Ah the holidays! Whether you celebrate Christmas or Chanukah, or Capitalism, one and all, big and small will gather around friends and family for good times, eggnog, and of course old wives tales.
Remember when you were a child and your granny used to tell you to wear a hat because most heat is lost from the head? Or your mother telling you to keep away from poisonous poinsettias? Or perhaps later in college when your friend gave you a sure-fire cure for the hangover caused by the totally wild party last night, man?
Well a study published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal says all of that is balderdash, and seeks to provide the definitive answer to holiday myths.
The two pediatrics professors, Dr. Rachel Vreeman, and Dr. Aaron Carroll, from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, (unsurprisingly) Indiana, say that they’ve proven that even medical beliefs widely held by doctors require a bit of revision. They’ve done a bit of compilation work for information that proves or refutes these ideas, and this is what these Medical Mythbusters have come up with:
Hangover Cures: Busted
The internet is rife with homebrew cures for those mornings; from fried aspirin to bananas, to Vegemite or simple water. No scientific proof of any working cure or preventive method for hangovers exists, despite countless trials with traditional and complementary medicine. Don’t want the hangover? Don’t drink your liver out of service? It’s the best recommendation they or anyone can make.
Eating late equals Weight Gain: Busted
Don’t use this one as an excuse for that extra midnight snack, because it will make you fatter. It’s just that researchers have found no definitive proof that not eating late at night will put less on your thighs.
Evidence does not show that calories are not burned off during sleep (in fact people with sleep apnoea – heavy snoring – will actually lose weight while sleeping because of the nervous system stress, but that’s another story).
The real reason, speaking of the midnight snack, is that people who eat late at night are more likely to eat more in general, says a Swedish study done on obese women..
The Sugar Rush: Busted
Ever notice that around the holidays children get very hyperactive and start prancing around, and laughing, and jumping? So have parents, who have long associated it with sweet treats given to them at Christmas for instance, blaming the hyperactivity on the sugar.
However 12 randomized, placebo-controlled trials performed on children, especially those with attention deficit disorder and (Oh look a penny! Sorry about that, where was I? Ah yes…) those sensitive to sugar have found no increase in hyperactivity whatsoever.
What’s interesting is that parents of the placebo group, whose children were given sugar-free drinks that they thought were sugary, perceived hyperactivity in their children.
Most Body Heat Lost Through Head: Busted
While wearing a hat in the cold is certainly a good idea, because we all know how fun an ear cold can be, it is not due to the body losing most heat through the head.
The myth originated from an old military study involving individuals put in extreme cold and arctic survival suits but no hat. It is so widespread that the US Army Field survival manual says that uncovered heads in cold weather account for 40%-45% of lost body heat. Recent studies show there is nothing special about the head where heat loss is concerned (and in some people that notion can be extended to other faculties). The studies suggest a far more modest 10%.
Poinsettias Are Toxic: Semi-Busted
You can find Poinsettias as parts of many Christmas decorations, but many believe they are highly toxic, but in reality they’re harmless. For the most part.
A total of 22,793 poinsettia exposure cases have reported to poison control in the U.S., but no deaths were registered, and 96% of people did not require medical treatment. No people were found with considerable poisoning, as the most the flower caused was a mild irritation.
The Christmas Blues: Unverified
The good Dr. Vreeman says that ''the combined stresses of family dysfunction, exacerbations in loneliness and more depression over the cold dark winter months are commonly thought to increase the number of suicides.''
And yes while those factors increase depression in some cases, there is no statistical evidence that shows a peak in suicides. In fact if anything statistics show that people are most likely to end it in the warmer months, said the researchers.
Well, there you have it – a point-by-point scientific debunking of many holiday-related myths. But even faced with the good doctors’ authoritative word on the matter, this author urges you not to throw caution to the wind because in many of the myths, while the explanation may be wrong, the advice is still good (see the hat-and-heat issue) to follow.
Finally, remember the words of Horace Potter ''Be moderate in everything, including moderation.'' A Happy Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and Yuletide to you all. EB out.
(Disclaimer: no offense was meant in the joke earlier in this article towards those suffering from ADD or ADHD, as the author himself has a form of it, yet nevertheless believes in the health benefits of a little self-irony. At least until some scientist comes along to debunk it.)
