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In Sickness & In Health |
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Of course, no one enjoys getting sick, so we do what we can to stay healthy. It helps if you know what is – and is not – a threat to your health. How much do you know?
It’s an old wives' tale that you should "feed a cold, starve a fever." No matter whether you have a cold or a fever, you should try to maintain a regular intake of fluids and food. While recent medical studies have found that there actually may be some benefit to following this age-old adage, the fact that many people believe they should feed a cold and starve a fever indicates that we just find it comforting to rely on folk wisdom to treat an illness that has no cure.
Contrary to popular belief, a dog's mouth is not cleaner than a human's. This notion stems from the fact that for humans, a dog bite is less likely to get infected than a bite from another human. But this has less to do with cleanliness than with the types of bacteria we harbor in our mouths. Many harmful bacteria are species-specific, so most of the bacteria in a dog's mouth are harmless to humans, but may cause an infection in another dog. Similarly, if a man bit a dog, the bite would not do as much harm as if the man bit another person.
Getting your tongue pierced can lead to heart problems. Oral bacteria can get into the bloodstream through the wound in the tongue and make its way to the heart, resulting in a condition called endocarditis, a serious inflammation of the heart valves or tissues. This can be especially dangerous for those with existing heart conditions. Additionally, oral piercings can cause a whole host of complications, including damage to the teeth and gums, bleeding, nerve damage and interference with dental X rays.
People don’t necessarily need to drink eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy and properly hydrated. While it's a good idea to drink plenty of water, there is no scientific or medical basis for the specific amount of eight glasses per day. Water-intake needs vary from person to person, depending on age, size, and amount of physical activity. We can also get water from food and other beverages, so we don't necessarily need to get all of our fluids in the form of drinking water.
You cannot contract the flu from a flu shot. The virus strains in an influenza vaccine have been inactivated, so they can't make you sick. However, it is still possible to subsequently catch a different strain of flu that was not included in the vaccine; furthermore, some people - especially those with egg allergies – can have an allergic reaction to the vaccine.
Eating chicken soup can help treat the common cold--just like your mother may have told you. According to the National Institutes of Health, "Chicken soup has been used for treating common colds at least since the 12th century. It may really help. The heat, fluid and salt may help you fight the infection." Of course, if you don't have any chicken soup handy, any hot liquid may be equally effective.
You won't necessarily get sick if you go outside in the cold with wet hair. You may feel cold, but you can't catch a cold just from going outdoors with wet hair. This is just another old wives' tale, possibly started by an old wife who didn't want her kids leaving the house improperly groomed.
The stomach flu is not caused by a strain of influenza virus. In fact, there is technically no such thing as a "stomach flu." Influenza, or the flu, is a virus that affects the respiratory system, not the digestive system. While about one-third of flu patients do suffer from an upset stomach, the nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea often attributed to having a stomach flu are more likely the results of some other type of viral infection or bacterial food poisoning.
A computer keyboard does, in fact, harbor more germs than a toilet seat. According to a University of Arizona study, office workstations are much dirtier than bathrooms. A computer keyboard can harbor up to 3,295 microbes per square inch, a computer mouse 1,676. Telephones were the worst culprit, with 25,127 microbes. By contrast, the average toilet seat contains only 49 microbes per square inch.
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