DELUSIONS ABOUT YOUR BODY

SUGAR MAKES KIDS HYPERACTIVE

It doesn’t. Studies have shown that when a child is given a

placebo (what the parents think is sugar water), then the

parents will consistently rank the child as being more hyper.

Maybe your kids just get excited about candy, but there is no

chemical effect of sugar on hyperactivity.

IF YOU SWIM LESS THAN 30 MINUTES AFTER

EATING YOU'LL GET A CRAMP

If your mom every told you not to swim after eating because

you’ll get a cramp and drown…well, she’s wrong. You might

get a cramp, but it will have nothing to do with when you ate.

DON’T HAVE MILK WHEN YOU'RE SICK

BECAUSE IT MAKES MORE MUCUS

Milk can thicken mucus, but not make more of it. At any rate,

this won’t set you back much on the healing process.

YOU SHOULD NEVER WAKE UP A SLEEPWALKER

According to the myth, if you wake a sleepwalker it can give

them a heart attack or send them into shock. While that won’t

happen, it is probably best just to guide them back to bed

because if you wake them up they’ll probably be really,

really groggy.

YOU BECOME RESISTANT TO ANTIBIOTICS

It is not you that becomes resistant to antibiotics, it is the bacteria.

HAIR GROWS BACK THICKER

It doesn’t. When it grows naturally, it grows tapered. When you

shave it, it has a blunt tip. This blunt tip may make your hair

appear to be thicker but it’s not. The thickness of your hair is

determined beneath the skin by the root, over which your

razor has no say.

DROWNING PEOPLE FLAIL

Hollywood is wrong on this one. As every lifeguard will tell you,

drowning people are hard to spot because they don’t make

much of a racket. Drownings are usually extremely silent with

not much going on at the surface of the water.

VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM

Although the study that started this rumour has been debunked

as a fraud, everybody still seems to believe. No, vaccines do not

cause autism any more than driving cars cause diarrhoea.