

Myth: Eating at night will make you fat. Fact: This is a complete myth. It doesn’t matter what time of day you eat, as long as you eat only the total calories that you burn each day, you will not gain weight.

Myth: Turkey meat contains tryptophan therefore it makes you sleepy. Fact: Turkey is served at very large meals often eaten during the day rather than the evening. The heavy meal slows blood flow which can cause drowsiness, and the timing can have a huge psychological impact: in other words, you are imagining it.

Myth: Back pain needs to be treated with bed rest. Fact: Thirty-nine independent studies show that bed rest is more harmful than good in a broad range of illnesses.

Myth: Cancer treatment is painful and pointless – furthermore, it is incurable. Fact: Various drugs exist to treat different types of cancer, and many of them are extremely effective and well worth trying if you do get the disease.

Myth: Teething causes a fever. Fact: Scientific studies show no correlation at all between fever and teething.

Myth: Cracking your knuckles will cause arthritis in later life. Fact: Arthritis is caused by various reasons but knuckle cracking isn’t one of them.

Myth: Chewing gum takes seven years to pass through your system. Fact: it is true that gum is not digestible in the human body but if you swallow some chewing gum the only thing that will happen is that it will simply pass whole through your digestive system and then pop out the other end.

Myth: We should drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Fact: In 1945 a government agency found out that we need to drink 8 glasses of fluid a day but somehow over time ‘fluid’ turned to ‘water’.

Myth: We lose most of our body heath through our head. Fact: Completely naked you lose approximately 10% of your body heat through the head. The other 90% is lost via other body parts.

Myth: Sugar makes kids hyperactive. Fact: It is all in the parent’s mind. Many tests and studies show that kids who just ate sugar are feeling and acting in the same way they did before, perhaps only a bit happier.