Old Wives' Tales

What sorts of old wives' tales are around about health issues? Are any of them more than mere tales?

Forecasting

• To find out how long you'll live, blow the seeds off the head of a dandelion. You will live as many years as there are seeds left on the head. (It might work by coincidence.)

• When the shingles blisters reach all around a person's abdomen, they'll die. (Not according to RNs who have nursed these patients.)

Causes of Sickness, Injuries, or Bodily Changes

• Reading in dim light and watching too much TV will both damage your eyes. (Strain or tire your eyes, yes; permanently damage them, no.)

• Pulling out a gray hair causes two to grow in its place. (This is your hair, not a hydra. You keep getting older, so more grays keep coming.)

• If you listen to music too loud, you'll go deaf. (Watch out everyone – particularly iPod and MP3 users – this one is true.)

• If you cross your eyes, they'll stay that way. (Only if you leave them that way.)

• Coffee/caffeine stunts your growth. (Nope, but the belief may be based in the fact that excess caffeine can prevent the absorption of calcium and other nutrients, which could affect the bones.)

• Going outside with wet hair causes colds. (Viruses cause colds. However, research published in the December 2005 issue of Family Practice suggests that being chilled may cause you to be more susceptible to these viruses.)

• You get white spots on your nails from not drinking enough milk. (No. The spots, called leukonychia, are most often due to mild trauma to the nails, but can also be due to allergies; fungal, yeast, or bacterial infection; psoriasis; eczema; cirrhosis; or a lack of zinc or protein in the diet.)

• Touching toads will give you warts. (Nope. Viruses cause warts – of course, if someone who's shedding viruses touches the toad just before you do …)

• Those who hold a knife or ax during an eclipse will cut themselves. (A person attempting to use a sharp implement in pitch darkness? This is entirely possible.)

• Crossing your legs causes varicose veins. (Nope. Factors like heredity, hormones, being overweight, not exercising enough, and smoking are the culprits.)

• Step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back. (I can attest to the fact that this isn't true.)

Preventive Medicine, or Maintaining Health/Normal Bodily Function

• "Early to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy, and wise." (I wish! Probably just a mnemonic to say that adequate sleep is necessary for mind and body, and with a healthy mind and body you're likely to be able to obtain and hold a good job.)

• To avoid bedsores, sleep with a couple of pails of spring water beneath your bed. (As far as I know, this has never been clinically tested, but I suspect it will be better for mildew than for humans.)

• Eating carrots will improve your eyesight. (Sort of – they won't improve eyesight, but the carotene in them converts to vitamin A (retinol), which aids in maintaining healthy eyesight and is an antioxidant. Also, an article in the December 28, 2005 issue of the JAMA found that intake of nutrients like beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and zinc reduces risk of age-related macular degeneration in the elderly.)

• You'll be healthier if you sleep in a bed whose head points south. (As far as I know, this has never been clinically tested.)

• If your head gets bumped from above, you have to slap upwards under your chin to make sure that your brain stays in the same place, so it's not damaged. (Nope – you'll just have a sore chin in addition to a sore head.)

• Fish is brain food. (Technically true, since it's a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.)

• An apple a day keeps the doctor away. (Literally, only if you throw an apple at the doctor. However, an apple's essential nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber sure help.)

• Don't go swimming until an hour after you've eaten, or you'll get cramps. (Maybe – if you've eaten a gigantic meal and are engaging in a particularly energetic swim.)

• To prevent colds and flu, wear garlic around your neck. (If the garlic is pungent enough, it will prevent anyone, including those with a cold or flu from coming anywhere near you, so it may have a protective effect. There is, however, evidence showing that garlic is good for managing high cholesterol levels, and that it decreases cancer risk and is a source of antioxidants. And of course everyone knows that it keeps vampires away.)

Cures

• The one we always mix up – is it "starve a cold, feed a fever," or "feed a cold, starve a fever"? (Either way, it's wrong. You need to remain hydrated, and cutting off your supply of nutrients isn't going to help you get well.)

• Coffee will cure a hangover. (Nope. And the other standard home-grown remedies don't work either, as researchers showed in an article in the December 24, 2005 issue of the British Medical Journal.)

• Put a half of an onion under the bed of a sick person to draw off fever and poisons. (Nope, but it might repel house pets.)

• Chicken soup will cure a cold. (Well … There has been a bit of research suggesting there's something to this idea, but it's probably more that the steam, the liquid, the nutrients, and the TLC are what's doing the trick.)

• If your baby has croup, place the child in a steamy room. (Not according to a study published in the March 15, 2006 issue of JAMA! Like the chicken soup, researchers suggest it's probably the TLC doing the trick.)

• Lemon and whiskey will take away a cough. (Sounds like the ingredients in many cough syrups, so if they work … Otherwise, the vitamin C in the lemon will certainly be good for you.)

• Put butter on a burn. Some other versions of this include peanut butter, mayo, lard, etc. (In any case, nope. Just because something looks and feels like ointment, doesn't mean it is. Butter can hold in the heat, and is asking for bacteria to visit.)

• Stale ginger ale helps a stomach ache. (Ginger can help, but you'll be well before your ginger ale becomes stale, and not every ginger ale actually contains ginger.)

Miscellaneous Bodily Tales

• Version 1: If you swallow gum, it will take seven years to dissolve in your stomach. Version 2: If you swallow gum, it will never dissolve in your stomach. (Nope. Think how it starts to turn to mush if it sits in your mouth too long, e.g., when you stuff it in your cheek to hide it from a teacher.)

• Hair grows back darker and thicker when shaved. (Tell that to bald guys.)

And if you want some wives' tales, superstitions, and traditions about pregnancy and childbirth, see our articles: Birth Traditions – Asia, Birth Traditions – Europe, Birth Traditions – Latin America, Birth Traditions – North America. Also see our triva on odd remedies.

Forecasting

Causes of Sickness, Injuries, or Bodily Changes

Preventive Medicine, or Maintaining Health/Normal Bodily Function

Cures

Miscellaneous Bodily Tales

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Cynthia M Piccolo

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