sharing the information without knowing or verifying the truth.

Now, as we all know, it is very hard to escape from the world of social media and short videos, and these have a great role in spreading the medical misinformation faster than ever.

💜10 Health Myths & The Actual Facts

📍Health Myth 1:  Eating Fatty Foods Causes Weight Gain

Many people believe and trust that eating foods having fat will increase their body weight. But it is not correct.

📢 How does weight gain happen?

You will gain weight when you consume more calories than your body burns or your body requires, no matter if you get it from fatty foods or carbohydrate foods or protein foods. So please understand, fat alone will not make you fat; it is actually the high calories. So moderation is important.

Keep in mind that not all fats are bad for you. There are some healthy fats that you can include in your daily diet for good health. They are:

• Nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts and pistachios, etc.)
• Seeds (pumkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, chia seeds, etc.)
• Fatty Fish (Sardines, Mackerel, and Salmon, etc.)
• Olive Oil
• Avocado

These foods with healthy fats improve your brain function, help in the production of major hormones like estrogen and testosterone and also help in the absorption of nutrients.

📍Health Myth 2: I Have High Blood Pressure or Hypertension Only If I Notice Symptoms

We can consider high blood pressure, or hypertension, as a "silent killer".

📢 But why is it called a silent killer? The reason for this interesting name is that most of the individulas do not experience any kind of warning signs or symptoms even at the time when their blood pressure is too much high.

Most of the people are thinking that they will definitely feel some kind of symptoms like headache, faintness, pain in the chest, or sweating in case their blood pressure is elevated. Are you a person like that?

Anyway, at least now, you must understand the reality. The blood pressure can remain elevated for many days or months or years without showing you any kind of symptoms or signs. But what the problem is, during this silent period, this high blood pressure can cause step-by-step damage to your major organs, like damage to your brain, heart, kidneys and also your eyes.

So, here comes the importance of proper and regular monitoring of BP even at the time when you feel completely healthy and fine. Why am I telling you this? Because, the regular BP check is a simple thing; even you can do it simply from your home if you how know to use the BP apparatus properly. But this simple assessment can help you to understand the problems early and will definitely help you to prevent major complications like heart attack, stroke or kidney diseases.

📚 Story of a 28-Year-Old Young Adult Male

He was working at a software company. According to him, he was really healthy, and because of that, he was not a person who used to do regular health check-ups. He felt he was healthy because he had not experienced any problems like headaches, lightheadedness or anything else in his daily life.

Once his company conducted a health camp, and at that time his blood pressure was monitored, and his blood pressure was 160/100 mmHg. This blood pressure is considered a high blood pressure. He was literally shocked seeing his blood pressure because he was not having any signs of high blood pressure.

In his case, he was able to detect this high blood pressure early just because he attended the health camp conducted by his company. This really helped him to make lifestyle changes and also to start the treatment early. And this early detection of blood pressure helped him to stay away from long-term complications.

📍Health Myth 3: The Cold Weather/Winter Season/Rainy Season Can Cause Flu

My dears, this is actually a myth, and actually saying this is a common myth that most of you would have heard from your parents or grandparants, and because of that, most of you can relate to this. Now, you must understand that the flu is actually caused by a virus named influenza virus, and so you will not get the flu just because it's a winter season or it's a rainy season or the outside weather is cold.

But now you might be thinking, 'Then why did the cases of flu rise in cold weather?' This is because, during the cold weather or in the winter season, usually the people spend most of their time in a closed space, like in the home, office, school etc. So at the time when the individuals sit closely or gather closely, this influenza virus can easily spread or transmit from one individual to another individual, mainly through the droplets of coughs and sneezes and also due to the close contact.

During winter or cold weather, the cold air will make the nose and throat mildly dry, and this will also help the influenza virus to get inside the body easily.

So make a small correction in your brain that: the cold weather itself cannot cause flu, and the real culprit causing flu is the influenza virus.

📍Health Myth 4: I Must Sweat More & More During My Workout. More Sweat Means An Effective Workout

During a workout or physical exercise your body makes sweat. But your body makes sweat to cool your body, and thereby it prevents overheating. So please understand that sweating doesn't mean that you burn more calories from your body.

