13 things you shouldn't fear

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

About how much chewing gum lies in the stomach, whether fans of violent computer games become killers and what will happen to your DNA if you eat GMO foods.

Many phobias and popular misconceptions are surprisingly tenacious, although most of them have no scientific basis. We are accustomed to blindly believing in some of them since childhood, while others fall on us like sensational news from unverified sources. But no matter who says or writes what, you have absolutely no need to be afraid of the following things.

1. Bring your eyes to your nose and nibble forever

This is not true: keeping your eyes to the bridge of the nose is not only not harmful, but also very useful. Thus, you train the muscles of the eyeball, relieve eye fatigue and improve blood circulation.

There is another version of this myth, which clarifies that it is possible to ossify if, at the moment when you squinted your eyes, you are hit on the head. It is closer to the truth: it is possible to earn a squint as a result of a head injury, but it does not matter in what position your eyes were at the moment of impact. At the same time, the blow itself should be much stronger than a banal cuff.

2. Swallow gum and carry it in the stomach for 7 years

It is not known where the myth about seven years came from - most likely, it was invented as a horror story for children so that they would not swallow chewing gum. The base of the gum is really indigestible, but this does not mean that it sticks to the walls of the esophagus or stomach and stays with you for a long time. Like other indigestible items, it is quickly excreted naturally. For swallowed chewing gum to lead to serious problems, in particular to a blockage in the intestines, you need to swallow it in packs.

3. Pump up in the gym, doing weights

The very term "pumped over" is very subjective. Usually girls who come to the gym for the first time and with horror imagine themselves in the place of professional athletes, whose photos they saw on the Internet, are afraid of this. In fact, building a large amount of muscle mass is a great job that will require several years of special training and carefully calibrated nutrition.

In addition, even those athletes whose photographs are printed in magazines and posted on the Web look like this only during the competition period, that is, 1-2 times a year. The rest of the time, their relief is much more modest. Conducting regular strength training 3 times a week, you will never pump your biceps the size of a watermelon.

4. Wet the mantu

You can wet the sample site as much as you like, but rubbing, scratching and smearing it with anything is not recommended. The ban on contact with water was relevant when the reaction to tuberculosis was tested by applying a test to a scratch on the skin. The Mantoux test, like the modern diaskintest, involves the introduction of the drug under the skin, where water does not seep in any way.

5. Crunch your knuckles and get arthritis

The main harm that can be caused by clicking your knuckles is the discontent of others. There is no evidence that this habit leads to arthritis or other diseases Will Joint Cracking Cause Osteoarthritis? … True, the benefits of this exercise have not yet been identified. Moreover, cases of injuries were recorded when people were too carried away, pulling their fingers.

6. Become a villain by playing violent video games

The influence of the computer bloody mess on the player's psyche is greatly exaggerated. The maximum that researchers managed to record was A longitudinal study of the association between violent video game play and aggression among adolescents. - these are bursts of aggression among players during the game and for a short time after its end. However, there is no proven link between a love of shooters and an addiction to violence in real life.

7. Light up while talking on your mobile at a gas station

This belief belongs to a series of urban legends in which cause and attendant circumstances are confused. Indeed, several incidents of fire were recorded at gas stations while talking on a cell phone, however these accidents were due to static electricity on the clothes Can Cell Phones Cause Fires at Gas Pump? … There are no sparks from the phone itself.

8. Kissing an HIV-infected person

The concentration of the immunodeficiency virus in saliva is so small that the chance of transmitting it through a kiss tends to zero. There is only one way to get HIV by kissing: if you have an open wound in your mouth or lips, that is, if there is a possibility of the carrier's saliva entering your bloodstream. Therefore, kissing is allowed, but biting is not.

9. Get vaccinated for yourself and your children

Many copies have been broken on this topic, but there is at least one indisputable fact on the side of vaccination: the benefits of vaccinations are incomparably higher than the risk of possible complications. If you are still in doubt, read the detailed material on the benefits of vaccination and the questions it raises.

10. Swallow in a dream a spider that crawled into your mouth

To begin with, the spider is unlikely to crawl onto your bed: you toss and turn in it and can crush an uninvited guest at any time. Your mouth is also not so attractive for a spider - for the sake of experiment, try just blowing on the spider and see how much he doesn't like it. Finally, you are unlikely to sleep with your mouth open all night. But even if suddenly something incredible happens and a spider miraculously gets into your mouth at night, this does not mean that you will swallow it. You do not swallow hair accidentally caught in your mouth or a feather from a pillow in a dream, why suddenly this should happen to a spider?

11. Eat GMO Sausage and Get Kangaroo DNA

Whatever you eat will not affect your DNA in any way. Strictly speaking, any food with animal protein contains someone's DNA, no matter whether its owner's genes have been modified or not. Most of the DNA is cleaved in the intestines, and the few that are not digested and get into the cells of other organs still decay within a few days. In this case, nothing extraneous is incorporated into the human genome.

12. Lose nerve cells that cannot be restored

This misconception is based on the fact that nerve cells do not divide, but this does not mean that there is no other way to replace dead units. Thanks to neurogenesis. new nerve cells are born in the human brain. In addition, the functions of dead neurons are taken over by the remaining nerve cells, which form new connections and increase in size.

13. Eat foods with monosodium glutamate

All the proven negative effects of monosodium glutamate intake come down to experiments on rats. whose daily diet consisted of one fifth of this substance. After six months of such a diet, the rats began to go blind. But since the amount of monosodium glutamate in human food is several tens of times lower, there is nothing to be afraid of. If you do not eat this substance with spoons for breakfast, lunch and dinner, nothing threatens your health.