10 Common Medical Myths
Medical myths are a popular Listverse subject, and they’re highly relevant to everybody’s welfare. In this list, we will destroy yet another ten medical myths which, incredibly, have managed to stick around. They may even be influencing your perspectives—or jeopardizing your personal safety—right now. So read on:
10 Hypothermia Always Occurs In Cold Weather
We all dread the condition of hypothermia, but few of us understand exactly what it is, and how easily we may contract it. Hypothermia is commonly considered to be synonymous with “freezing to death.” In fact, hypothermia is less of a freezing effect, and more of a simple reduction of the body’s core temperature.
Hypothermia occurs when your core temperature drops below thirty-five degrees Celsius (ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit). Surprisingly, this does not only take place in cold environments. In summer, exposure to a warm wind after getting wet from swimming may trigger severe hypothermia. Cold river water may have the same effect, and even swimming in warm, tropical water can gradually drain your body temperature to dangerous levels, since the water conducts heat away from your body much more effectively than air.
9 Too Much Salt Is Bad For You
Sodium Free: many labels proclaim this standard as if it is an achievement critical to your health and well-being. Based on some very weak studies fraught with uncertainty, sodium chloride (also known as table salt) has been blamed for a variety of medical conditions—resulting in calls for extensive reduction or even elimination of it in food products.
But it turns out that only a fraction of food items actually have too much salt, and studies have shown that few medical conditions require you to cut your salt intake. In fact, certain health challenges may actually be mitigated by increased salt content in the diet, provided that it’s non-refined, natural salt with a mineral spectrum more amenable to the composition of human blood.
8 Car Crash Victims Die From External Injuries
When presented with images of devastating car crashes, in which the forces of physics have conspired to completely annihilate vehicles, we easily understand how death could result from external crushing injuries or fatal strikes to the head.
But people are at times perplexed to hear of car crash victims who suffered relatively little damage. Even if you are firmly belted in and avoid being squeezed or smashed against the vehicle, death can result. Here’s why:
When a car is traveling at a rapid speed, your internal organs are traveling at the same speed as the vehicle. And when the car stops suddenly, your body also slams to halt—often propelling your internal organs forwards to collide with bones and squeeze through rib gaps, resulting in fatal lacerations. This phenomenon is known as shear-related blunt trauma.
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