You might have experienced that some of the exercises, like strength training and mild cardio, will not make you sweat more, but still they are effectively helping you to burn many calories and making you healthy and fit. So the main point I need to highlight here is that you just need to concentrate on the quality and regularity of your exercise and not on how much you sweat during the exercise.

📍Health Myth 5: I'm Taking Multivitamins So They Can Replace Real Healthy Foods

There are many people who believe that consuming the multivitamin tablets can replace healthy food eating. Do you think it is true? No, it is actually a myth, and it is not correct.

Then what is the use of multivitamins?

Simply understand that the multivitamins can work like filling the gap if you are lacking some specific vitamins or minerals, and these multivitamin pills cannot provide every single thing that the real healthy food provides your body.

Don't think that foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains can only give you the vitamins and minerals; these foods can also provide you with a good amount of fiber and also antioxidants, which help you have good digestion, better immunity and overall wellbeing.

So my readers, don't replace your healthy diet with supplements or multivitamins. It is always better to take the supplements only after a doctor's advice. Because healthcare professionals recommend supplements only if your body needs them.

📍Health Myth 6: Eating Dark Chocolate is Always Good For Health

I know that many of you reading this post will be having this same thought. Yes, I can tell you that usually we all consider this dark chocolate as a healthy food because dark chocolate has antioxidants which can really safeguard your body from cell damage or destruction. And not only that, dark chocolate has iron and magnesium in small quantities.

But don't think that all the dark chocolates that you buy from the market are completely healthy and good. There are many dark chocolate companies who add sugar, fat, and increased calories to it, and because of that, the health benefits of those dark chocolates will be really low if you take them in large quantities.

So what can you do now?

👉 Eat dark chocolates in moderate quantity. Moderation is always best. If you eat them in large quantities, then it will lead to an overabundance of calories and sugar in your body, which is bad for your health.

👉 While purchasing from the shop, try to buy dark chocolate which is high in cocoa percentage and low in added sugar percentage. You should choose this type of dark chocolate if you want to get the proper benefit of dark chocolate.

📍Health Myth 7: Natural Remedies Are Always Good And Can Be Used Safely

This is actually a common belief of people. Many people think that if something is said to be natural or labelled as natural, then it is very safe to use and will not cause any health issues or side effects. But, let me tell you, this is not always correct.

The natural remedies, herbal supplements, and products which are plant-based can also strongly influence your body. If you are not correctly using these natural products, then they will also give you some side effects like the standard medicines that you use.

And let me tell you that some of the herbal products or supplements can also react with your normal prescription medicines and can alter the functioning of those medicines in your body. Not only that, but some particular herbs can also disturb the functioning of the liver or sometimes put additional or extra stress on your liver at the time when you use them for a long period of time. Some of the herbal supplements or products can also increase your blood pressure and can also result in some bad health effects if you are a person who is already suffering from health problems.

In the current scenario, we know that we are able to buy lots of health products online through various websites or mobile applications. This also has two sides like a coin. There are many companies who sell their products online after proper checking and are clearly monitored by health authorities. But at the same time there are some products which are sold online without strict checking. Sometimes, the supplements might have ingredients which are not properly mentioned on the product label. So, because of these problems, it is always better to consult a doctor before starting the consumption of any kind of suppelment or natural product available, and this is mandatory for the people who are already taking medicines or are suffering from any health condition.

📚 Story of a 27-Year-Old Young Female

This young woman's need was to reduce her overweight, and she decided to use an herbal weight-loss supplement which was highly promoted through social media platforms, and this was a product which was labelled 100% natural.

She thought that this product would be really safe to use because it is 100% natural. She started using this herbal product, and after 3 weeks, she started facing some health issues, and she consulted a doctor, and the doctor told her to take a blood test, and her blood test showed an abnormal level of liver enzymes. These elevated liver enzymes indicate that her liver is getting damaged or facing issues in functioning properly.

