20 Health Myths We’ve Believed Our Entire Lives That Are Not True

11Your fingers wrinkle after a bath because they absorb the moisture

Many of our parents have told us that our toes and fingertips become wrinkly after a bath because they are super wet or that our skin has absorbed water, but this reasoning is all wrong. These wrinkles are the direct results of the constrictions of our blood vessels underneath our skin surface, which is further the result of an automatic nervous reaction of coming in contact with water.

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12Antibiotics can cure a cold

If you know the scientific logic you would realize how insane this myth really is. Cold is caused by viral infections and antibiotics fight bacterial infections! That’s why taking them when having a common cold would never work!

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13If a person swallows a poisonous substance, it’s better to induce vomiting

Although it’s common during a food poisoning episode that a person feels much better after puking, but in case someone has swallowed poison, one must never force the patient to vomit. Inducing vomiting might make the matter worse as poisons are mostly acidic or alkaline in nature which might corrode and damage the throat region much more than the stomach which has gastric acid to neutralize the effects of poison.

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14It is safe to lick your wounds

If you confuse yourself with a cat or a dog and start licking your wounds instinctively, it’s about time someone re-humanizes you. Whenever we lick a cut or a scrape, we are conveniently transferring all the germs and bacteria from our mouths and saliva to the damaged tissues, which is obviously undesirable.

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15If your snot is green in color, it means you have a viral infection

The color of snot largely depends upon the protein content of your blood so next time if you notice a green tinge in your snot do not think you are turning in to a Zombie, because in reality the color of your nasal discharge has nothing to do with any infection or lack of it. This is the green mucus myth which lacks any substance.

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