A detailed examination was done on her issue, and it was found that her herbal weight loss supplement had some unrevealed ingredients which were not mentioned on the list of ingredients. From this we can understand that the products or supplements which are advertised or marketed as natural and herbal can sometimes have secret ingredients that can damage our body.

So before using any herbal products or supplements, it is very important to double-check the health claims and to confirm the safety of supplements. So, your health is your responsibility.

📍 Health Myth 8: Reading in Dim Light/Low Light Can Damage My Eyes

If you are reading something in dim light, then your eyes must work a little harder at that time. This can cause short-term eye strain, but it definitely cannot result in permanent damage to your eyes.

What happens when you read something in dim light?

In dim light, your ocular muscles, or eye muscles are needed to focus more to see the letters and words properly. So here these muscles are taking an extra effort, and because of this extra effort, you will have some symptoms like eye strain, slight headache, eye fatigue, or blurred vision. But what you have to note here is that these kinds of symptoms will be present only for a short period of time, and they will automatically go away once you give proper rest to your eyes or when you shift to a good lighting.

On the other hand, still we cannot find any scientific evidence which shows that reading in low light can cause permanent eye damage. Now just keep in your mind that the reading in dim light can make some eye discomforts for you, but they are temporary.

📍Health Myth 9: Milk Intake Can Increase Mucus Production During a Cold

Actually there is no solid scientific proof showing that drinking milk will increase the mucus production. It is right that some individuals experience some kind of thick feel in their throat after milk intake, but this is not the increase in mucus production, and the people get this thick feel because of the texture of the milk. The studies have already confirmed that the dairy products will not aggravate the symptoms of a cold in the majority of people.

However, if anybody experiences any discomfort because of drinking milk, then they can stop or reduce the intake temporarily, but again, I'm telling you, there is nothing like you should avoid drinking milk when you have a cold.

📍Health Myth 10: Carbohydrates Are Not Good For Weight Loss

We cannot say that carbohydrates are essentially bad when you are planning for weight loss. Actually, if the carbohydrates will increase or reduce your body weight solely depends on the type of carbohydrate and amount of carbohydrate you consume.

We have Refined carbohydrates and Complex carbohydrates. 

The refined carbohydrates are present in white bread, sugary drinks and also the processed snack items. These types of refined carbohydrates can cause weight gain when you consume them in excess quantity. These types of food items will get digested very fast and result in a sudden rise in your blood sugar and will also increase your cravings.

But, when talking about the complex carbohydrates, it is present in the whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, etc. These food items contain an abundance of fiber and vitamins and give you steady energy and make you feel full for a longer period of time and also help in proper healthy digestion.

Anyway, the weight loss actually depends on the calorie balance. Your calorie burn should be more than your calorie intake. So you don't want to avoid carbohydrates completely from diet to reduce your weight. During weight loss, selecting and consuming the correct type of carbohydrate-containing foods and consuming them in proper quantity is important.

🔎 How To Understand Wrong Health Information/Medical Misinformation

📌 Check what the source is: This is the first thing that you must check. You should clearly understand who is giving the information to you. You should make sure that you are getting the information from the doctor or hospital or reliable health websites.

📌 Check for proper evidence/proof: Please understand that the good and reliable advice is always backed by various studies or research.

📌 If someone is giving you extreme claims or strong claims, then be extra cautious and careful.

📌 The products or health advice claiming 'miracle cures" are usually fake or false.

📌 Consult a qualified doctor: Always consult and take proper advice from a doctor before starting any new medication or treatment.

❓ Why You Must Know The Real Health Facts

Everybody must know the real health facts because without knowing the facts and believing the myths can cause various problems like:

🔖 Delay in proper diagnosis and treatment of the disease

🔖 Taking wrong decisions regarding the treatment

🔖 Losing money 

🔖 Experiencing more anxiety and stress.

💡 Final Note For Readers

There are lots of health myths in this world, and those looks like they are non-harmful, but believing that wrong health information can cause real health problems. So understanding the myth and facts is really important to make the right decisions regarding your health. Be happy & be healthy!